Overview
The Critical Theory Workshop has organized its Summer School in Paris since 2008, and it began offering it simultaneously online in 2019. It has also offered seminars and symposiums in Philadelphia and online courses. Please find below a brief summary of these activities. The recordings of many of these events are available on the CTW’s YouTube channel as a free educational resource.
2008-Present: Summer School
The Summer School has taken place since 2008. In addition to the Directors, Gabriel Rockhill and Jennifer Ponce de León, the invited speakers and discussants have included: Radhika Desai, Derek Ford, Alan Freeman, Georges Gastaud, Carlos Martinez, Jacques Pauwels, Mary Louise Pratt, Antonio Vázquez-Arroyo, Nazia Kazi, Annie Lacroix-Riz, Pierre-Antoine Chardel, Asma Mhalla, Manon Renault, Sophie Wahnich, Massimiliano Tomba, Larry Busk, Timothy Bewes, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Étienne Achille, John Harfouch, Jean-Marc Salmon, Paola Bacchetta, Patricia Gherovici, Delia Popa, Bertrand Ogilvie, Gabor Tverdota, Fabio Bruschi, Jean Matthys, Seloua Luste Boulbina, David Palumbo-Liu, Andrew Feenberg, Bernard Stiegler, Marie Goupy, Alice Canabate, Philippe Corcuff, Patrice Maniglier, Peter Skafish, Marielle Macé, Andrés Claro, Jean-Michel Rabaté, Amy Allen, Domenico Losurdo, Ádám Takács, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Esteban Buch, Pierre Macherey, Geneviève Fraisse, Judith Revel, Claire Pagès, Alan Schrift, Bruno Karsenti, Patrick Vauday, Nathalie Heinich, Olivier Voirol, and Jacques Rancière. Click here to see the recordings of many of these events.
8/13/23: Book launch for Carlos Martinez’s The East Is Still Red – ChineseSocialism in the 21st Century with Ben Chacko, Radhika Desai, Sara Flounders, Dan Kovalik, Qiao Collective, Chen Weihua, Amanda Yee. This event was co-sponsored by Friends of Socialist China, International Manifesto Group and Midwestern Marx.
5/13/23: Book launch for Carlos Garrido’s The Purity Fetish and the Crisis of Western Marxism with Radhika Desai, Thomas Riggins, Alan Freeman, Gabriel Rockhill, Edward Liger Smith, Noah Khrachvik. This event was co-sponsored by the International Manifesto Group and Midwestern Marx.
4/27/23: Book launch for Capitalism, Coronavirus and War by Radhika Desai with Keith Bennett, John Ross, Carlos Martinez, Jenny Clegg, and John Foster. This event was co-sponsored with the International Manifesto Group. Click here to watch the recording.
3/30/22 & 4/1/23: Dr. Ken Hammond on China
Dr. Ken Hammond presented his research on China at Villanova University, as well as at the Philadelphia Liberation Center. Click here for the video of the first event and here for the second.
9/24/22: Webinar on “China Encirclement and the Imperialist Build-Up in the Pacific”
This webinar addressed the rising aggression of the US and its allies in the Pacific region. Spearheaded by The Friends of Socialist China, it was co-sponsored by the Critical Theory Workshop, ANSWER Coalition, Geopolitical Economy Research Group, Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, Hampton Institute, International Action Center, International Manifesto Group, Morning Star, Multipolarista, New Cold War, Nodutdol, Peace, Land, and Bread, Pivot to Peace, Popular Resistance, Qiao Collective, and The Canada Files (media sponsor).
4/19/22: Online Symposium on “Race, Class & Imperialism”
This discussion between Adolph Reed Jr. & Jennifer Ponce de León was co-sponsored by Villanova University’s Cultural Studies program and the Villanova student group Global Social Justice.
3/26/22: Webinar on “Clarifying the Struggle for Socialism: Uses and Misuses of Marx’s Capital”
This webinar with Alan Freeman, Radhika Desai, Gabriel Rockhill, Derek Ford, Megha Summer Pappachen, and Patricia Gorky was a collaboration with the International Manifesto Group, Geopolitical Economy Research Group, Radical Education Department (RED), The Hampton Institute, and Peace, Land, and Bread.
1/27/22: Claudia de la Cruz, “Liberation Theology & Anti-Imperialism across the Americas”
This presentation and discussion took place online and was co-sponsored by the student groups “Global Social Justice” (Villanova University) and “Students for Socialism” (West Chester University), as well as a number of departments and administrative units at Villanova University: Mission and Ministry, Cultural Studies, Center for Political Theology, Political Science, Philosophy.
11/22-11/24/20: Gabriel Rockhill, “Why Marx Matters”
This 3-day course, which took place in person and online, was a collaboration with Incite Seminars.
10/24/20: William I. Robinson, “The Global Police State”
This public interview about Robinson’s book, The Global Police State, took place online.
4/1/19: Boots Riley, “Revolution Is the Solution”
This conversation on art, activism and organizing, with Jennifer Ponce de León and Chi-ming Yang, book place the Lightbox Film Center in Philadelphia. It was organized by Penn Social Justice/ Global South, and co-sponsors included Penn Cinema & Media Studies, Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, Annenberg School for Communication, Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, Wolf Humanities Center, Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Annenberg Media Activism Research Collective, History of Art Department, Dept. of English, Provost Campaign for Community, Drexel Women’s and Gender Studies, Temple Film Media Arts. Sponsor: Evil Twin Booking Agency. The following community organizations tabled the event: Penn Socialists, Center for Carceral Communities, Radical Education Department (RED), Party of Socialism and Liberation, Industrial Workers of the World, Judicial Accountability Table, Water Ways, Common Notions, Philadelphia Community Bail Fund.
4/26/19: Symposium on “Counter-History and Theory”
This symposium took place at the University of Pennsylvania and included the following presentations:
Kristin Ross, “The Seventh Wonder of the ZAD“
Gabriel Rockhill, “Soft Power and the Construction of ‘French Theory’“
Ethan Kleinberg, Gary Wilder and Warren Breckman, “The Role of Theory in Critical History“
3/23/19: Gabriel Rockhill, “Aesthetics: Towards a Radical History”
This 1-day course was a collaboration with Incite Seminars.