Aktuelles
31. Mai, 17 Uhr: Hybrid Round Table: Digital Authoritarianism, (Self)Censorship and Forms of De-Subjectivization
[15.05.2024]Friday, 31.5.2024, 17:00, Berlin Campus, FernUniversität in Hagen, Kurfürstendamm 21, 10719 Berlin / Zoom-Meeting: 645 4391 1857, Code: 24022022
Aliaksei Bratachkin (Hagen), Almira Ousmanova (Vilnius / Bochum), Antonina Stebur (Berlin)
Moderation: Felix Ackermann (Hagen)
In this roundtable we would like to discuss new forms of digital repression and shifting modes of subjectivity in the context of authoritarian rule in times of war. The illiberal rejection of democracy, the intensification of war and the continuation of authoritarian repression coincide with the emergence of new technologies of digital authoritarianism. Physical harassment, analogue arrests and harsh prison sentences are violent state reactions to digital communication and social interaction on commercial platforms. Alongside with hybrid warfare abroad they became a crucial part of authoritarian governance at home aiming to prevent social unrest.
Under digital surveillance (self)-censorship shapes new representations of subjectivity. Post-factual editing of one's own content and timeline on social media platforms creates eloquent figures of reticence. By doing so we can actively change the narrative structure of our life and we can try to erase traces of previous subjectivities. Various modes of anonymizing, of fixing ourselves and of de-subjectivization, at the same time can be forms of resistance and self-preservation.
It is possible to participate online. Comments and questions may be asked only via the chat function.
The round table is part of the workshop “Autobiography, Digitality & Platformisation” organized jointly by Felix Ackermann, Yaraslava Ananka & Hanna Horn in the frame of the NFG026 emerging scholars group “Digital Histories of Violence in the 21st Century” funded by Hans-Böckler-Stiftung. The workshop is a cooperation between Public History Department at FernUniversität in Hagen and Institute for Slavonic Philology at Universität Leipzig.
