Authors
Sims, RobinAffiliation
University of DerbyIssue Date
2016-05-19
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Theory on Theory' names a body of work which investigates the inheritances of theory and suggests future directions. As David Winters has observed in a previous edition, writing of this kind has been associated with declarations of the'death of theory' (YWCCT 22:i[2014] 2), the contention that we exist 'after' it. On the contrary: theory continues to mutate. This chapter will focus upon work published in 2015; the variety of topics covered attests to the growing range of theoretical concerns. There have been re-evaluations of the work of major figures in the field: a new journal focusing on the work of Roland Barthes, accompanied by a feast of newly-translated material written by him, prompts a consideration of his legacy and its significance for future work; studies of the relationships between the ideas of Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, and of Lacan and Marx, add new insights to the existing scholarship on these thinkers and demonstrate the ways in which they can continue to illuminate theoretical debate. Books drawing on a range of theoretical and philosophical sources have also appeared on the nature of literature, the recent development of interest in the 'nonhuman', and the 'horror of philosophy'.Citation
Sims, Robin (2016) 'Theory on Theory', The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory, 24(1), pp. 246-268Publisher
Oxford University PressJournal
The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural TheoryDOI
10.1093/ywcct/mbw012Additional Links
http://ywcct.oxfordjournals.org/content/currenthttp://ywcct.oxfordjournals.org/content/24/1/246.extract
Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
1077-4254EISSN
1471-681Xae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1093/ywcct/mbw012
Scopus Count
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Developing a theory of psychopathological perfectionism within a cognitive behavioural framework .Baker, David. (University of Derby, 2012)
-
Recto Verso: redefining the sketchbook.Bartram, Angela; El-Bizri, Nader; Gittens, Douglas; University of Lincoln (Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2014)Bringing together a broad range of contributors including art, architecture, and design academic theorists and historians, in addition to practicing artists, architects, and designers, this volume explores the place of the sketchbook in contemporary art and architecture. Drawing upon a diverse range of theories, practices, and reflections common to the contemporary conceptualisation of the sketchbook and its associated environments, it offers a dialogue in which the sketchbook can be understood as a pivotal working tool that contributes to the creative process and the formulation and production of visual ideas. Along with exploring the theoretical, philosophical, psychological, and curatorial implications of the sketchbook, the book addresses emergent digital practices by way of examining contemporary developments in sketchbook productions and pedagogical applications. Consequently, these more recent developments question the validity of the sketchbook as both an instrument of practice and creativity, and as an educational device. International in scope, it not only explores European intellectual and artistic traditions, but also intercultural and cross-cultural perspectives, including reviews of practices in Chinese artworks or Islamic calligraphy, and situational contexts that deal with historical examples, such as Roman art, or modern practices in geographical-cultural regions like Pakistan.
-
Conspiracy Theories, MIllennialism, and the Nation: Understanding the collective voice in improvisational millennialismHenry, Phil; Weller, Paul; Wilson, Andrew Fergus (University of DerbyLaw and Social Science, University of Derby, 2020-07-10)The following critical appraisal presents eight interlinked works that apply and extend Michael Barkun’s (2003) concept of ‘improvisational millennialism’. This body of work demonstrates that, as Barkun suggests, the concept is widely applicable to the online communities in which stigmatized knowledge is widely accepted. Moreover, it extends the definition to consider how improvisational millennialism provides ill-defined or dispossessed communities a means of articulating a collective relationship to historical time as well as a crude means of shoring up basic assumptions of group membership. Mythical pasts and millennial expectation provide the opportunity for shared eschatological orientation whilst the dualism of conspiracy theories demarcates between the communities and their outsiders. This critical review demonstrates how the journal articles and book chapters collected in the appendices provide specific examples of the application and extension of improvisational millennialism. The examples chosen are varied but a persistent theme drawn out through analysis is the role that national cultures – official and official – are articulated through improvisational millennialism. The examples include consideration of how the depiction of millennial beliefs in the mass media contribute to national cultural constructs but more typically focus on the use of improvisational millennialism in online communities. Of the latter, the greater number of examples are concerned with improvisational millennialism within the neo-fascist milieu. Mobilised by conspiracy theories with apocalyptic subtexts, the far right reliance on improvisational millennialism demonstrates the implicit danger of the increased incursion of stigmatized knowledge into the cultural mainstream. This critical review serves to show that despite being typified by a syncretic bricolage of unconnected ideas and traditions, improvisational millennialism is reflective of both social and political realities.