Outline:
Discussions of precarity traverse the humanities and social sciences. From concerns with the lived experience of precarity in anthropological discourse and its representations in literary and cinematic archives, to the political production of precarization as a governmental technology of rule, the sociological transformation of the nature of work, and theoretical, philosophical accounts of precarity as an ontological condition of life, the vocabulary of precarity/precariousness/ precaritization addresses multiple dimensions of vulnerability in the 21st century. 

This seminar maps some of the dominant lines of inquiry in precarity studies, with the aim of introducing doctoral researchers to the promise, ellipses, and limits of contemporary thinking on precarity. Key to our discussions will be the notion of the human that anchors contestations about liberal imaginaries of ‘repair,’ and their refusal in practices of survivance by precaritized populations in the Global South.

About Ritu Vij: 
Ritu Vij is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Aberdeen. Her research lies at the intersection of social and political theory, with a focus on political economy and international political theory. In recent years, she has principally engaged the problem of precarity in International Relations and Social Theory, and is known for her work on how precarious lives and subjectivities are shaped by global political and economic processes, as well as for her contributions to debates on subalternity, modernity, and social justice. 

Her publications include the volume Precarity and International Relations (co-edited, 2021), the Special Issue Precarity: Aesthetic and Poetic Explorations’ (co-edited, 2025) and influential articles on precarity, globalization, and political subjectivity, such as “Broken Passages: From the Subaltern to the Precariat” (2025) and “The Global Subject of Precarity” in (2019). Her ongoing work includes a co-edited collection on Political Imaginaries of the ‘Slum’, an article on “Reimagining Precarious Futures”, and a book manuscript on Rethinking Subalternity/Precarity in the Post-Colony.

10 – 12 November 2026 | University of Tübingen, Germany
Venue: College of Fellows

Application Deadline: 15 October 2026

Please find the full Call for Applications and all details here. 
The Application Form can be downloaded here.