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New Books in Critical Theory

This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox:

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01:28:31

Assemblage Theory and Affect with Ian Buchanan...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/25

From the inside flap:“In this lucid and inventive work, Ian Buchanan argues that the pivotal concepts ‘assemblage’ and ‘affect,’ which were separated at birth, need to be reunited. Indeed, it is only by bringing them back together that we can fully understand their meaning. of Assemblage Theory and Affect (Bloomsbury, 2026) proposes three agenda-setting arguments:1. Affect is a function of desire—its powers are the powers we attribute to desire. As such, like desire it should be considered a

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00:56:32

Driven to Their Knees: Humiliation in Contemporary...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/25

Humiliation pervades our politics, from images of stripped Palestinian men in Gaza to mocking chants at MAGA rallies. It suffuses pictures and videos, speaks through bodies as well as words, and is expressed by those with too much power as well as by those with too little. In Driven to Their Knees, Roxanne Euben takes readers from conflicts in the Arabic-speaking world to America’s divided public square, advancing a theory of humiliation rooted in the ways people articulate and enact it. Euben

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00:57:36

The Nature of Freedom: On the Republican Tradition...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/23

What is freedom? Benjamin Constant and Isaiah Berlin divided the answers to that question into two categories: the positive conception of the ancients (freedom to participate in political life) and the negative conception of the moderns (freedom from external constraints). But what if this dichotomy is a false one?My guest on Madison’s Notes thinks so. So in Episode 6 of Season 6, I interview the political philosopher, Philip Pettit. The L.S. Rockefeller University Professor of Human Values at

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00:34:12

Angela Last, "Tainted Tools: New Materialisms As a...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/22

In Tainted Tools: New Materialisms As a Decolonial Project (Manchester University Press, 2026), Angela Last offers a provocative intervention into the tense relationship between new materialist and decolonial thought. Although both seek to challenge dominant European categories and hierarchies, they are often treated as incompatible. New materialisms, in particular, have been criticised for sustaining a white, universalised vision of the human and overlooking the racialised histories embedded in the

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01:11:38

Joe Jackson, "Kahlil Joseph and the Audiovisual...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/20

Kahlil Joseph has collaborated with musicians FKA twigs, Flying Lotus, Sampha and Shabazz Palaces among many others. He has directed numerous films, music videos and advertisements across Africa, America and Europe. The award-winning filmmaker's disruptive style – which frequently merges visual representations of transcontinental experiences with the countercultural energies of Afrodiasporic music – challenges the Eurocentric biases underpinning Western media. At the same time, his works generate

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00:42:26

Abi Bae and Hamza Hamouchene eds., "Towards...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/19

The book Towards Palestinian Liberation: Global Perspectives on Anti-Colonial Resistance & Solidarity(Daraja Press, 2026), published by Daraja Press, portrays a collection of solidarity movements around the world, highlighting the interconnectedness of global struggles with Palestine. It situates Palestine in a wider, historical decolonial liberation movement. By examining the role of economic and political interests, it critically assesses the opportunities and challenges that these movements

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42:04

Catherine A John, "Afroindigenization: A Theory of...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/15

In Afroindigenization: A Theory of Grassroots Cultural Practice (Duke University Press, 2026), Catherine A. John addresses the underbelly of spiritual resilience shaping a range of African diasporic institutions, traditions, and practices. John argues that repressed forms of indigenous African knowledge systems manifest in a myriad of culturally embodied ways in African diaspora spaces and places. From mermaid lore in rural Jamaica to hip-hop trance-induced dance in Los Angeles to the stories of two

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67:50

John Charles Simon and Jennalee Donian,...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/12

In John Charles Simon and Jennalee Donian’s Understanding Laughter and Humor: Why We Laugh, Why We Don’t, and Why It Matters (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), the authors put forward a comprehensive new theoretical approach to understanding laughter and the humour we use to inspire it. Applying an evolutionary and biological lens to these complex and universal human behaviours, the book distinguishes itself from classical and contemporary theories by focusing not simply on laughter’s causes and effects,

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70:47

Robert A. Wilson, "Kin Matters: Relational Beings in...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/10

What is kinship? This central question in cultural anthropology is standardly answered in terms of culturally constructed relationships that are unconstrained by biological relationships. InKin Matters: Relational Beings in the Fragile Sciences(Oxford UP, 2026), Robert Wilson proposes an alternative view that does not separate kin relations from biological facts about reproduction that are universally known, such as the fact that human females are pregnant before they give birth. On the

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58:22

Leonhard Emmerling, "The Idiots: The History of the...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/09

In a world obsessed with expertise and control, the figure of the idiot illuminates deeper truths about society.In this interview,Morteza Hajizadeh interviewsLeonhard Emmerling about his bookThe Idiots: The History of the Homo Nullus(Seagull Books, 2026)Dostoevsky and Nietzsche wrote about him; Dadaists and punks idolized him; artists like Warhol and Beuys made him their icon. From holy fool to punk rebel, the idiot—a figure that traces its roots back to the Greekidiotes, a person who was

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69:23

Kevin Van Meter and Robert Ovetz eds. "Points of...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/07

“The general thrust of capitalist policy in this period aims at the intensified imposition of work in response to ongoing struggle against it.”—Harry Cleaver, “Work Is Still the Central Issue: New Words for New Worlds,” inPoints of Departure, ed. Robert Ovetz and Kevin Van Meter, p. 35. What changes if we begin the history of capitalism not with what capital does to workers, but with what workers force capital to do? This reversal helps set Harry Cleaver’s approach to Marxism apart from more

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62:58

Marnie Hughes-Warrington, "Artificial Historians"...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/05

I spoke with Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington about her 2026 bookArtificial Historians, co-authored with Anne Martin and Lewis Yarlupurka O’Brien. A distinguished historian, philosopher, academic leader, and Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) based at the University of Adelaide, my guest explores how the logic of history, defined around trivalent logic (the “maybes,” the “ifs,” the ontological uncertainties), intersects with and challenges the logic of dominant AI algorithms.The book raises

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58:47

Piergiorgio Di Giminiani, "Alterhumanism: Becoming...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/04

In the Anthropocene, a question has become increasingly urgent: What does it mean to be human? Set against the backdrop of southern Chile’s conservation frontier, Alterhumanism: Becoming Human on a Conservation Frontier (University of Arizona Press, 2025) invites us to recognize the centrality of the human condition in the face of an increasingly uncertain world and imagine future forms of coexistence. Reflecting on more than a decade of ethnographic fieldwork with smallholding settlers,

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55:39

Chika Watanabe, "Play to Survive: Disaster...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/04

We live in a fragile world. This much is evident as stories abound ofnatural disasters that wipe out communities in an instant. How can we survive the future on such a planet, amid intensifying climate change? This question is particularly poignant along the Ring of Fire, a tectonic belt in the Pacific region that routinely faces some of the most devastating disasters in the world. Based on ethnographic research spanning seven years, Play to Survive: Disaster Preparedness Along the Ring of

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61:52

Jonathan Quong, "Political Philosophy: The Puzzle of...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/03

Can laws be unjust and yet remain, in some sense, morally legitimate? InPolitical Philosophy: The Puzzle of Legitimate Injustice(Princeton UP, 2026), Jonathan Quong considers central issues in political philosophy through the lens of this single question. He explores and evaluates recent influential work on this topic and then proposes a novel approach of his own. The puzzle at the heart of his account is the phenomenon of legitimate injustice—laws and policies that are substantively unjust yet may

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62:24

Michael Diniscia and Ellyn M Toscano eds. "Civility...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/03

The idea of civility goes back to classical Rome and the ways in which citizens engaged one another within the republic. The term itself is often used in a number of different ways, reflecting expected behavior, particularly in public spaces, and as a mechanism to manage human interaction. But civility and the use of this idea often shape hierarchical relationships within society and within politics and may define who is to be included within the polis and who may be excluded. Thus, the

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31:44

Duty, Banality, and Hopefulness with Alex Cain

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/09/01

In this episode Pat speaks with Dr Alex Cain.Dr Alex Cain researches in the fields of political theory and ethical theory, with a particular focus on the work of Hannah Arendt, among other figures in the history of philosophy. Her work in this field has so far mostly focussed on the topics of friendship, political action, judgement and the role of experience in philosophical inquiry. They discuss Sidney Nolan’s duty to paint the concentration camps, the hopefulness of Hannah Arendt, and the

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36:49

Gastronomy as Sensory Engineering

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/08/31

One year after the publication ofGastronomica’sspecial feature on food and philosophy, Robert T. Valgenti of the Editorial Collective revisits the question of what a philosophical perspective could bring to addressing food-related issues. In this episode, he talks withGastronomicaauthor and philosopher Sascha Benjamin Fink about human perception and how people experience the world, taking up questions at the cutting edge of science, art, and gastronomy. Sascha discusses the role of the senses and

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46:59

Raf de Bont et al eds., "Globalizing Wildlife" (UNC...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/08/31

Humans have always incorporated wildlife into processes of work, capture, and exchange. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, globalization became the latest in a long line of forces affecting human-animal relations. Grey parrots travelled the world as pets; rats used global shipping infrastructure to spread to far-off islands and became the object of cross-border extermination campaigns; and California sea otters were relocated to accommodate global oil transportation needs. The language

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68:45

Prakash Kashwan, "Decolonizing Environmentalism:...

New Books in Critical Theory ·

2026/08/30

Brought to you by the BISA Environment and Climate Politics Working Group. Decolonizing Environmentalism:Alternative Visions and Practices of EnvironmentalAction (Bloomsbury, 2024)helps us reimagine our approach to environmental stewardship critically interrogating the problems associated with existing legacies of environmentalism and how we imagine other ways to addressing the multiple planetary crises. The authors cast a critical eye on wealthy and influential environmental groups that

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