Como, Italy

Organising Emancipation

Ever since the opening of the so-called “post-Cold War” era, all established forms of collective organisation and mobilisation have undergone unprecedented transformations, from the crisis of mass parties to the alleged end of the party form (or of the party system itself).

The war, the pandemic, and other crises that recurrently hit Western and non-Western societies in various ways and to different degrees have highlighted the structural instability of the world we live in. New forms of right-wing populism are thriving and posing new challenges to the pursuit of emancipatory goals.

In this scenario, there is an evident and urgent need to rethink how emancipation can be organised. New forms of collective practices are required to push forward the agenda for a better and more just future.

The inaugural edition of the Lake Como Summer School in Critical Theory of Society will gather scholars of renowned reputation to discuss these themes from different perspective

Course leader

Organising committee
Director of the Summer School: Vittorio Morfino, University of Milano-Bicocca
Joint director: Stefano Pippa, University of Milano-Bicocca

Target group

Admission is open to post-graduate students and early-career researchers who have a strong interest in critical thinking and share the aims of the summer school. The summer school can host up to 25 participants. Due to the limited number of available places, prospective participants are requested to submit a formal application and will only be admitted after they have successfully passed a selection process.

Course aim

Aims and objective
The Summer School aims to provide students with the opportunity to gain in-depth and cutting-edge knowledge on the topic of emancipation and organisation. The main objective is to create an international and cross-disciplinary environment of research exchange that can contribute to foster new original projects on the topic. In addition to this, the Summer School will contribute to the following objectives:

Expand the outreach of existing university programmes;
Develop networking opportunities for graduate students and early-career researchers;
Encourage the construction of an inter-university network on the topics of the Summer School.

Fee info

EUR 500: Including access to all summer school activities, lunch boxes, and coffee or tea for the entire duration of the summer school.