Relearning liberation: critical methodologies for the general crisis

Amsler, Sarah; Weiss-Hanrahan, Nancy

Abstract

How can critical theory help us to articulate the nature of social suffering in twenty-first century capitalism, and to expand our horizons of possibility for liberation and alternative futures at a moment of apparent impasse? In this essay, we explore how critical theorists across three generations in the European Frankfurt School tradition articulated the ‘struggles and wishes’ of their age and place, and reflect on the contextual limits and enduring relevance of their negative, utopian, democratic and ethical methods. We then turn to developments of this work in the Latin American tradition, particularly as elaborated by feminists, which articulate critical theorizing as a transformative praxis within the material construction of dignified communitarian life. In the final part of the paper, we consider what we might learn about how to theorize our own dominations and liberations through this critical methodology.

Citation

Amsler, S., & Weiss-Hanrahan, N. (2018). Relearning liberation: critical methodologies for the general crisis. Berlin Journal of Critical Theory, 2(4), 55-73

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 31, 2018
• Publication Date: Oct 31, 2018
• Deposit Date: Sep 2, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 1, 2019
• Print ISSN: 2567-4048
• Electronic ISSN: 2567-4056
• Publisher: Xenomoi Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 55-73
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1056112
• Related Public URLs: http://www.bjct.de/files/Issues%20of%20the%20BJCT/BJCT_4-2018.pdf