<h4>"Only anthropophagy connects us!"<a href="http://maiz.at/#fn1" id="ref1" title="Andrade, Oswalde">[1]</a><br> "We do not eat to form our identity, but rather to de-form it and to newly re-form it again and again."<a href="http://maiz.at/#fn2" id="ref2" title="Rouanet, Paulo Sergio">[2]</a><br> maiz is a site of feeding and of digesting. Also of excreting.<br> maiz is a site of mediating and of producing knowledge.</h4><p><br>Mediating between theory and practice. We relate ideas and concepts from theory to issues and experiences from practice. We question the practice. We question the theory. We draft strategies, planning, and methods.</p><p>Mediating between different forms of knowledge. For this we use different languages and registers. Forms of knowledge are hierarchized. This means that forms of knowledge are not equally valued. Mediating takes this into consideration and thematizes it.</p><p>We pose the question: What counts as knowledge? When? Where? Why? We also question ourselves.</p><p>We chew the word mediating and draft cacophonous, dissonant, utopian dialogues. These are discordant dialogues. Utopian dialogues propose what is not (yet) possible. That which should be.</p><h5>Knowledge emerges.</h5><p>We move between different languages: scholarly, literary, artistic, journalistic, political language. Vulgar language and erudite language. We shift boundaries between the languages. We move between different political and theoretical approaches. And we shift the boundaries here too.</p><p>After 20 years we are founding the University of Igoramuses. We are drafting this university also as a site of mediating and producing knowledge. An attempt, an experiment.</p><p>The point is to talk and the point is to be heard. The point is talking and the point is wanting to be heard. For this reason, we are writing a few rules here as a suggestion for mediating between erudite languages and vulgar languages.</p><h5>As little as possible:<br> </h5><ul><li><h5>(long) subordinate clauses and complex sentences</h5></li><li>grammatical structures that belong more to written language (e.g. genitive, passive, past perfect)</li><li>dialect variants</li></ul><h5>As much as possible:<br> </h5><ul><li>explanations of abstract terms</li><li>stories with examples</li><li>pictures and other forms of nonverbal communication</li><li>speaking slowly and clearly</li><li>shared thinking, deductive reasoning, brainstorming, etc.</li></ul><h5>Brief information about the organization:<br> </h5><ul><li>The University of Ignoramuses has no economic capital and does not want to acquire and/or administer it. There is therefore no payment for contributions. Accommodation will be organized privately. There is also no money for travel costs. If someone needs support, however, they are welcome to contact us. We will attempt to organize donations.</li><li>The contributions can be made in any language; translation can be offered. We will attempt to find simultaneous translators. For this, however, we need the information as soon as possible.</li><li>A registration form follows in the attachment. It is also available from the maiz website. Registration is possible until .... . Those who want to submit a contribution proposal are requested to send the registration form together with the proposal.</li></ul>
<ol><li id="fn1"><b><a href="http://maiz.at/#ref1" title="Jump Up">^</a></b>Andrade, Oswald (1928): Manifesto Antropófago. In: http://www.ufrgs.br/cdrom/oandrade/oandrade.pdf</li><li id="fn2"><b><a href="http://maiz.at/#ref2" title="Jump Up">^ </a></b>Rouanet, Paulo Sergio (1998): Manifesto antropofágico: 70 anos depois. In: http://www.oocities.org/hotsprings/villa/3170/Rouanet2.htm</li></ol>
