Walter Benjamin Prize for Early Career Researchers awarded to Florian Telsnig and Marcus Döller

Out of a total of eighteen submissions for the Walter Benjamin Prize for Early Career Researchers, the selection committee has chosen the project „Revolutionizing Revolution. Walter Benjamin and the question of Revolution and Revolt“ by Florian Telsnig (University of Vienna) and Marcus Döller (Max Weber Centre, University of Erfurt). 

The 4,500 Euro award, jointly funded by the International Walter Benjamin Society, the Walter Benjamin Archive and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, is designed to enable Early Career Researchers to organize a two-day workshop.

In the planned workshop, the prize winners would like to examine the inner tensions of revolutions and revolts based on Walter Benjamin’s analyses. The workshops premise is that revolutions fail because of their regressive effects and because they are unable to revolutionize themselves. Firstly, the workshop will analyze conceptually how revolution and revolt should be conceived according to Benjamin. Secondly, it will investigate how Benjamin was received at the time of the student revolts in a historical perspective. Thirdly, it asks to what extent Benjamin is or could be significant for contemporary political practices (forms of protest, organization, etc.).

The workshop is expected to take place in autumn 2024 in Berlin.