“Where we perceive a chain of events, he [the angel of history] sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet.”
—Walter Benjamin
“…we must speak of overlapping territories, intertwined histories common to men and women, whites and non-whites, dwellers in the metropolis and on the peripheries, past as well as present and future…”
—Edward W. Said
The Global Theories of Critique initiative seeks to bring together a community of thinkers, readers, and practitioners of theoretical, literary, and visual works at the University of Michigan to advance conversations between Critical and Postcolonial theories. These different schools of critique have emerged in the early twentieth century: Critical Theory began in Europe just as anticolonial and decolonial theories and literary works emerged in colonial centers and peripheries. Such schools of critique took shape and grew in the wake of struggles against structures of domination have intersected in geography, ideas, and causes.
The Global Theories of Critique Initiative is a space to map blind spots in theory and to rethink the historical and political connections between these various schools of critiques as well as mapping contemporary and emerging ones through our Reading Group.
Visit our Facebook page for announcements and events listings.
The Global Theories of Critique Initiative at Michigan is a member of the International Consortium of Critical Theory.