15 October 2009 | Theory
We belatedly take note of a new online journal, Republics of Letters, a “peer-reviewed, open-access publication [that] is dedicated to the study of knowledge, politics, and the arts, from Antiquity to the present, with an emphasis on the early modern period … sponsored by the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages (DLCL) of Stanford University.” In its inaugural issue, co-founder Dan Edelstein asks, “Is Theory Dead?“:
… The fact that these two incompatible perspectives on the state of Theory – it’s totally passé, good riddance, vs. have you read the late Derrida? – can nonetheless coexist does not bode well for the future of the field. Indeed, it is beginning to look increasingly as though Theory will not go softly into that dark night, but rather that the humanities will become engaged in the methodological trench warfare that already defines anthropology and philosophy … There are deep problems with the way Theory has been taught and caught up in academic politics. There is no going back to the ‘80s. At the same time … it is worth recognizing the genuine intellectual thrill that studying Theory can trigger. This means taking a frank look at how and why Theory failed to live up to its promise, and how it could be recast. … the fundamental problem with Theory is that it stopped being theory. Derrida, or Lacan, or Deleuze, were not invoked to question, but to answer … The great theorists of the ‘60s and ‘70s produced works of dizzying interdisciplinarity … While there is no reason that humanities scholars must march in lockstep with the vanguard of other disciplines, intellectual integrity demands that we consider the challenges and debates in those fields. Healthy interdisciplinarity requires regular check ups … Must Althusser or Agamben have the last word on political thought? There is an entire discipline of political theory waiting to be tapped and queried (as Josiah Ober points out in his piece in our inaugural issue). Symbolic thought is a fascinating topic, but wouldn’t it be worth considering, say, Charles Sanders Peirce’s semiotics instead of just Saussure’s? … Why else do we end up telling the same story over and over again? A story of resistance to power, in which the oppressed are once again endowed with agency, and struggle to overthrow the selfish political and economic structures of class and race … It is time we told some new stories.
Though I haven’t made my way through it, the September issue of Frieze magazine also tackles the “Whatever happened to theory” question.
[...] this week, the Art History Newsletter noted the premier of a new online journal, Republics of Letters: A Journal for the Study of [...]