Critical Theory Chicago

byways of transindividuation and intersection — InterCcECT

In this riven present, unilluminating debates about identity politics make an odd commons uniting the blogosphere, journalism, and academic theory. Cast some light on questions of subjectivity, structuration, and collective identities for our times with new theses from African-American Studies and Continental Philosophy: Jennifer Nash’s Black Feminism Reimagined and Jason Read’s The Politics of […] via…

Of Grammatology Part II

Join our discussion of Jacques Derrida’s Of Grammatology. We will continue our discussion by finishing part II. Critical Theory Chicago meets Mondays at the Harold Washington Library 6-8pm in the 6th floor north study room. Note: The library is closed Feb. 18th. We will be at Half Sour at Polk and Clark “The opposition of…

Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?

Join us to discuss Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism (PDF). Critical Theory Chicago meets Mondays at the Harold Washington Library 6-8pm in the 6th floor north study room. “After 1989, capitalism has presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system. What effects has this “capitalist realism” had on work, culture, education and mental health? Is it…

Discussion: Derrida’s Of Grammatology

Of Grammatology Part I Chapter 3 “Of Grammatology as a Positive Science” Monday October 22nd 6-8pm Meeting at the Harold Washington Library 6th Floor North Study Room Derrida. You know the name, but what can you say about this writer? If you would like to know more about Derrida’s work, join us for a…

What’s So Great About Democracy Anyway?

Democracy in What State? Reading: “From Democracy to Divine Violence” by Slavoj Zizek Monday October 22, 2018 6-8pm Harold Washington Library 6th Floor North Study Room Democracy. What is it? Should we still care about it? This question was posed to the note-worthy thinkers in Democracy in What State? to address modern notions of…

Paris is Burning: Reading and a Screening

Saturday July 14th 6-9pm at Pro Musica “James Baldwin makes the point in The Fire Next Time that “people who cannot suffer can never grow up, can never discover who they are.” Without being sentimental about suffering, Dorian Carey urges all of us to break through denial, through the longing for an illusory star identity,…

the art of the concept

Originally posted on InterCcECT:
How does art think? What kind of conceptuality inheres in the aesthetic? What artistic revolutions and political-economic transformations help account for the contemporary preponderance of “conceptual art” and “autofiction”? Between immanently critical works and postcritical trends, is interpretation obsolete? InterCcECT kicks off summer with a reading group session on Peter Osborne’s…

Contingency, Hegemony, Universality

Contemporary Dialogues on the Left – Book Discussion July 16th 6-8 pm Harold Washington Library 6th Floor North Study Room Critical Theory Chicago widens the discussion that began with Hegemony and Socialist Strategy to include theorists in discussion with each other. So often, theorists, philosophers, or non-fiction texts are read as stand-alone arguments, but they…

Marx Seminar – “Das Kapital”

Reading Kapital Part VIII “The So-Called Primitive Accumulation” Monday June 9th 6-8pm at the Harold Washington Library in the North Study Room RSVP Via Meetup.com or email criticaltheorychicago@gmail.com “Production of surplus-value is the absolute law of this mode of production.” “The relative mass of the industrial reserve-army increases therefore with the potential energy of wealth….

Hegemony and Socialist Strategy

Towards a Radical Democratic Politics – Book Discussion Every Other Monday Jan 29, Feb 12, and Feb 26, 2018 6-8 PM “Is there a power that is not always already fucked up?” – Always Already Podcast Critical Theory Chicago is hosting a book discussion about Hegemony and Socialist Strategy by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe….