Critical Theory

Critical Theory

episodes

Interviews with scholars of critical theory about their new books.

Michael Ortiz, "Anti-Colonialism and the Crises of Interwar Fascism" (Bloombury, 2023)

March 27, 2024

Anti-Colonialism and the Crises of Interwar Fascism

Michael Ortiz
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What is fascism? Is it an anomaly in the history of modern Europe? Or its culmination? In Anti-Colonialism and the Crises of Interwar Fascism (Blooms…

Jeffrey R. Di Leo, "Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: An Overview" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

March 27, 2024

Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory

Jeffrey R. Di Leo
Hosted by Arnab Dutta Roy

The most exhaustive mapping of contemporary literary theory to date, Jeffrey R. Di Leo's book Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: An Overview (…

Anita R. Gohdes, "Repression in the Digital Age: Surveillance, Censorship, and the Dynamics of State Violence" (Oxford UP, 2023)

March 26, 2024

Repression in the Digital Age

Anita R. Gohdes
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Global adoption of the Internet has exploded, yet we are only beginning to understand the Internet's profound political consequences. Authoritarian st…

Colette Cann and Eric Demeulenaere, "The Activist Academic: Engaged Scholarship for Resistance, Hope and Social Change" (Myers Education Press, 2020)

March 24, 2024

The Activist Academic

Colette Cann and Eric Demeulenaere
Hosted by Jane Richards

How can traditional academic scholarship be disrupted by activist academics? How can we make space for those who are underrepresented and historically…

Marc-William Palen, "Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World" (Princeton UP, 2024)

March 23, 2024

Pax Economica

Marc-William Palen
Hosted by Thomas Kingston

A new economic history which uncovers the forgotten left-wing, anti-imperial, pacifist origins of economic cosmopolitanism and free trade from the mid…

Isaac Deutscher, "Lenin's Childhood" (Verso, 2024)

March 20, 2024

Lenin's Childhood

Isaac Deutscher
Hosted by Stephen Dozeman

On January 21, 1924 and at the age of 53, Vladimir Lenin passed away. We’ve now had a century of a world without him, but also a century of a worl…

Dinesh Wadiwel, "Animals and Capital" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

March 19, 2024

Animals and Capital

Dinesh Wadiwel
Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

In the 20th century, capitalist animal agriculture emerged with a twofold mission: to ruthlessly exploit animals for their labour time and enlarge hum…

Nancy Folbre, "The Rise and Decline of Patriarchal Systems: An Intersectional Political Economy" (Verso, 2021)

March 18, 2024

The Rise and Decline of Patriarchal Systems

Nancy Folbre
Hosted by Dhouha Djerbi

Nancy Folbre’s The Rise and Decline of Patriarchal Systems: An Intersectional Political Economy (Verso, 2021) asks the questions of why and under what…

Anna Kornbluh, "Immediacy: Or, The Style of Too Late Capitalism" (Verso, 2024)

March 17, 2024

Immediacy

Anna Kornbluh
Hosted by David Maruzzella

What is the status of art and culture in a world dominated by apps, algorithms, and influencers? Anna Kornbluh’s newest book Immediacy, Or the Style o…

Lisa Messeri, "In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles" (Duke UP, 2024)

March 16, 2024

In the Land of the Unreal

Lisa Messeri
Hosted by Noopur Raval

In the mid-2010s, a passionate community of Los Angeles-based storytellers, media artists, and tech innovators formed around virtual reality (VR), bel…

Ellen E. Jones, "Screen Deep: How Film and TV Can Solve Racism and Save the World" (Faber and Faber, 2024)

March 16, 2024

Screen Deep

Ellen E. Jones
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Why does race matter in film and TV? In Screen Deep: How Film and TV Can Solve Racism and Save the World (Faber and Faber, 2024), Ellen E. Jones, a jo…

Ali Bhagat, "Governing the Displaced: Race and Ambivalence in Global Capitalism" (Cornell UP, 2024)

March 14, 2024

Governing the Displaced

Ali Bhagat
Hosted by Lamis Abdelaaty

Governing the Displaced: Race and Ambivalence in Global Capitalism (Cornell UP, 2024) answers a straightforward question: how are refugees governed un…

Gavin Butt, "No Machos Or Pop Stars: When the Leeds Art Experiment Went Punk" (Duke UP, 2022)

March 13, 2024

No Machos Or Pop Stars

Gavin Butt
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How do art schools influence music? In No Machos or Pop Stars: When the Leeds Art Experiment Went Punk (Duke UP, 2022), Gavin Butt, a Professor of Fin…

Daniel Tutt, "How to Read Like a Parasite: Why the Left Got High on Nietzsche" (Repeater, 2024)

March 12, 2024

How to Read Like a Parasite

Daniel Tutt
Hosted by David Kunsman

A how-to guide for the left on how to overcome Nietzsche's divisive and damaging influence. How to Read Like a Parasite: Why the Left Got High on Ni…

Surya Parekh, "Black Enlightenment" (Duke UP, 2023)

March 12, 2024

Black Enlightenment

Surya Parekh
Hosted by Katrina Anderson

In Black Enlightenment (Duke UP, 2023), Surya Parekh reimagines the Enlightenment from the position of the Black subject. Parekh examines the works of…

Xin Gu, "Cultural Work and Creative Subjectivity: Recentralising the Artist Critique and Social Networks in the Cultural Industries" (Routledge, 2023)

March 11, 2024

Cultural Work and Creative Subjectivity

Xin Gu
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How can artists survive today? In Cultural Work and Creative Subjectivity: Recentralising the Artist Critique and Social Networks in the Cultural Indu…

Samantha Majic, "Lights, Camera, Feminism?: Celebrities and Anti-Trafficking Politics" (U California Press, 2023)

March 10, 2024

Lights, Camera, Feminism?

Samantha Majic
Hosted by Nick Cheesman

Recent years have brought an upsurge in celebrity activism. Not a day goes by without an actor or musician taking to a stage, a podium or the internet…

Laura Huttunen and Gerhild Perl, "An Anthropology of Disappearance: Politics, Intimacies and Alternative Ways of Knowing" (Berghahn Books, 2023)

March 10, 2024

An Anthropology of Disappearance

Laura Huttunen and Gerhild Perl
Hosted by Yadong Li

All over the world, people disappear from their families, communities and the state’s bureaucratic gaze, as victims of oppressive regimes or while mig…

Jacqueline Kennelly, "Burnt by Democracy: Youth, Inequality, and the Erosion of Civic Life" (U Toronto Press, 2023)

March 9, 2024

Burnt by Democracy

Jacqueline Kennelly
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Burnt by Democracy: Youth, Inequality, and the Erosion of Civic Life (University of Toronto Press, 2023) by Dr. Jacqueline Kennelly traces the politic…

The Reeducation of Race with Sonali Thakkar (JP)

March 7, 2024

The Reeducation of Race

Sonali Thakkar

NYU professor Sonali Thakkar’s brilliant first book, The Reeducation of Race: Jewishness and the Politics of Antiracism in Postcolonial Thought (Stanf…