The Politics of Curiosity

  • Eva-Maria Swidler Curtis Institute of Music
Keywords: curiosity, social criticism, neoliberal culture

Abstract

Curiosity, a simultaneously intellectual and emotional phenomenon, is surprisingly unstudied, yet pivotal for social critics and activists to understand. While recognizing curiosity as frequently positive and necessary for creating new solidarities and political movements, it also considers the social and political roots and consequences of incuriosity, apathy, and ignorance, including such topics as willful apathy as cultural resistance and self-defense, ignorance as an ethical choice, incuriosity as arrogance, and the generalized anxiety of neoliberal society and the shrinking of curiosity.

Author Biography

Eva-Maria Swidler, Curtis Institute of Music

Eva Swidler is an environmental historian and political economist with additional interest in pedagogy and the politics of higher education. She can be reached at eva.swidler@curtis.edu. 

References

I use the Chicago comprehensive endnote style without references, as is usual in my discipline of history. I will create a reference list and re-do the endnotes in the truncated accompanying style if the article is accepted for publication.

Published
2020-09-01