Après ’68: An Introduction to Contemporary French Theory

The events of May ’68 inaugurated four decades of unprecedented vigor in leftist thought in France. Starting from that radical moment, this course will uncover and assess the most potent writings in the genre from the 1970s until now. In doing so, we will also try to understand the structural changes taking place in French society alongside the outpouring of new philosophical materials.

Lastly, we will investigate how “French theory,” as it is often known, has had a decisive, lasting and global influence on how we approach our work in the humanities and social sciences to the present day. Authors we will be investigating together over this eight-week introductory course include Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Alain Badiou, Roland Barthes, Hélène Cixous, Julia Kristeva, François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, Gilles Deleuze, Bernard Stiegler, Catharine Malabou and the Tiqqun collective.