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Proseminar Lecture, "Compassion for Country: Simone Weil’s New Conception of Patriotism", David Rice, Duke University

When:   Mon Nov 07 • 5:00 pm

Where:   Blodgett Oak Room

David RiceDavid Rice works in political theory and has been articulating an anti-colonial reading of Simone Weil alongside issues of accompaniment practices as a mode of resistance. He writes: “Moving beyond empathy/sympathy is absolutely key, and the intentional deployment of the physical presence of the body is one way to attempt to accomplish that -although no guarantees. I take Elaine Scarry's critique of Nussbaum's ‘generous imaginings’ quite seriously on this score without seeking the refuge of law as Scarry does. I think accompaniment at its best is a discipline that those in positions of security, privilege, and power may undergo periodically...allowing one's time and security to determined by the pace and perspectives of another. Accompaniment's attempt to USE privilege and inequality tactically against radical insecurity requires constant reflection, reevaluation, and epistemic humility. I'm actually theorizing accompaniment in terms of Weil's notion of "attention" and her attempt to respond to attention's insufficiencies. If attention is largely about generous imagining or a loving posture toward the other, it is typically still woefully inadequate to correct extreme blindness toward the other. Weil begins to adopt strategies of bodily travel as one response, but some lacunae remain.