Empathy denotes a range of concepts and practices through which individuals navigate intersubjectivity and alterity. In an age increasingly defined by polarization, the concept of empathy has re-emerged as a locus of hope and an object of critical interrogation. This conference invites graduate students and early career faculty to reconceptualize empathy, not as a fixed disposition or a moral injunction, but as a mode of relation that navigates intersubjectivity and alterity. How does empathy shape individual and collective practices across a range of social, political, and artistic domains? Under what conditions can empathy be politically transformative? And when might it serve to reinforce dominant ideologies?
Presented by the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich - UC Berkeley Research in the Humanities Program.
The Program gratefully acknowledges the UC Berkeley faculty committee: Ian Duncan, Karen Feldman, and Sophie Volpp