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About Stephen Dozeman

Freelance writer, YouTuber, podcaster, Communist organizer/activist. Author of Being Possible (Resource 2020). Studied philosophy, art history and gender studies at Calvin College. Interested in philosophy (with a special focus on continental thought), critical theory and Marxism. Founding editor of New Books in Historical Materialism. Currently working on the latest entry in the western canon.
Stephen's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Stephen:

Biography March 28, 2023

Class Warrior

The Selected Works of E. T. Kingsley

Ravi Malhotra and Benjamin Isitt, editors

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The socialist activist E. T. Kingsley occupies an odd place in the history of labor and the left. Often mentioned due to his prolific life of speaking, writing, traveling …
Critical Theory March 21, 2023

Combat Trauma

Imaginaries of War and Citizenship in Post-9/11 America

Nadia Abu El-Haj

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
One of the most recognizable tropes in American society in the past few decades is the scarred war veteran, returning from foreign lands with wounds both visible and invisible …
Critical Theory February 6, 2023

In Kierkegaard's Garden with the Poppy Blooms

Why Derrida Doesn't Read Kierkegaard When He Reads Kierkegaard

Chris Boesel

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The philosophy of deconstruction, most famously pushed forward by Jacques Derrida, has left an undeniable dent on contemporary thought, and even religion has found itself in deconstruction’s sights, with …
Critical Theory January 17, 2023

The Coming of the American Behemoth

The Origins of Fascism in the United States, 1920 -1940

Michael Joseph Roberto

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The election of Donald Trump in 2016 shocked and appalled a number of people, forcing a critical reevaluation of what was possible, and what we ought to be vigilant …
Critical Theory January 2, 2023

Revolutionary Rehearsals in the Neoliberal Age

Colin Barker, Gareth Dale and Neil Davidson

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The last several decades have seen a mass consolidation of wealth among a few, the rest of the world left to various degrees of dispossession. On top of this …
Critical Theory December 25, 2022

The Emergence of Trotskyism in the United States: Part 3 of 3

An Interview with Bryan D. Palmer

Bryan D. Palmer

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
Part 3 of 3 parts. In the spring of 1942, James P. Cannon, the founder of American Trotskyism, gave a series of lectures in New York on the first decade …
Critical Theory December 24, 2022

The Emergence of Trotskyism in the United States: Part 2 of 3

An Interview with Bryan D. Palmer

Bryan D. Palmer

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
Part 2 of 3 parts. In the spring of 1942, James P. Cannon, the founder of American Trotskyism, gave a series of lectures in New York on the first decade …
Critical Theory December 23, 2022

The Emergence of Trotskyism in the United States: Part 1 of 3

An Interview with Bryan D. Palmer

Bryan D. Palmer

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
Part 1 of 3 parts. In the spring of 1942, James P. Cannon, the founder of American Trotskyism, gave a series of lectures in New York on the first decade …
Critical Theory December 18, 2022

Marx's Wager

Das Kapital and Classical Sociology

Thomas M. Kemple

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
Marx’s Capital looms large today, a century and a half after first publication, a massive tome that attempts to document and map out the dynamics of a society consumed by …
Intellectual History October 28, 2022

Kierkegaard's Indirect Politics

Interludes with Lukács, Schmitt, Benjamin and Adorno

Bartholomew Ryan

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
In 1848, as political movements and events were sweeping Europe and Marx and Engels penned their famous Communist Manifesto, Kierkegaard wrote in a letter: “No, politics is not for …
Critical Theory September 23, 2022

Failure of Vision

Michael Harrington and the Limits of Democratic Socialism

Doug Greene

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The Democratic Socialists of America have exploded in the last few years, going from just a couple thousand members to close to a hundred thousand. This was from a …
Historical Materialism June 8, 2022

James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left, 1890-1928

Bryan D. Palmer

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The history of revolutionary politics is rich enough that it includes the full spectrum of inspiration and tragedy. Those with revolutionary aspirations have a number of rocks in their …
Historical Materialism June 6, 2022

Revolutionary Collective

Comrades, Critics, and Dynamics in the Struggle for Socialism

Paul Le Blanc

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
Revolutionary politics are experiencing a resurgence in popularity, and a quick look at today’s headlines make it easy to see why. For those dipping their toes in the massive …
Historical Materialism April 29, 2022

Hegemony and Class Struggle

Trotsky, Gramsci and Marxism

Juan Dal Maso

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky exerted a powerful influence on the world, even if his historical and theoretical contributions have often been downplayed, and people who wish to be …
Historical Materialism April 21, 2022

The Renaissance of Marxist Studies

A Discussion with Babak Amini

Babak Amini

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The last few years have seen a resurgence of interest in academic research in Marxism and related fields, and many researchers have been stepping up to the plate to offer …
Intellectual History March 30, 2022

How to Be Normal

Phil Christman

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
What does it mean to be normal? What even is normal? It’s a strange concept, dependent entirely on context and yet, in spite of this flexibility, it’s an inescapable …
Historical Materialism March 23, 2022

The Return of Nature

Socialism and Ecology

John Bellamy Foster

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
It is slowly becoming clear that we are heading towards a deep ecological catastrophe. Our societies carbon footprint and its impact have been known for some time, and already …
Historical Materialism March 23, 2022

Able to Lead

Disablement, Radicalism, and the Political Life of E. T. Kingsley

Ravi Malhotra and Benjamin Isitt

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
People with disabilities have always struggled to make ends meet. Finding a job you can actually do, a housing situation you can afford that meets your needs, and simply …
Historical Materialism February 14, 2022

The Ideological Condition

Selected Essays on History, Race and Gender

Himani Bannerji

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
How should we understand identity? What sort of politics are needed to address various forms of oppression and marginalization? Are knowledge and practice untainted by ideological obfuscation possible? These …
Intellectual History January 5, 2022

The Forces of Form in German Modernism

Malika Maskarinec

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The late 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe were times of intense technological, social and political change and transformation, and so it’s no surprise that much of the …
Historical Materialism October 25, 2021

Lukács

Praxis and the Absolute

Daniel Andrés López

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The Hungarian Marxist philosopher George Lukács has long occupied a complicated place in the Marxist canon of thinkers, both his lived and theoretical practice subject to much critical commentary …
Historical Materialism October 7, 2021

Becoming Marxist

Studies in Philosophy, Struggle, and Endurance

Ted Stolze

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
Marxism is having a moment; higher workloads, stagnating wages, rising costs of living, a new economic crisis every few years, a warming climate and now almost two years of …
Historical Materialism September 17, 2021

Lenin and the Logic of Hegemony

Political Practice and Theory in the Class Struggle

Alan Shandro

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
Few figures stand as prominently in Marxist theory and history as V.I. Lenin. The revolutionary who played a pivotal role in one of the most important events in world …
Critical Theory August 26, 2021

Algorithmic Desire

Toward a New Structuralist Theory of Social Media

Matthew Flisfeder

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
One of the most fundamental aspects of modern life is that much of it is lived on and through social media. We create profiles, post pictures, update stories, and even …