Epilogue

Patricia Mooney Nickel

pp. 201-204

in: Patricia Mooney Nickel (ed), North American critical theory after postmodernism, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012

Abstract

The overall intent of this project was to instigate an exploration of the evolution of North American critical theory since the postmodern turn in order to move beyond the confusing array of false binaries that followed in its wake: Marxism/post-Marxism, Marxism/postmodernism, essentialist/post-Marxist, ideology/language, class/subject, Marx/Foucault, Marx/Derrida, to name only a few. As the scholars in this volume demonstrate, one can read both Marx and Foucault for a critique of power, just as one can engage in ideology critique while also recognizing that language is political. False binaries aimed at preserving the boundaries of orthodox schools of thought obscure a rich tradition of engaged scholarship that is dedicated less to adding academic value to the legitimacy of a particular tradition than it is dedicated to uncovering the political potential of critique. These interviews reveal that North American critical theory is not a clearly bound school of thought, nor a concrete identity. Rather, it is a critical political stance influenced not only by Marx and the Frankfurt School, but the entire spectrum of critical thought.

Cited authors

Derrida Jacques

Foucault Michel

Marx Karl