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Presented by Ada Reichhart,
for the Handbook of Forgotten Institutions at the international conference on “Forgotten Institutions. Utopian Archives and Democratic Futures”,
organised by Sara Gebh, post-doctoral fellow in the ERC Research Project “Prefiguring Democratic Futures. Cultural and Theoretical Responses to the Crisis of Political Imagination” (principal investigator: Oliver Marchart).
When? 28th-30th November 2024
Where? University of Vienna, Austria
Paper given by Ada Reichhart,
at the “Ethnographies of Radical Democracy” conference,
organised by Federico Tarragoni (Prof. of Political Sociology – University of Caen/IUF), Pascale Devette (Ass. Prof. of Political Science – University of Montréal), Yohan Dubigeon (Ass. Prof. of Education Sciences – University of Saint Étienne), Audric Vitiello (Ass. Prof. of Political Science – University of Tours).
When? 6th-7th November 2024
Where? University of Caen, France
Paper given by Ada Reichhart,
at the conference on “The Meaning of Work” : Psychological, Social and Political implications of the Activity of Work.
When? 3rd-4th October 2024
Where? CNAM, Paris, France
Presented by Ada Reichhart,
at the “Gender(ed) Labor” conference,
organised by the Swiss Association for Gender Studies (SAGS).
When? 14th-15th September 2023
Where? University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Paper given by Ada Reichhart,
at the “New Work – New Problems? Gender Perspectives on the Transformation of Work” conference, organised by the Gender Studies Committee of the Swiss Sociological Association and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (LUASA).
When? 7th-8th September 2023
Where? Luzern, Switzerland
https://www.hslu.ch/de-ch/soziale-arbeit/agenda/veranstaltungen/2023/09/07/new-work-2023
Thursday 6 and Friday 7 November 2025, 8:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
University of Strasbourg
In Quarto Room, Le Studium building
2 rue Blaise Pascal — Strasbourg, France
Directions
FREE ADMISSION AND OPEN TO ALL
Keynote Speaker:
Jessica GORDON-NEMBHARD,Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development, Department of Africana Studies, John Jay College, CUNY
Author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania University Press, 2014).
Watch again: https://www.canalc2.tv/video/17034
Guest Speakers Round Table:
Katia GENEL, Professeure de philosophie, Sophiapol, Université Paris Nanterre
Maud SIMONET, Directrice de recherche en sociologie au CNRS, Laboratoire IDHE.S Nanterre
Watch again: https://www.canalc2.tv/video/17035
Summary of the Conference:
Although feminist utopias have been the object of an important body of work especially in the literary field, the specific paradigm of labour within these experiments and imaginaries has received only limited attention.
The purpose of this conference is to explore to what extent and in what ways labour (both as a site of oppression and emancipation) serves as a paradigm in feminist utopia-building.
Utopias in the sphere of labour and their political content, which has sedimented in critical theory on work, are imprinted by the Western patrimony of utopian socialism. Although there has been radical, short-lived and often forgotten feminist influences as well as a matrimony now being highlighted, political constructions of “what labour could become” remain shaped by figures such as Fourier, Owen or Saint-Simon.
Feminist critiques have challenged androcentric definitions of labour, broadening the field to include alternative theoretical frameworks. Despite these critical claims, the historical development of capitalism – with its persistently gendered and racialised division of labour – can be considered as dystopian – a “bad place” – that has led some feminist thinkers to reject the idea of equality in such a context.
The conference will use utopia for its central function: “confronting the problem of power” through sidelining and introducing “a sense of doubt that shatters the obvious” (Ricoeur). While we firmly acknowledge the need for utopia in critical thinking, we also underline the importance of multiple approaches to emancipatory politics as a compass for utopia-building. As a result, we will accept understandings of utopia both as a reflexive tool for critique and as a heuristic tool for transformation.
Three complementary approaches to utopia-building will be considered: 1. Reorganise labour ; 2. Redefine labour ; 3. Abolish labour
Publication:
We are planning to publish the most relevant and developed papers as an open-access book on the theme of “Feminist Utopias at Work” with a renowned publisher.
Talk given by Ada Reichhart.
Recognized for their transformative potential in democratizing labor relations, worker co-operatives are not just a men’s story. Women have also used these models to redefine workplace equality. Let’s explore how feminist ideals have taken shape in these concrete utopias!
When? 14th May 2024, 8 p.m.
Where? @ The People Bar – 7 Rue de la Krutenau, 67000 Strasbourg
https://pintofscience.fr/event/peut-on-rendre-le-travail-plus-humain
Lecture given by Ada Reichhart, guest speaker for the Social Economy Chair at the University of Haute-Alsace.
When? 17th April 2024, 4-6 p.m.
Where? University of Haute-Alsace – Fonderie Campus
Paper given by Ada Reichhart,
at the “Workplace Democracy and Meaningful Work” workshop organised by Matias Petersen (Universidad de los Andes, Chile) & Joaquín Reyes (Universidad San Sebastián, Chile),
during the MANCEPT Workshops.
When? 4th-6th September 2024
Where? University of Manchester, U.K.
