Workshop
The Self at Scale
4-5 May 2026
In English
ICI Berlin
Organized by James Harker, Clio Nicastro, and Laura Scuriatti for Bard College Berlin in cooperation with ICI Berlin
Autotheory, autofiction, and related genres, such as auto-sociobiography or mythobiography show the interplay between theorizations of personal life, subjectivity and historical or collective experience. This workshop explores the history of these forms, and is interested in their genealogies, as well as in the politics and aesthetics of subjectivity, especially in the moments when these practices have intensified.
The organizers welcome proposals for 20-minute talks; presentations may address but are not limited to the following topics:
- Autofiction and autotheory in relation to feminism
- Autofiction and autotheory as critical methods for understanding class relations
- Trans and Queer adoptions of autofiction and autotheory
- Self-referential practices in the arts
- Theories of identity in relation to theories of self
- Theories of selfhood in literature and life writing
- Possibilities of collective selfhood in autofiction and autotheory
Abstracts of 300 words and short bios should be sent by 15 March 2026 to theselfatscale@ici-berlin.org
Please make sure to read the full version of the call at the following link before submitting your proposal.
As with all events at the ICI Berlin, there is no registration fee. Any further queries should be addressed to the organizers.
Image credit © Claudia Peppel: The Illusory Nature of Form, paper collage, 32.0 × 47.3 cm, 2023
