Gregynog Theory School 2026

What might living 'anti-fascistically' entail or demand? What might it mean to foster forms of 'anti-fascist empathy', suggesting empathy conceived and practised in an anti-fascist mode for anti-fascist ends? Such questions are not only of historical relevance, sealed around the terrible events of the mid-twentieth century in the shadow of Nazism, since fascism in various guises is on the march again in many different worldly contexts as part of our deeply troubled current global conjuncture. And what of geography: what role does space, place, environment, location and more play in the new collisions of fascism and anti-fascism? One way into such crucial matters is through the figure of Edith Stein (1881-1942), German phenomenologist who worked with Husserl and Heidegger, Jewish-born but converting to Catholicism and becoming a Carmelite nun and theologist, someone gassed at Auschwitz. Stein's life was shaped and ended by fascism: her life and thought stands as a defiance of fascism. Her work has never attracted the attention of geographers, and so this running of the Gregynog Theory School will be highly experimental: a collective engagement with Stein, learning about her life and work, reading extracts from some of her writings - as both philosopher and theologian - and also some secondary commentary on her contributions. While Stein’s work is indicative of its time, we contend that there is something distinctive about her (spatialised) conception of the 'I' who shows empathy for what is 'foreign' (in both abstract and literal senses) and how that empathy becomes a basis of caring for, and enhancing the 'life-power' of, diverse communities, peoples and places. Such orientations could be enlisted as scholarly guidance for being, feeling, thinking and living anti-fascistically.

Image: Mothers by Käthe Kollwitz (1919).

Reference: Alexandra von dem Knesebeck Käthe Kollwitz: Werkverzeichnis der Graphik Neubearbeitung des Berzeichnisses von August Klipstein, publiziert 1955. 2, Bern, 2002, cat. no. 140, 432, ill.

The Gregynog Theory School is generously supported by the Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences. Attendance is free for students directly funded by the WGSSS, and others within WGSSS participating institutions subject to availability. For students from outside Wales the rate is £130 to attend. Please use the non-DTP ticket link when registering.