• Tue 27 03 – Tue 17 07 2018 •
Reading Group

One year ago, the Academy founded a reading group with the goal of stimulating thoughtful exchanges on the themes raised by the program. The reading group meets once a month in the welcoming entrance lounge of the Academyspace and is open to anyone interested in taking part. This time we’ll be dealing with themes related to the Academy project Perverse Decolonization, which is supported by the Federal Cultural Foundation. Over the next few months, the group will read Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital (2013) by VIVEK CHIBBER. At each meeting, two chapters from the book will be discussed.

Vivek Chibber is a sociologist and professor at New York University. In his book, he formulates one of the most important contemporary critiques of postcolonial theory. His fundamental argument is that even though postcolonial theory sees itself as a critique of Orientalism and Eurocentrism, in fact, it supports them both. The book unleashes one of the most important recent debates in social theory and in the humanities and social sciences on the status of postcolonial studies. Despite his controversial positions, it has received many positive reviews ‒ for example, from American linguist Noam Chomsky and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek.

Venue: ACADEMYSPACE, Herwarthstr. 3, 50672 Cologne
In English
Free admission