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SoSe 16: Theory (After Theory?)

Mary Ann Snyder-Körber

Comments

Theories are a form of abstracting lens. They hone attention and sharpen analytical vision. As Teresa de Lauretis has written:"What is called theory in the humanities is nothing else than thinking about the world in which we live and die, whereby theory ... involves not only thoughts that flow in a temporal movement towards the future or the past, but also thoughts that stop in their tracks and, in trying to figure out the enigma of the world at a particular moment, assume something of an abstract, spatial shape" (Freud's Drive 2008). In this reading group-style course, we are going to to consider some of the various shapes that theoretical work in the humanities has assumed since 2000. This period is marked by a backlash to the theory enthusiasms of the 1980s and 1990s. At the same time, humanistic inquiry is experiencing increasing pressure to demonstrate its usefulness within an output-oriented academy. The result is a push towards new "theory" in a moment of post- or even anti-theoretical sentiment. Against this ambivalent backdrop, our sessions will explore the distinctions between "paranoid" and "reparative" readings, notions of the network, distant and surface reading models, postrace paradigms, the return of phenomenology, new formalisms, and potentials of an "emancipated" spectator. Recommendations: While much ink (literal and virtual) has been spilled in regards to the so-called "death of theory," the collection Theory After "Theory" (2011) put together by Jane Elliott and Derek Attridge is a good place to start informing yourself about the "crises" and new constructions of thinking in the humanities. close

14 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Fri, 10:00 - 12:00 14 Class schedule

Fri, 2016-04-22 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
PD Dr. MaryAnn Snyder-Körber