Alberto Moreiras

I would like to thank Adam Rosenthal for his leadership last year.  It is a tough act to follow, but it falls on me to be the PI this year (and next year it will be Teresa Vilarós’ turn).  Certainly we will continue to work together, but you should write to me (moreiras@tamu.edu) with any queries or problems, etc.  What follows is a summary of activities planned for the year. 

We are preparing a workshop on Decoloniality, Infrapolitics, and the Anthropocene for November 6-9, 2024, and another workshop on Nihilism and the Anthropocene for April 17-20, 2025.   But we are also launching the Critical Theory Collective—actually an offshoot of work done last year: thinking the Anthropocene is critical theory even if not all critical theory thinks the Anthropocene.  I will post an invitation for an inaugural lunch meeting October 4 where we hope people will convene to sign up for the Collective. 

There is already a Critical Theory Collective Working Group 1, directed by Ben Davis (GLAC), and in our first meeting we decided that, after finishing the discussion of Helmut Plessner’s Political Anthropology, which should happen October 1, we would then tackle Bernard Stiegler’s The Neganthropocene.  Discussion of this book will be continued with discussion of other books by Stiegler, in particular his early trilogy on technics and his posthumous book Qu’appelle-t-on panser? 1. L’immense regression.  So I am proposing a year-long working group on Stiegler that will share part of its itinerary with the Critical Theory Collective Working Group 1—for the duration of that joint venture we will meet every two weeks on Tuesdays at 5:15, location to be posted soon. 

And there are two further initiatives in the making: Jacques Derrida’s 1991-92 seminar Répondre—du secret has recently been published in French.  As this is the first seminar of the Questions of Responsibility series, which crosses the 1990s until Derrida’s death, and given the extreme political importance Derrida gave the notion of the secret (always already a secret beyond the two tricks of hegemony and counterhegemony, always already a marrano secret), I think it would be crucial to read this in connection with our theme of thought in anthropocenic times.  So we are proposing a working group that will meet through zoom at times and dates to be announced.  The reason for this is that there are several participants from out of town that are co-proponents of this group.

The other initiative is to invite Jean Vioulac to College Station for a visit, perhaps for the Fall of 2025.  Vioulac is the author of several important books, and his work has begun to be translated into English.  But our group is particularly interested in his two books respectively entitled Métaphysique de l’Anthropocène.  Nihilisme et totalitarisme and Métaphysique de l’Anthropocène II.  Raison et destruction.  This visit will be cosponsored by the Critical Theory Collective and it should be quite an important event—we want to organize a workshop around his work.  Anybody who anticipates an interest in active participation in, and preparation for, this should write an email to me (again, moreiras@tamu.edu).