In this seminar, with “Transautography” we want to propose a new critical praxis for collaborative academic work in the humanities as a mode of existential resistance to the bureaucratization of the university.   What  we  call  transautographic praxis seeks to  reclaim a space of creativity  and  experimentation in scholarly writing to resist the entrepreneurialization of the university and its nihilistic values of productivity and optimization. It  furthers  the  contemporary  turn  to  auto-theory  by  recasting the dialogue between discourses and practices of psychoanalysis and deconstruction, and it mobilizes critical theory by exposing it to the dynamic energy of transference and free association. Born from the discussion of “autography” and other “kindred” practices of theoretical self writing, the idea of transautography enables a  broader  exploration of  collaborative working. It builds on the lessons of psychoanalysis (transference, counter-transference, and the space of the secret) leveraging not only the intertwinement of theoretical and testimonial writing, but  also  the  affective  and  intellectual  dynamics of academic friendships and collaborations. 

The panel invites presentations that engage with forms of writing aiming at capturing the relation between thought and experience by intertwinging autographic and  theoretical registers. We also welcome proposals exploring different  possibilities of collaborative research and academic writing and delving into questions of witnessing and transference in the wake of psychoanalysis, deconstruction, and other forms of theoretical (self) examination. We are particularly interested in proposals describing types of writing that resist the current state and deterioration of the academy, particularly the humanities, and that open new ways of thought and experience that take into consideration the threats that LLM, technofascism, and the erosion of education urgently present to us.