Social scientists and anthropologists study the real world and try to meticulously record and describe what happens “out there” in an objective manner. But, what if this assumed premise wasn’t as simple and the “world out there” is not there to be grasped. This inaugural seminar will be the opportunity to unpack and explore the notion of speculation within social and anthropological theory and philosophy. Through a dialogical exchange between Maryam Kolly, Isabelle Stengers and Benedikte Zitouni, we will inquire into the intellectual genealogy of this approach, and how it invites social scientists for a different account and understanding of the “real”. We will engage into both the epistemological as well as the methodological aspects of “speculative thinking” and how it unsettles conventional research practices and invites for different and creative ones. The lecture will address the idea of "thinking with" rather than "thinking about." How can the idea of experience and experimentation be translated in the field of social sciences? And how does it relate to collective speculation and knowledge-building? Faced with the Anthropocene, the Capitalocene, or racism, how can alternative narratives make their voices heard, influence the world stage in order to propose futures, ways of acting, resisting, and thinking?

Maryam Kolly was a social worker from 2002 to 2013. She holds a doctorate in Sociology and is a researcher and visiting Professor at Université Saint-Louis Bruxelles since 2012. Her research interests include youth (sub-culture, migration, religious identity, social work and the epistemology of fieldwork. Her publications include : Maryam Kolly, Diplomate au pays des Jeunes. Histoires de travail social, de quartier et d’école. Histoires de flamands et de drari, Louvain-la-Neuve, Academia ; Maryam Kolly (dir.), HERstory, Féminisme, minorité et visualité, Bruxelles, La lettre volée, 2023.

Isabelle Stengers is a Belgian philosopher of science and a prominent figure in the field of science and technology studies. Isabelle Stengers has made significant contributions to the field of social sciences, challenging conventional ideas about the objectivity of science and the separation of science from society. Her work continues to be influential in discussions about the role of science and technology in contemporary society. Amongst her numerous publications : Isabelle Stengers, L’Invention des sciences modernes, Paris, La Découverte, 1993 ; Isabelle Stengers, Au temps des catastrophes. Résister à la barbarie qui vient, Paris La Découverte, 2008 ; Isabelle Stengers, Réactiver le sens commun. Lecture de Whitehead en temps de débâcle, Paris, Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond/La Découverte, 2020

Benedikte Zitouni is Professor in Sociology at Saint-Louis University, Brussels. She is interested in collective intelligences and has written empirical tales, based on archival work, conveying people’s ingenuity and societal changes at work. Such tales involve urban ecological experiences or communities’ and prisoners’ struggles, but also civil servants’ and technicians’ successes, as well as the tactics involved in peace camps or neighbourhood occupations. In several papers, she tackles the connections between knowledge-making, narratives and empowerment and she has written about situated knowledge, otherworldliness and matters such as remembering and memory-making. Her publications include : Benedikte Zitouni, Agglomérer. Une anatomie de l'extension bruxelloise (1828-1915), Bruxelles, Academic Scientific Press & VUB Press, 2010 ; Benedikte Zitouni, Terres des villes. Enquêtes potagères aux premières saisons du 21e siècle, Paris, éditions de l’Eclat.