Andreas Oberprantacher
Professor of Practical Philosophy
Profile
I am Professor of Practical Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy and also Head of the Unit for Peace and Conflict Studies. My research and teaching focuses on social philosophy and political theory, philosophy of technology and media, aesthetics and philosophy of art. Methodologically, my thinking is primarily oriented towards phenomenology and genealogy in an intersectional, interspecific and mostly postcolonial perspective, whereby metaphorology is also a relevant point of reference.
Topics
Central to my understanding of philosophy is a historically unequal globalizing world, i.e. a “messy world” that is characterized by diverse forms of violence and processes of discrimination and marginalization, but also by resistance, disobedience, solidarity and the desire for democratic participation and involvement. Thematically, I have spent the last two decades dealing primarily with the complex of refuge-migration, repeatedly focusing on the figuration of “illegals” and the transformation of border regimes. At the same time, I am interested in human-animal relations in the sense of complex naturecultures and alternative modes of cohabitation, but also in a critique of labor and property relations in historical view. So it is mostly topics that revolve around conflicts, or rather conflictual topics, that I discuss philosophically.
Activities
I am currently the spokesperson for the doctoral programme “Dynamics of Inequality and Difference in the Age of Globalization” , a member of the advisory board of the Research Area “Cultural Encounters - Cultural Conflicts” and am involved in Research Centers, in particular InnPeace and Migration & Globalization. Together with Stephanie Graf, Laurin Mackowitz, and Florian Pistrol, I am also conducting the FWF project “Membership Metaphors as 'Doorkeepers'. Metaphorical Language in Philosophical Discourses on Migration and Refuge” and am involved in several other Erasmus+ capacity building projects, such as AARMENA or PeaceEdu. In addition, as interim head of the Unit for Peace and Conflict Studies, I am significantly involved in the development of this area at the University of Innsbruck and am a study coordinator for the BA and MA programmes in Philosophy as well as for the MA programme Peace and Conflict Studies. Together with colleagues from the FernUniversität Hagen and other universities, I initiated the Colloquium Alpinum – Political Phenomenology, which takes place every year at the University Center Obergurgl.
Academia
After studying Philosophy and History as well as partially also Comparative Literature and European Ethnology and then Peace and Conflict Studies at the Universities of Innsbruck, Nottingham (UK), and Castellón (Spain), I worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck (in various positions). In addition, various fellowships, guest lectureships and visiting professorships have taken me to New Orleans (USA), Bangkok (Thailand), Castellón (Spain), Pondicherry (India), Pokhara (Thailand) and Taichung (Taiwan). Since October 1, 2021, I am Professor of Practical Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck.
Some texts
- (2024) “The Humus of History, or How to Think About Crisis and Critique.” Philosophy, Politics and Critique 1 [forthcoming].
- (2024) “Gegen die Logik des Krieges. Für eine Theorie und Praxis des friedfertigen Widerstands.” In: C. Schmitt et al. (Eds.), Krieg, Konflikt und Soziale Arbeit. Weinheim: Beltz [forthcoming].
- (2022) (with M. Bstieler and S. Seitz) (Eds.), Confronting Discrimination: Special Collection of the Journal Genealogy & Critique 8(1). [https://doi.org/10.16995/gc.collection.869].
- (2020) Á. Heller, Theorie der Gefühle. Neuausgabe. Ed. Andreas Oberprantacher. Innsbruck: Innsbruck University Press.
- (2020) (with F. Grosser) (Eds.) Politische Theorien der Grenze. Schwerpunkt der Zeitschrift für Praktische Philosophie 8(1). [https://www.praktische-philosophie.org/zfpp/issue/view/17]
- (2019) “The Shimmering Phenomenon of Clandestinity: Political Phenomenology Beside Appearing and Vanishing.” In: T. Bedorf and S. Herrmann (Eds.), Political Phenomenology: Experience, Ontology, Episteme. New York: Routledge, 98-119. [https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429259852]
- (2016) “Of Other Spaces (of Memory).” In: A. Délano and B. Nienass (Eds.), Social Research: An International Quarterly, Special Issue: Borders and the Politics of Mourning 83(2): 329-357.
- (2016) (with A. Siclodi) (Eds.), Subjectivation in Political Theory and Contemporary Practices. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- (2016) “Radikal demokratischer Ungehorsam: ‚Illegale‘ als strittiges politisches Subjekt.“ Zeitschrift für Praktische Philosophie 3(1): 305-338. [https://doi.org/10.22613/zfpp/3.1.10]
Full list to be found here: Forschungsleistungsdokumentation