Below is the course MacKenzie Wark offers in the Liberal Studies Masters program at the New School for Social Research this semester. There’s links below to (most of) the blog posts that will serve as lecture notes.
How might twentieth century texts in critical theory be of use in thinking about twenty-first century issues and problems? Do we need to read the accepted classics differently? Are there neglected works that might be more relevant to today’s concerns. We shall cover a wide range of theory topics, including the political, technology, culture and media. All with an eye to getting a grounding in a world where technology has gone digital, where power and influence has shifted away from ‘the west’, and where the Anthropocene scrambles our accepted notions of culture and nature. The course provides a platform for articulating forward-looking reach questions to established literatures.