Thinking the Revolution. Woman Life Freedom and the Philosophy of Revolt
CERES Palais, room "Ruhrpott" (4.13)
When in September 2022 people, especially women and girls, took to the streets in Iran for the first time under the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom" and used a wide variety of protest actions, gestures and words to stand up not only against the hijab law, but also against systematic gender discrimination, for political participation and the rights of marginalized groups, the world public was taken by surprise. However, the courageous resistance in the streets did not come overnight. Even before that, a new self-confidence had grown among many people, for which philosophy also played a decisive role.
Roman Seidel will show how the story of freedom began in philosophy, what preconditions it found in the Islamic revolution of 1979 and later in the failure of the reform movement. Above all, his lecture will make clear which philosophical voices accompany and reflect the revolutionary movement today.
The lecture will be held in German.
Dr. Roman Seidel conducts research at the Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the RUB as part of the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1475 "Metaphors of Religion" in the sub-project "Path and Guidance: Interpretations of Qur'anic Metaphors of Space and Movement in the Tafsīr Literature". He is also the director and co-initiator of the DFG network "Philosophy in the Islamic Modern World." From 2018-2022, he was engaged in research and teaching at the Institute for Islamic Studies at the Free University of Berlin and also held teaching positions at the Universities of Zurich, Bern, and Siegen. Previously, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Humboldt University and Freie Universität Berlin. He received his PhD from the University of Zurich in 2011 with the study "Kant in Tehran. Beginnings, Approaches, and Contexts of Kant's Reception in Iran" (De Gruyter 2014). His research focus is on philosophy and intellectual history of the Islamic world, with special emphasis on Iran and the Persian-speaking world from the nineteenth century to the present. He is one of the main authors of the Iran section of the compendium History of Philosophy in the Islamic World vol IV.2, nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Turkey, Iran and South Asia).
