The UCLA Experimental Critical Theory Program and UC Berkeley Labor, Philosophy, and Change Working Group Present:

 

 

Roundtable on Banu Bargu’s Disembodiment: Corporeal Politics of Radical Refusal

 

 

Friday, May 22, 2026

2:00 – 5:00 pm

Kaplan Hall Room #348 (third floor)

415 Portola Plaza

Los Angeles, CA 90095

In person only

 

Advanced registration is required by Wednesday, May 20, 2026.

REGISTER HERE

 

Disembodiment examines self-destruction, self-injury, and radical self-endangerment as unconventional performances of refusal that are erased, marginalized, and distorted by metanarratives of history as progress and agency as freedom. From the death-acts of enslaved Africans, hunger strikes of woman suffragists, and Gandhian fasting practices to the self-incineration of Bouazizi, hunger and thirst strikes in the Maze and Guantánamo, and lip-sewing practices of migrants and asylum seekers at the borders of the Global North today, Bargu traces a bleak repertoire of contention performed by the oppressed. As a work in global critical theory whose normative compass is the suffering body, Disembodiment brings together corporeal enactments of defiance from the Global South with major thinkers of Western modernity and prominent critical-theoretical traditions of the twentieth century.

 

PANELISTS

• Dylan Fagan (Tracing Patterns Foundation)
• Eleanor Kaufman (UCLA)
• Nejat Kedir (UC Berkeley)
• Warren Montag (Occidental College)
• Davide Panagia (UCLA)
• Joseph Serrano (UC Berkeley)

 

RESPONSE

• Banu Bargu (UC Santa Cruz)

Banu Bargu is professor in History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she is also affiliated graduate faculty in Politics and the Center for the Middle East and North Africa. Bargu is a political theorist, whose transdisciplinary research draws upon continental philosophy, anthropology, global history, and Middle East studies around questions of the body, resistance practices, exceptional regimes, violence, and carcerality. She is the author of two books: Disembodiment: Corporeal Politics of Radical Refusal (Oxford UP, 2024), which is the co-winner of the 2025 David Easton Award, and Starve and Immolate: The Politics of Human Weapons (Columbia UP, 2014), which was the recipient of the 2015 First Book Award, both given by the Foundations of Political Theory section of the American Political Science Association. Banu Bargu currently serves as the editor of Political Theory.

 

About the Program in Experimental Critical Theory

The focus of the 2025-2026 Experimental Critical Theory seminar (COM LIT250), taught by Professor Eleanor Kaufman, is “Structure.”

 

Parking for Campus Visitors

The closest parking structures to Kaplan Hall are Structure 2, Structure 3 North, Structure 4 and Structure 5. Parking rates vary by structure, so please refer to the rates here. Guest parking is available on a first come, first served basis. Please plan on arriving early to the event if you are not familiar with the campus or parking structures.

 

The UCLA Comparative Literature department is not responsible for any tickets or citations received by event attendees. For further assistance, please contact the UCLA Transportation department directly.

 

VISITOR PARKING AREAS:

♦ Structure 2: Structure 2 has pay stations for visitors on the first and second floors. These floors are the only floors with visitor parking; there are also signs indicating which parking stalls are for visitors. The Google Maps link for the visitor’s section (“Pay Station Parking”) is here.

♦ Structure 3 North: Parking Structure 3 North, Visitor’s Section is located at 215 Charles E Young Dr N, Los Angeles, CA 90024. The parking structure has visitor parking in levels 1, 2 and 3. The Google Maps link to the visitor’s section (“Pay Station Parking”) is here.

♦ Structure 4: Parking Structure 4, Visitor’s Section is located at 221 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095. The parking structure has visitor parking in level 1, and the entrance will state “Visitor’s Section” that guests enter through. The Google Maps link to the visitor’s section is here .

♦ Structure 5: Parking Structure 5, Visitor’s Section is located at 405 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095. The parking structure has visitor parking in both levels 4 and 6, and the entrance will state “Visitor’s Section” that guests enter through. The link to the visitor’s section is here .

 

HOW TO PAY FOR PARKING:
Self-service pay stations are located in all visitor parking areas. Visitors must pay for parking BEFORE they leave their vehicles. Visitor parking permits are not valid in parking stalls outside of the visitor parking section of the structure and stalls posted for Blue and X permits or otherwise reserved. 

1. All self-service pay stations use pay-by-plate technology.
   2.Once parked, go to the nearest parking pay station
   3. Enter your license plate number. If you do not have a license plate number, please enter the last 6 (six) digits of your Vehicle ID Number (VIN). Your VIN can be found on the driver’s side door or the lower driver’s side of the windshield.
   4. Choose the amount of time that you would like to spend on campus.
   5. Pay using the exact cash amount or with a credit card. For those using their VIN, please place your receipt on your dashboard, otherwise nothing else is required. Pay stations do not provide change. There are no refunds for pay station purchases.

 

Additional visitor parking information can be found on the UCLA Transportation website.