Vorlesungsverzeichnis
Suchen Sie hier über ein Suchformular im Vorlesungsverzeichnis der Leuphana.
Veranstaltungen von Dr. Maria Teresa Costa
Lehrveranstaltungen
Hannah Arendt: A Glossary for Living in Dark Times (Seminar)
Dozent/in: Maria Teresa Costa
Termin:
wöchentlich | Mittwoch | 10:15 - 11:45 | 08.04.2026 - 08.07.2026 | C 5.019 Seminarraum
Inhalt: Hannah Arendt is widely regarded as an exemplary figure demonstrating how critical thought can be exercised against the current in “dark times.” Persecuted, marginalized, and forced into exile, she developed a philosophy rooted in the concept of birth. From this perspective, every act of action or speech can be understood as a form of new beginning. Whether engaging with political questions, the nature of philosophy, or literature, language, and poetry, Arendt consistently rejects modes of thought that prove simplistic or superficial. Her intellectual endeavour is guided by a profound “will to understand.” This seminar will focus on texts in which Arendt explores thinking as a form of resistance. Through close reading and discussion, participants will collaboratively construct a conceptual glossary aimed at cultivating intellectual resilience in dark times.
Walter Benjamin’s Illuminations (Seminar)
Dozent/in: Maria Teresa Costa
Termin:
wöchentlich | Mittwoch | 12:15 - 13:45 | 08.04.2026 - 08.07.2026 | C 3.121 Seminarraum
Inhalt: Some weeks before his death escaping from Nazism, Walter Benjamin entrusts his last manuscript to his friend Hannah Arendt, telling her to save it as it is more important than his own life. The text appears 1968 in the book Illuminations, the first anthology of Benjamin’s essays published in English and edited by Arendt. With this provocative title she wants to present Benjamin as one of the few intellectuals of the 20th century who was able to “enlighten” those “Dark Times”, which doesn’t seem yet to have come to an end. With his prophetic gaze Benjamin was not only offering a deep analysis on his own times, but also anticipating a series of tendencies, which found their concretisation only in the 21st century. His disruptive reflection on the origin of modernity, the destruction of tradition, the arise of capitalism, the role of technology in our society, the uses of images as political instruments are only a few examples of the novelty and the freshness of Benjamin’s thinking. His oeuvre is an immense source for finding new concepts to decipher our times. During the seminar we will be reading some of Benjamin’s most important essays as well as looking for his legacy both in contemporary philosophy and artistic practices. Following this perspective, “Benjamin’s Illuminations” should be read also as a kind of compass for orienting ourselves in present times.
Für eine Geschichte des Blicks (Seminar)
Dozent/in: Maria Teresa Costa
Termin:
wöchentlich | Dienstag | 16:15 - 17:45 | 06.04.2026 - 10.07.2026 | C 12.015 Seminarraum
Inhalt: Das Seminar rekonstruiert aus einer kulturwissenschaftlich-orientierten Perspektive einige Etappen einer Geschichte des Blicks von der antiken Philosophie bis hin zum Voyerismus und zur Videoüberwachung. Es wird untersucht, inwiefern das Beobachten sich vom reinen Sehen unterscheidet und eine andere Form des Blicks schafft. Damit wird das Thema nicht nur als Teil einer historischen Rekonstruktion, sondern auch einer Begriffsgeschichte betrachtet, indem sich der Blick nie als neutral, sondern als immer aufgeladen von Polaritäten und Machtausübungen konstituiert. Daraus werden Fragen der (Un-)Sichtbarkeit, der kulturellen oder sexuellen Differenz, des Ausschlusses oder der Diskriminierung ins Zentrum unserer Diskussion geraten.
A Phenomenology of Power: Exploring Thinking as Form of Resistance (Seminar)
Dozent/in: Maria Teresa Costa
Termin:
wöchentlich | Mittwoch | 16:15 - 17:45 | 08.04.2026 - 08.07.2026 | C 12.112 Seminarraum
Inhalt: The seminar explores a phenomenology of power, investigating how authority manifests through both visible structures and subtle, internalized mechanisms, and how critical thinking can serve as a form of resistance. Drawing on Foucault’s analysis of disciplinary societies, we will examine the panopticon as a paradigm of modern governance, alongside Orwell’s Big Brother as a symbol of overtly authoritarian power maintained through constant surveillance. Turning to contemporary digital societies, we will consider how power often operates below the threshold of perception—in algorithms, data flows, and normative frameworks—becoming less visible yet more pervasive. Through engagement with key texts in political philosophy, media theory, and visual studies, as well as selected film and video excerpts, the seminar addresses questions of freedom, subjectivity, and conditions for ethical and political agency. Special attention will be given to the dimension of the gaze, exploring its ambivalent dynamics between the observing subject and the one exposed to observation, and its potential role in developing an “ethics of seeing.”