Emancipations Podcast

We sat down with French philosopher Mehdi Belhaj Kacem who the late David Graeber praised as one of the most important philosophers living today. In this interview, we discuss Kacem’s reading habits, what inspires him in the world of thought, how he derived his philosophical concepts, what qualifies as truly radical in our age and why he broke up with his former mentor Alain Badiou. Kacem is, similar to Giorgio Agamben, a major critic of the way the ruling class is managing the pandemic and he is not shy to share his views. In this wide-ranging conversation, we catch a glimpse of a deeply inventive and creative mind and we get advice for how to do philosophy outside of conventional institutions.   This interview was conducted on Thursday December 9th, 2021, by Daniel Tutt. Translation and interpretation assistance provided by Saad Boutayeb. To read the English transcripts of this interview which include two additional questions not covered in the podcast go here to download. For the transcriptions in French please go here to download.  Music: "Banned in D.C." by Bad Brains

We are honored to be joined by Nadia Bou Ali, practicing psychoanalyst and Assistant Professor at the Civilization Studies Program at the American University of Beirut. We discuss Nadia's new work Psychoanalysis and the Love of Arabic: Hall of Mirrors - a work of Lacanian theory, comparative literature and political theory. We discuss the main themes of this work and raise questions about Lacan's contribution to the study of literature, psychoanalysis and liberalism, tolerance, the birth of Arab modernity and the two fascinating literary figures that she analyzes in this work: Ahmad Faris Shidyaq (1805-87) and Butrus al-Bustani (1819-83). This is a wide-ranging and fascinating conversation - definitely not to be missed! Interview and discussion conducted by Daniel Tutt To purchase this book please visit https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/...

We are joined by philosopher Carl Sachs, Professor of Philosophy at Marymount University and all around great human being. Carl did his Ph.D. on Nietzsche and has spent a great deal of time with Nietzsche's thought over the years. In this discussion, we analyze the achievement of Domenico Losurdo's massive book Nietzsche, the Aristocratic Rebel: Intellectual Biography and Critical Balance Sheet.  Will the world of philosophy embrace Losurdo's new perspective on Nietzsche? What does Losurdo say that changes our understanding of Nietzsche? Is Losurdo's perspective and analysis of the core of Nietzsche right? We discuss these questions and more in this very enlightening episode!  Carl Sachs is the author of Intentionality and Myths of the Given: Between Pragmatism and Phenomenology (Routledge 2015), Co-Founder and Vice President of the Wilfrid Sellars Society and Professor of Philosophy at Marymount University. Find him on Twitter at @carl_b_sachs.

Marxist theorist, literary critic, military leader and exiled opponent of Stalin, Leon Trotsky is one of the most important figures of 20th century Marxism. But how are Trotsky's ideas being lived out today by revolutionary socialists? To help us understand Trotskyism, its history and legacy today we are joined by Ian Parker, Lacanian psychoanalyst and revolutionary socialist. He has written over 25 books to his name and he works in the fields of critical psychology, Marxist psychology, and psychoanalytic theory.  Parker is a fellow of the British psychological society, Emeritus Professor at the University of Leicester, and the managing editor of the Annual Review of Critical Psychology. Parker is also a practicing psychoanalyst analyst. For those interested, you can see Ian Parker and his co-author David Pavón-Cuellár this Friday November 12th at 2 pm EST for a conference hosted by Study Groups on Psychoanalysis and Politics centered around their new work, Revolution: Critical Psychology for Liberation movements. Join us with speakers Isabel Millar, Gabriel Tupinambá and Nadia Bou Ali to discuss this work at 2 pm this coming Friday November 12th - RSVP (on Zoom): https://psychoanalysis-revolution.eventbrite.com In this episode, we discuss history of Trotskyism and its main ideas and how Trotsky’s ideas can help us address creeping fascism and build and world that has gone beyond capitalism.  Chip in $5 - $10 to support us and help keep us going: https://t.co/hBNOnpQKnp?amp=1

We are joined by philosophers Robert Boncardo and Bryan Cooke to discuss the philosophical and political thought of Alain Badiou. Boncardo and Cooke's research is shedding light on how Badiou's concrete political militancy from 1969 - 1981 shaped his first major work Theory of the Subject (1982).  We discuss the communist group Badiou was part of from 1969 - 1981 UCFML, the SONACOTRA Rent Strike, Badiou's relation to Maoism and how these more practical activities serve as a crucial backdrop for understanding the otherwise enigmatic concepts Badiou develops in Theory of the Subject. Enjoy!

We continue to probe Nietzsche and Nietzsche/anism, picking up on some problems and questions that were opened in our last interview with Geoff Waite. We begin with a reading of Nietzsche from two radically different positions: Georges Bataille and György Lukács. We then go on to discuss Nietzsche and Marx, consciousness, antihumanism, antiphilosophy, liberation, Nietzsche's politics and more. Does Nietzsche/anism address a real problem that Marxism can’t account for? Or must we work to discard all traces of Nietzsche/anism in order to champion a more liberated world and a more egalitarian version of philosophy?

We seek relief from our "Nietzsche fever" with Nietzsche scholar Geoff Waite, professor of German Studies at Cornell University. How does one go about reading Nietzsche? How does one get out of Nietzsche's system, and not fall into its abyss? The influence of Nietzsche is arguably more profound than even Freud or Marx. Nietzsche/anism has "won" in the sense that a world of rank order and capitalist exploitation is all around us. In that sense, Nietzsche/anism is the air that we breathe. It is necessary for the left to read Nietzsche because to do so is to understand the enemy, to understand the profoundly elusive and esoteric strategy he developed in his philosophy. In this conversation, we discuss the legacy of Nietzsche for today's left, how to read Nietzsche, the recent 1,000 page translation of Aristocratic Rebel by the Marxist historian and philosopher Domenico Losurdo, and Geoff's strategy for deciphering Nietzsche/anism.  Geoff Waite is the author of Nietzsche′s Corps/e Aesthetics, Politics, Prophecy, or, the Spectacular Technoculture of Everyday Life Warning: this may be a conversation for everyone and no one Music: "Your Red Dress" by Alaska in Winter and Mihâly Vig's music from Béla Tarr's film "A Torinoi Lo" (The Turin Horse) Photo: The "Yung Nietzsche" (without beard, lol) 

We are joined by writer and thinker Cynthia Cruz for a heartfelt and real conversation about the working class. Cynthia has written an incredible new book called The Melancholia of Class: A Manifesto for the Working Class (Repeater Books, 2021). We discuss the experiences of being working class, of leaving one's class roots, alienation, working class artists and the current status of the working class in America.  As Cruz writes, "to be working-class in a middle-class world is to be a ghost. Excluded, marginalised, and subjected to violence, the working class is also deemed by those in power to not exist." This conversation is not to be missed!!  Music: Joy Division "The Eternal" 

Daniel (@danieltutt) and Mike (@mcrumps) are joined by Bonni Rambatan (@bonni07) and Jacob Johanssen (@Jacob_PhD) to discuss their forthcoming book Event Horizon: Sexuality, Politics, Online Culture, and the Limits of Capitalism.  We discuss Bonni and Jacob's theory of online culture, a Lacanian analysis of social media, trolling, incels, and a theory of why the Internet is all about cuteness. Music: Alice Coltrane - "Reflection on Creation and Space" (A Five Year View) LP 1973  

Join us for an in depth and heartfelt conversation on contemporary Islamic spirituality and politics with Dr. Walaa Quisay, Ph.D. University of Oxford. Dr. Quisay's research looks at the Neo-Traditionalist Islamic movement, one of the most prominent Islamic intellectual and spiritual movements in the west. In this interview, co-host Daniel Tutt (@danieltutt) and Dr. Walaa Quisay examine how this movement thinks politics and justice, the origins of Islamism, how it differs from Neo-Traditionalism, whether Neo-Traditionalism is primarily a western movement, how it understands Marxism and Islamist movements, and how younger Muslims that are drawn to this movement are grappling with their subjectivities and with the political realities of the world. We also discuss Walaa's new research on Egypt post-Arab Spring.  Enjoy! *Music: "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan