Demetra Kasimis (University of Cambridge) to deliver lecture on “Democracy’s Parapolitics: A Conspiracy Theory of the Oikos for the AI Age”
Demetra Kasimis (Assistant Professor in Political Theory, University of Cambridge) will deliver the lecture “Democracy’s Parapolitics: A Conspiracy Theory of the Oikos for the AI Age” on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from 11:30 to 12:30, in Room 1, School of Philosophy, University of Crete. The lecture is open to all interested participants and is offered in the framework of the course AEFF152 “Euripides, Trojan Women.”
Date: Wednesday, 1 April 2026
Time: 11:30–12:30 (Greek time)
Venue: Room 1, School of Philosophy, Gallos Campus, University of Crete, Rethymnon, Greece
Contact: Melina Tamiolaki, tamiolaki@uoc.gr
Abstract:
Why did a language of conspiracy prove vital to ancient Greek debates about democratic power? Within a democratic culture we think was bent on publicity, a culture celebrated for its desire to discuss matters at the “center” (meson) of collective life, immanent Athenian critics saw something more at work: democracy’s dependence on an opaque institution called the oikos. Mislabeled by generations as antiquity’s private sphere, the oikos is never just a domicile or a synonym for the nuclear family. It is a grey and networked zone of industries, life processes, and hierarchical relations that classical democracy charged with managing eligibility for citizenship, the subordination of women, slavery, wealth creation, financial services, and medical treatment. For ancient thinkers, this arrangement is no accident or natural fact. It is foundational to how democracy works. This lecture will argue that conspiracy is the trope that thinkers, across textual genres, turn to in creative and unexpected ways in order to render this shadowy operation of power visible, strategic, and constitutively democratic.
Short bio:
Demetra Kasimis is a political theorist working across ancient Greek political thought, contemporary political theory, and feminist theory, with a special interest in democracy. She is based at the University of Cambridge and previously taught political science at the University of Chicago, where she was also affiliated in Classics. Her research focuses on citizenship, migration, and hidden forms of democratic power in ancient and contemporary contexts. She is the author of The Perpetual Immigrant and the Limits of Athenian Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and is currently working on a new book on conspiracy, the oikos, and democratic power in Athens.
