Blog

[On Tuesday, October 6, 2020, Dr. Alexander G. Weheliye presented a lecture on Biopolitics as part of the Modern Critical Theory Lecture Series. Below is a response by Austin Hoffman (Anthropology, UIUC)] Black Feminism and the (Re)Making of Biopolitics Written by Austin Hoffman “Traveling theories, particularly those supposedly transparent and universal soldiers in Man’s philosophical army,...

[On Tuesday, September 15, 2020, Dr. Jeffrey T. Martin presented a lecture on Structuralism as part of the Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series. Below is a response by Sabrina Yun-Che Lee (English, UIUC)] Structuralism's Promise and Peril Written by Sabrina Yun-Che Lee In the half-century-long wake of poststructuralism, structuralism often seems merely...

[On Tuesday, September 8, 2020, Dr. Timothy Brennan presented a talk on Marx and Marxism as part of the Modern Critical Theory Lecture Series. Below is a response by Aidan Watson-Morris (English).] Timothy Brennan’s New Marxist Materialism, Same as the Old Written by Aidan Watson-Morris Karl Marx’s claim that our thinking is...

[On Tuesday, September 1, 2020, Dr. Lucy Allais presented a talk on German Idealism as part of the Modern Critical Theory Lecture Series. Below is a response by Dr. Michael Uhall (Political Science).] Occupy Kant: Remarks on Racism and Liberalism Written by Dr. Michael Uhall Digitally...

[On Thursday, February 27, 2020, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted a Nicholson Distinguished Scholar Lecture "The Idea of a Moral and Reparatory History of New World Slavery" by Professor David Scott (Anthropology, Columbia). Below is a response by Grazzia Grimaldi (Anthropology).] Written by Grazzia Grimaldi What is the conceptual story of the past of New World slavery that...

[On March 7, 2020, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted a film screening of Ritwik Ghatak's Subarnarekha (1962) by visiting scholar Moinak Biswas (Film Studies, Jadavpur University). Below is a response by Susmita Das (Institute of Communications Research).] Thinking (and Teaching) History through Film Form Written by Susmita Das (Institute of Communications Research) As...

[On February 3, 2020, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted a Distinguished Faculty Lecture "Nine Days of One Year: Soviet 1960s Cinema and the Nuclear Catastrophe" by Professor Lilya Kaganovsky (Slavic, Comparative Literature, and Cinema and Media Studies). Below is a response by Erin Cheslow (English).] Memory's Gaze: Lilya Kaganovsky on 1960s Soviet Film, Trauma, and...

[On February 3, 2020 the Unit Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted a Distinguished Faculty lecture "Nine Days of One Year: Soviet 1960s Cinema and the Nuclear Catastrophe" by Professor Lilya Kaganovsky (Slavic, Comparative Literature, and Cinema and Media Studies). Below is a response by Professor Brett Kaplan (HGMS/CWL).] Response to Lilya Kaganovsky's lecture "Nine Days in One...

[On November 26, 2019, Professor Clara Bosak-Schroeder (Classics) presented a talk on Ecocriticism as part of the Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series. Below is a response by Mark E. Frank (East Asian Languages and Cultures.)] Diversity in Ecocriticism Written by Mark E. Frank (East Asian Languages and Cultures) Toward the beginning of Professor Bosak-Schroeder’s talk on ecocriticism she put...

[On November 12, 2019, Professor Toby Beauchamp (GWS) presented a talk on Queer Theory as part of the Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series. Below is a response by Nadia Hoppe (Slavic Languages and Literatures)] Written by Nadia Hoppe (Slavic Languages and Literatures) On November 12th, 2019, Professor Toby Beauchamp delivered a lecture on Queer and Trans Theory as part of the Fall 2019...

[On October 18, 2019 Professor Louise Meintjes (Music and Cultural Anthropology, Duke) gave a lecture titled “Audible Africanity: Ululation in Popular Music” at the School of Music. Below is a response by Ian Nutting (Ethnomusicology)] Schizophonic Mimetic Loops and Soundings from the Global South Written by Ian Nutting (Ethnomusicology) Drawing on the ethnographic work done for her 2017 book...

[On October 22, 2019 Professor Patricai Nguyen (Asian American Studies, Northwestern) presented a talk on Critical Race Theory as part of the Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series. Below is a response by Aida Guhlincozzi (Geography and GIScience)] Critical Race Theory and Reparations Come Together in Chicago Written by Aida Guhlincozzi (Geography and GIScience) The MCT Critical race lecture...

[On October 8, 2019 Professor Samantha Frost (Political Science) presented a talk on Biopolitics as part of the Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series. Below is a response by Soumya Dasgupta (Architecture)]On Foucault, Esposito, and Agamben; Professor Samantha Frost’s lecture on BiopoliticsWritten by Soumya Dasgupta, Ph.D. Student in Architecture...

[On October 1, 2019 Professor Marcus Keller (French & Italian) presented a talk on Deconstruction as part of the Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series. Below is a response by Aidan Watson-Morris (English)] Marcus Keller's Hospitable Derrida Written by Aidan Watson-Morris (English) If the philosopher Jacques Derrida ushered in the end of truth, truisms about his work proliferate. His...