Category Archives: Uncategorized

Op-Ed Media Blackout #NuitDebout

I just published an opinion piece, entitled “Media Blackout on Nuit Debout,” in Counterpunch‘s weekend edition, alongside excellent articles by Rob Urie, Carol Miller, Jeffrey St. Clair and others.

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“Nuit Debout is a powerful wake-up call: sleepwalkers of the world unite! It’s time to spend the night together. [click here to read more].”

Radio Interview on #NuitDebout

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I was recently interviewed by James Mainguy for Redeye, a weekly broadcast on Vancouver Cooperative Radio, regarding the Nuit Debout movement in France and beyond. The recording is available here under the heading “Saturday April 30 10:00 2016.”

 

Keynote at TBLR Conference in NYC, 5/3

I will be presenting a keynote lecture, entitled “Social Semiology and the Circulation of Images,” at the seminar on “Fabula” organized by the Norwegian research group “Text Image Sound Space (TBLR)” in New York City on May 3, 2016.

Lecture on Photography at Grinnell, 5/2

I will be presenting “The Camera as a Sensible Weapon: Ontology and Politics of the Photographic Image” at Grinnell College on May 2nd. Details are available here. A special thanks to Joshua Ramey for extending the invitation and coordinating my visit to my alma mater.

Farsi Translation of Op-Ed on Nuit Debout

A Farsi translation, by Rahman Boozari, of my op-ed in Counterpunch “Revolution Never Sleeps: Nuit Debout in France and Beyond,” was just published in Shargh Newspaper. Click here to read. 13055239_1001377599945077_8047823204716273927_o

Op-Ed on Nuit Debout

I just published an opinion piece, entitled “Revolution Never Sleeps: Nuit Debout in France and Beyond,” in Counterpunch‘s weekend edition, alongside excellent articles by Henry Giroux, Diana Johnston, Michael Hudson, Vijay Prashad, Jeffrey St. Clair and others. Passons la nuit ensemble / Let’s spend the night together!

cpLogo“The movement Nuit debout—‘night on our feet’ or ‘stand up night!’—is a potent reminder of the existence of an indefatigable global struggle against the neoliberal credo and all of its devastating consequences [click here to read more].”

Lecture at “What Critique?” Conference, Amherst, April 23

The I will be presenting a paper entitled “Critical and Radical Theory”–abstract below–at the “What Critique?” conference at UMass Amherst on April 23, 2016. For the program and more information, please click hereFlyer-What Critique (image)

Abstract: “Critical and Radical Theory”
The stakes of the paper that I will present can best be described in terms of a critique of critical reason. Neither a full-scale rejection nor a simple internal modification, such a critique seeks to foreground both the strengths and limitations of some of the dominant strategies, methodologies and sociopolitical orientations of critical theory, broadly construed. The ultimate goal is hence affirmative and productive: to rethink critical social theory for the 21st century.

Although the general stakes of the paper touch on issues integral to ‘continental’ philosophy since at least Kant, it will specifically concentrate on the Frankfurt School heritage. It takes Horkheimer’s canonical essay, “Traditional and Critical Theory,” as its palimpsestic reference point in order to sketch the lineaments of a radical theory. Understood as an attempt to reflexively reinvigorate social theory beyond its now institutionalized forms of ‘traditional critical theory,’ it questions the latter’s persistent Eurocentrism and phallocentrism, its academic distance from radical political praxis, its contemporary professionalization as a brand of moral and political philosophy, and its gradual withdrawal from the daunting project of an analysis of society in toto (from psychic forces and aesthetics to political economy and history).

The overall objective of the paper will thus be to work through one of the major critical traditions in continental philosophy in order to push beyond it, subjecting it to a critique that aims at honing a radical edge too often dulled by the institution of ‘critical theory.’

Haverford Mellon Symposium: April 8

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I will be presenting a paper entitled “Five Hypotheses on Privilege and Violence” at the “Thinking Privilege” Symposium organized by Roy Ben-Shai at Haverford College on April 8th. For more information and the schedule, please click here.

Villanova’s Philosophy Conference: April 14-15

The tentative schedule for Villanova’s Graduate Student Conference, “Legacies of Colonialism and Philosophies of Resistance,” is available here. It will take place on April 14-15, 2016 at Villanova University.