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TECHNOLOGIES OF CRITIQUE: NEW SOURCES FOR CRITICAL THEORY

The Chilean philosopher Willy Thayer (Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación) and the US-based critical theorist Paul North (Yale) collaborated on the project "Technologies of Critique" to expand the topics and problems at the center of critical theory in Chile.

The military dictatorship in Chile between 1973–1990 and the subsequent rapid neo-liberalization of society challenged opportunities for critical dialogue. While in the US universities are key places for such dialogue, in Chile universities are cleared of critical voices. Due to this specific history, over the past decade critical theory in Chile has focused on the ongoing reform of the university. This approach has offered post-Marxist sources for critique and has been at the forefront of rethinking concepts such as “freedom” in the face of neoliberalism. 

The collaborators prepared a bibliography of new fundamental texts highlighting conceptual problems and methods informed by Latin American experiences of dictatorship, neoliberal reform, and socialism. This bibliography was the base for a new syllabus designed to be taught at both institutions where these Latin American texts can be read, newly formulated conceptual problems addressed, and new methods learned. The collaboration included a reciprocal graduate fellow exchange to assist with the development of the new courses. Following this, Thayer's book, Technologies of Critique, was translated by John Kraniauskas and published with Fordham Press (2020). 

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Paul North 

 

Professor of German at Yale University. 

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Willy Thayer 

 

professor in the Department of Philosophy at the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación, Santiago de Chile.

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Matías Sánchez

 

took part in the project as a Mellon Fellow. HE IS A graduate student in Philosophy at the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE).

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Vanessa Gubbins

 

took part in the project as a  Mellon Fellow while pursuing a PhD in  English. NOWADAYS SHE IS Assistant Professor in Romance Studies at Cornell University.

Funding for criticalsyllabus.com has been provided by the Mellon Foundation. 



Website Design: Livia Garofalo & Ruslana Lichtzier 2022

Critical theory in the Global
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