The Left Hemisphere: Mapping Critical Theory Today

Sociology professor Keucheyan maps the contemporary inheritance of critical thinking. The author tackles the history of radical movements and the important use of critical theory. He illustrates the ways in which critical thought has been re-appropriated and taken up by divergent threads of left-leaning politics, such as Marxist ecology, post-feminism, and African post-colonial political resistance. The book extensively surveys the relative positions of the major theorists, including Zizek, Benjamin, Gramsci, Agamben, Habermas, Balibar, Fraser, Anderson, and Said. The product is succinct and readable despite the breadth and depth of the inquiry and the complexity of the topic. Keucheyan%E2%80%99s writing is just as approachable for the curious initiate as it is stimulating for the advanced political thinker. The intricate nexus of ideas, thinkers, movements, and events portrayed exhibits the panoply of the left and radical politics. This indispensable compendium demystifies a complex conceptual framework, thus allowing its readers to join this rich conversation. (July)