Jörg Hügel; Visiting Fellowship 2022/23
Project and Bio
I am currently working as a research assistant in the research training group “Cultures of Critique” at the Leuphana University in Lüneburg (Germany). My dissertation focuses on “primitive communism as a narrative” and is positioned at the border between history of knowledge and literary history. ‘Prehistory’ forms a kind of ‘impossible knowledge’ because everything known about ‘prehistory’ is necessarily fractured - the term itself being an oxymoron. As a result, narrative methods are used to develop and solidify the period of ‘prehistory’. One of my main theses is that whenever history seeks to fill in the inherent gaps in ‘prehistory’, it generates an aesthetic that is fundamentally political. This is especially evident in my case study. I investigate how the narrative of ‘primitive communism’ developed at the intersection of politics and ethnography in the 19th and 20th centuries, building on much older themes, such as the idea of a ‘state of nature’ or a ‘golden age’. Since the expansion of this idea is not linear, I explore a variety of different genres, including texts from the fields of political economy, political theory, ethnology, and fiction.
My research interests stem from my background in literary history, literary theory, and cultural history. During my time as a student at the University of Tübingen and the Ilia State University of Tbilisi I specifically focused on cultural theory such as poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, and narratology. Therefore, I tend to look at my sources through this framework of cultural studies. That is also why one of my main interests is the methodology of history and the questions about the possibility and the aesthetics of knowledge. Within my research I try to be open about new ways of thinking about history.
Motivation
One of the themes that is crucial for my work is the perception of ‘peasant economies’ in the work of writers like Marx and Engels as well as in the novels of German revolutionary and artist B. Traven. Since there are a couple of projects affiliated with the institute, I am looking forward to exchange ideas.
I am also interested in the imperial production of knowledge and how this is reflected and criticised in history from other points of view that have developed a critical postcolonial mindset. Finally, I am interested in the development of ideas about futures or utopias, since the actors in my study have very specific idea about their future that is developed alongside historical ideas. In my perception, these fields revolve around ideas of the possibilities of knowledge, spatiality, and social critique. My stay in Ljubljana would be a great opportunity in forming a network in these fields. This could lead to transuniversitary cooperations like workshops, colloquia, or other programmes.
Visiting duration: Feb 3 – March 3, 2023
