Hegel (anti)kolonial #3: Hegel and Critical Theory

Among the philosophical traditions that have been building on Hegel’s heritage over the last decades, the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory looms large. While Critical Theory has a prominent focus on issues of political and social injustice, critics have argued that thinkers in this tradition have failed to properly address topics like (neo)colonialism and racism, and that they themselves have been relying on a conceptual framework that is in many ways indebted to colonialist modes of thought. Yet at the same time, it is possible to point to tight connections between Critical Theory and antiracist thought—most prominently in the case of Angela Davis, who studied in Frankfurt with Adorno and was later supervised by Marcuse, and engaged with Kant, but also with Hegel from a theoretical angle informed by the Frankfurt School. 
 
Our workshop will explore how Critical Theory, as part of the reception history of Hegel’s thought, has been relating to topics like race, racism and colonialism: To what extent do positions within Critical Theory suffer from a colonial blind-spot and a Eurocentric mindset, and how do such issues relate to the impact that Hegel (directly, but also via Marx) has been exercising on Critical Theory? To what extent has Critical Theory created potentials for an antiracist reception of Hegelian philosophy, and to what extent have these potentials been actualized? What philosophical interactions have been taking place between the Frankfurt School and Black radical thought, and what role does Hegel play within these interactions?

Speakers:

Charlotte Baumann (University of Sussex); Christopher Senf (FoF); Hans Marius Hansteen (FoF); Daniel James (Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf); Tomas Stølen (NLA)

Program and abstracts are available at https://hegelantikolonial.wordpress.com/hegel-and-critical-theory/