Critical Theory

2018 FALL MACALESTER ACADEMIC UPDATE Critical Theory This concentration provides students David Blaney, professor of political Joanna Inglot, Edith M. Kelso Professor an opportunity to engage in the inter- science, works on the social and political of Art and Art History, focuses on modern disciplinary study of critical theory, theory of international relations and and contemporary art, particularly in one of the most influential movements global political economy, exploring Europe and the United States. identity, and time and space in in inciting thought and society to criti- John Kim, associate professor of cal self-reevaluations. Critical theory international relations. media and cultural studies, is a theorist can be described as the application Justin Butler, visiting assistant professor and practitioner of new media, with of philosophical thought to cultural of Latin American studies, focuses on interactive installations at museums and and social phenomena with the aim of contemporary poetry, critical theory, and galleries, and a programmer and designer identifying formations of knowledge continental philosophy. at internet startups. and the relations of power underlying Ernesto Capello, associate professor Joy Laine, adjunct professor of them and making them possible. It of history, focuses on Latin American philosophy, focuses on the philosophy is, therefore, defined not through the cultural and social history, comparative of mind and language in the context of objects analyzed—which are found urban history, and transnationalism. both Western and Indian philosophical across the arts, humanities, social traditions. sciences, and even natural sciences— Julia Chadaga, assistant professor of Andrew Latham, professor of political but through its distinctive methodol- Russian studies, focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian literature science, focuses on international security, ogy. Critical theory has contributed to and culture. the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the revision of traditional analytical medieval international relations, and approaches and to the formation of Erik Davis ’96, associate professor of medieval political thought. new fields of study that are central to religious studies, focuses on Buddhism, Macalester College, such as the analy- Asian religions, the theory of religion, and David Martyn, professor of German, sis of ideology, cultural studies, post- Cambodian funeral rituals. focuses on comparative literature, literary theory, culture from the eighteenth colonial theory, gender studies, and Olga González, associate professor of century to the present, philosophy, and race and ethnicity studies. anthropology and Latin American studies, literature written in German by “foreign”- focuses on memory and secrecy, visuality language authors. Faculty and representation, vernacular/popular Kiarina Kordela, professor of German art, violence and subjectivity, and Latin Mark Mazullo, professor of music, and director of the critical theory America. performing pianist and musicologist, concentration, focuses on philosophy, focuses on cultural analysis of music, Zeynep Gürsel, assistant professor of intellectual history, critical political with specialties that range from international studies, focuses on global economy, psychoanalysis, comparative Beethoven to Radiohead. media, visual anthropology, ethnographic literature, political theory, film theory, and and documentary film, news and Diane Michelfelder, professor of biopolitics. journalism, politics in everyday life, and philosophy, focuses on twentieth-century Morgan Adamson, assistant professor cultures of work. European philosophy, the ethical and in the Media and Cultural Studies social implications of technology, and the Corie Hammers, associate professor of Department, focuses on film and media integration of liberal arts and engineering women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, theory, documentary and avant-garde education. works on race, sex, work, and nation cinema, critical theory and cultural in the global economy; feminist/queer David Chioni Moore, associate professor studies, film and video production, and theories and methodologies; and LGBT of international studies and English, critical political economy. studies. studies literatures and cultures of the Karin Aguilar-San Juan, professor of Black Atlantic world, postcoloniality, the Duchess Harris, professor of American American studies, focuses on urban post-Soviet world, and globalization. studies, focuses on twentieth-century sociology and Asian American studies. African American political history and Khaldoun Samman, professor of Andrew Billing, associate professor of civil rights. sociology, focuses on world historical- French and francophone studies, focuses comparative and urban sociology, Bill Hart, professor of religious studies, on eighteenth-century French literature, globalization, sociology of religion, and researches the intersection of religion, Enlightenment political and moral modes of identities in the Middle East. ethics, and politics, as well as the philosophy, colonialism, and critical associations among religion, slavery, theory. race, criminality, and animality. Critical Theory Sonita Sarker, professor of English and of Recent Topics Courses After Macalester women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, Advanced Feminist/Queer Theories and Alex Dolabi ’17 (San Miguel de Allende, focuses on feminist and postcolonial Methodologies Mexico) is attending graduate school at theories, transnational comparative Kingston University. women’s writing, and sociopolitical Concepts of Freedom from Leibniz to activism. Agamben Kava Garcia Vasquez ’17 (The Bronx, N.Y.), was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Taylor Schey, visiting assistant professor Darwin, Nietzsche, Freud Fellowship. of English, focuses on eighteenth- and Dead White Men nineteenth-century British literature, Rothin Datta ’16 (Madras [now Chennai], Romanticism, poetry and poetics, Existentialist Metaphysics India) is working as customer success Enlightenment philosophy, aesthetics, Foundations of Political Theory manager at Fusemachines in New York and literary theory. City. German-French Dialogues in Philosophy Althea Sircar, visiting assistant professor and Theory Vanessa Barrera ’15 (Fremont, Calif.) of political science, focuses on political is attending graduate school at Yale theory, race and inequality, as well as the Marxism and Religion: Religion as University. thought of French theorist Michel Henry. Ideology Camille Kasavan ’14 (New York) is serving Brad Stiffler, visiting instructor with a Metaphysics in Secular Thought with the Peace Corps in Ethiopia. PhD in comparative studies in discourse Performance Theory Seminar Nick Leyh ’13 (Kansas City, Mo.) is and society from the University of attending graduate school at Duke Minnesota, is also an instructor in Postcolonial Theory University. the cultural studies and comparative Theoretical Perspectives on the French literature program at the University of Enlightenment Siarhei Biareishyk ’10 (Minsk, Belarus) Minnesota. just finished his PhD at New York Value: The Bad, the Cheap, and the Ugly University in comparative literature Joëlle Vitiello, professor of French The Critical Theory concentration can and has received a three-year post- and francophone studies, focuses on easily be combined with various majors, doc fellowship with the Zfl (Center for postcolonial identities, violence, genocide including ones that offer a semester of Literary and Cultural Research) in Berlin, in the francophone world, and twentieth- study abroad in other countries. Our Twin Germany. century French, francophone, and Haitian Cities location gives students the chance literature, culture, and cinema. Sarah Brumble ’06 (Portland, Ore.) is to attend public lectures and seminars senior writer and researcher, blog editor, Concentration Requirements offered by major international figures in and social media editor at Atlas Obscura critical theory. A concentration in critical theory consists in New York. of 24 credits: five courses selected from Internships Sara Kiener ’06 (West Hartford, Conn.) core and elective courses (at least three started Film Presence, a marketing must be core) and one major research Knowledge of critical theory provides an company that specializes in independent paper that can be combined with the asset in conducting internships in a wide films, including the 2011 Oscar- student’s capstone or honors thesis, or range of fields from journalism, editing, nominated Hell and Back Again. can be part of an independent study or a and teaching to museum curating and further course. work in the media industry. Ben Davis ’01 (Seattle) published 9.5 Theses on Art and Class and is an Core courses focus directly on the internationally recognized art critic founders and architects of critical theory with artnet. and offer a basic understanding of the genealogy, purpose, and philosophical, historical, and intellectual background of Updated August 2018 critical theory, providing students with the fundamental conceptual framework macalester.edu/criticaltheory and terminology of the field. Elective courses either use critical theory-oriented approaches, or focus on more peripheral representatives of the field, or address specialized subfields within critical theory. They offer students a chance to acquire more detailed mastery of specific topics in the field of critical theory and its applications in contemporary discourse. .

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