Kritik Blog

[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...

[On September 24, 2019 Professor Patricia Gherovici (Psychoanalytic Studies, U Penn) presented a talk on Psychoanalysis as part of the Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series. Below is a response by Samantha Plasencia (English)] Lost in Translation: Reclaiming the Past for the Future of Psychoanalysis Written by Samantha (Sam) Plasencia (English) In her presentation, Patricia Gherovici claims...

[On September 17, 2019 Professor Erik McDuffie (African American Studies and History) presented a talk on Marx and Marxism as part of the Modern Criticism Theory Lecture series. Below is a response by Brenda Gisela Garcia, Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology.] Summary of Marx and Marxism Written by Brenda Gisela Garcia (Anthropology) Professor McDuffie presented the history of Claudia Jones, a...

[On September 10. 2019 Professor Constantine Nakassis presented a talk on Structuralism as part of the Modern and Critical Theory Lecture Series. Below is a response by Robin Turner (Department of French and Italian)] Engaging with Structuralism on its Own Terms Written by Robin Turner (Department of French and Italian) [caption id="attachment_1953" align="alignnone" width="560"]...

[On April 27, 2019, the College of Fine and Applied Arts hosted a keynote address by Georgina Born (Oxford) entitled "Interdisciplinarity: Modes, Logics, Geneaologies, and Reflections," as part of the 2019 Festival of the Arts, Design, and Planning Symposium. Below is a response by Ian Nutting (Musicology).] Theorizing Interdisciplinarity: Georgina Born's Relational Ontology of Interdisciplinary...

[On March 30, 2019, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted a final panel "Racial Capitalism Now: A Conversation with Michael Dawson and Ruth Wilson Gilmore," which was moderated by Jodi Melamed (Marquette U) and Brian Jefferson (Geography. The panel featured a conversation between scholars Michael Dawson (U Chicago) and Ruth Wilson Gilmore (Grad Center, CUNY). Below is a response...

[On March 30, 2019 the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted the panel "Racial Capitalism and Differential Rights," which was chaired by Jodi Byrd (English/GWS) as part of the Racial Capitalism Symposium. The panel featured the following talks: "Administrating Today's Racial Capitalism Through Differential Rights," by Jodi Melamed (Marquette U) and Chandan Reddy (U Washington) and "'...

[On March 30, 2019, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted the panel “Racial Legacies of Debt, Development and Investment,” which was chaired by Susan Koshy (Director, Unit for Criticism) as part of the Racial Capitalism symposium. The panel featured the following talks: “Debt, Development and Dispossession: Afterlives of Slavery,” by Cheryl Harris (UCLA) and “‘In Search of the...

[On March 29, 2019, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted the panel "Undermining Indigenous Sovereignty: Techniques of Wastelanding and Welfare Provision," which was chaired by Jenny Davis (UIUC) as part of the Racial Capitalism symposium. The panel featured the following talks: "Settler Colonialism's Hiroshima," by Iyko Day (Mt. Holyoke) and "'There for the Taking': Colonial...

[On March 29, 2019, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted a keynote address by Ruth Wilson Gilmore (Grad Center, CUNY) entitled "What is the Racial in Racial Capitalism? Magic, Partition, Politics," as part of the Racial Capitalism Symposium. Below is a response by Ezgi Guner (Anthropology] Rehearsing the Revolution Written by Ezgi Guner Early on a Friday morning, the Knight...

[On March 30, 2019, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted a keynote address by Michael Dawson (U of Chicago) entitled "Race, Capitalism & the Current Crisis: Conundrums for Those Who Envisage a Socialist Future," as part of the Racial Capitalism Symposium. Below is a response by Peter Thompson (History).] An Optimistic Socialist Politics for Reparative Justice: Professor...

[On March 14, 2019, Dorrance Dance performed Jungle Blues, Three to One, and Myelination at the Tyron Festival Theatre, Krannert Center for Performing Arts. Below is a response to the event by Charles Milton Maybee (Dance).] Dorrance Dance Reflection Written by Charles Milton Maybee “Dorrance Dance invites you to share your energy by applauding, swaying...

[On February 18, 2019, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted a lecture by Jessica Greenberg (Anthropology) entitled "The Anxiety of Unfinalizability: Legal Activism, Judicial Ethics and the Problem of Justice." Below is a response by Anirban Mukhopadhyay (ICR).] Effect of Effectiveness and the "Affect" of Effectiveness Written by Anirban Mukhopadhyay Justice, as Jessica Greenberg...

[On January 24, 2019, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory hosted a lecture by Audra Simpson (Columbia University) entitled “Savage States: Settler Governance in an Age of Sorrow.” Below is a response to the lecture by Cyanne Topaum (English).] The Other Structures: Indigenous Scripts of Refusal in an Age of Reconciliation Written by Cyanne Topaum (English) Professor Audra Simpson (...