Keynote Lecture by Prof. Mohammed Bamyeh on "The Rise and Fall of Postcolonial Charisma":

When: Thursday, April 7^th, 18:15-20:00 (followed by a reception)

Where: FU Berlin Seminarzentrum L116 (Ground floor), Otto-von-Simson Str. 26

also online via Webex

For much of the 20^th century, anti-colonial movements in the global south were often personified by a savior leader or a visionary character. Bamyeh explores how these could be understood as a way to express collective ideals and discusses the disappearance of this charismatic expectation in recent protest movements-with special focus on the Arab uprisings of 2011 and 2019. Concluding, he proposes similarities and contrasts between postcolonial charisma and phenomena such as contemporary populism and cults of personality.

The Keynote is the opening event of the workshop "Affective Authoritarianisms: Affect, Emotions and Authoritarian Governance in Global Perspective" organized by the research project C01 "Emotion and Affect within the Context of Authoritarian Transformations".

Mohammed Bamyeh is Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh (USA), and President of the Board of Trustees of the Arab Council for Social Sciences (ACSS). His most recent book is "Lifeworlds of Islam: The Pragmatics of a Religion" (Oxford University Press 2019). 

Please note that registration is required for online participation. You can register at: polvoro@zedat.fu-berlin.de

The event will be held under the current Covid-19 regulations of Freie Universität Berlin.