Critical Theory in Berlin

Living in Authoritarian Times: An online conversation with Ghazaleh Alimardani (Iran), Rahul Bhatia (India), Volkan Çidam (Turkey), Maik Dele Dittrich Frydetzki (Germany), Joseph Howley (USA). Moderated by Zeynep Gambetti (Turkey).

26.10., 12.00 EST / 18.00 CEST. Live streamed.

We are excited to officially announce Dipesh Chakrabarty as our next Benjamin Chair in 2026. Chakrabarty, leading scholar of postcolonial theory and subaltern studies, will join us as Benjamin Chair in Berlin next summer.
Save the Date - More information coming soon on our website!

Save the Date: On Oct 30-31, our research project Socialization in Theory and Praxis will bring together a range of social, legal and historical scholars to analyze the question of land ownership and socialization.
Full programme now online on our website: criticaltheoryinberlin.de/event/the-la...

Save the Date: On Oct 30-31, our research project Socialization in Theory and Praxis will bring together a range of social, legal and historical scholars to analyze the question of land ownership and socialization.
Full programme now online on our website: criticaltheoryinberlin.de/event/the-la...

video of the discussion from May with Alex Demirović about the politics of critical theory in the post-war Frankfurt School is now online

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDfe...

Eine neue Folge Future Histories!

Diesmal spreche ich mit Rahel Jaeggi (@humboldtuni.bsky.social; @ktbberlin.bsky.social) über die Krise des Liberalismus, Fortschritt als Prozess und sozialistisches Utopisieren.

Zu finden hier:

www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blo...

@suhrkamp.de

Registration now open for our mini-workshop on "Democratizing Finance" with Michael A. McCarthy (UC Santa Cruz), author of "The Master’s Tools: How Finance Wrecked Democracy (And a Radical Plan to Rebuild It)".
criticaltheoryinberlin.de/event/democr...

To wrap up the Benjamin Lectures that Tommie Shelby held this semester, we have published two texts reporting on the three evenings - in English (by Mara Cayarga & Marvin Ester) & in German (by Hanna Hoffman-Richter).
Go to Report/Veranstaltungsbericht here:
criticaltheoryinberlin.de/en/benjamin_...

Schwarz-Weiß-Fotografie von Karl Marx, der auf einem Stuhl sitzt und den Betrachter direkt ansieht. Links oben steht das Logo „tl;dr“. Darunter in weißer Schrift: „NEUE FOLGE VON «TL;DR» ZU KARL MARX“. Darunter ein Zitat: „Marx zeigt, warum Ausbeutung auch dann stattfindet, wenn niemand betrogen wird.“ – Christian Schmidt über Das Kapital Band 2. Unten kleiner Text: „Folge 52 des Theoriepodcast «tl;dr» der Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung ist jetzt online – Host Alex Demirović spricht mit Christian Schmidt“.

In der 52. Folge von unserem Theorie-Podcast «tl;dr» geht es um den zweiten Band von «Das Kapital». Zu Gast bei Alex Demirović ist in dieser Sendung Christian Schmidt. Hört euch jetzt die neue Folge an, überall, wo es Podcasts gibt! 🎧

Freedom Within the Limits of Nature - Center for Post-Kantian Philosophy Talk by Kohei Saito, followed by a discussion with Rahel Jaeggi, and Thomas Khurana

Is Marx a degrowth communist and does he advance a conception of "ecological freedom"? The video of Kohei Saito's talk and the conversation w/ Rahel Jaeggi and Thomas Khurana at Volksbühne is online: cpkp.net/event/freedo...
@ktbberlin.bsky.social @cominsitu.bsky.social @tbheinze.bsky.social

YouTube video by Critical Theory in Berlin Tommie Shelby: Race and Class in the Political Ethics of the Oppressed, 1 Benjamin Lecture 18/06/25

All three of Tommie Shelby's Benjamin Lectures can now be viewed on our youtube channel!

youtu.be/6MwKumpSai0?...

Fanon Today.
Contemporary Struggles and Theoretical Perspectives

next week in Berlin!

program etc here:

www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/we01/institu...

Save the Date: On July 9, Kohei Saito will discuss his work on Marx's ecological critique of capitalism with Rahel Jaeggi & Thomas Khurana.
Tickets available at Volksbühne: www.volksbuehne.berlin#/de/repertoi...
More info: criticaltheoryinberlin.de/en/event/fre...

Neues Buch:

Solidaritäten transformieren.
Praktiken und Infrastrukturen in der Migrationsgesellschaft

mit Texten v. Manuela Bojadžijev, Wendy Brown, Rahel Jaeggi, Sandro Mezzadra, Stephan Lessenich, Paul Mecheril u.v.m.

open access!

adocs.de/de/buecher/t...

Next week in Berlin!

www.volksbuehne.berlin/de/repertoir...

Tonight at 6pm!

Am 10.07. lädt das Forschungskonsortium Transforming Solidarities zur Buchvorstellung des neuen Sammelbandes "Solidaritäten transformieren. Praktiken und Infrastrukturen in der Migrationsgesellschaft" ein - Mehr Infos: transformingsolidarities.net/de/news/buch...

Save the Date: On July 9, Kohei Saito will discuss his work on Marx's ecological critique of capitalism with Rahel Jaeggi & Thomas Khurana.
Tickets available at Volksbühne: www.volksbuehne.berlin#/de/repertoi...
More info: criticaltheoryinberlin.de/en/event/fre...

Gibt es ein richtiges Leben im falschen? Bei den Walter-Benjamin-Lectures sprach Tommie Shelby über Solidarität und Protest – und darüber, wie man angesichts von Unterdrückung die eigene Würde bewahrt. Der Bericht von @jensbisky.bsky.social und Karsten Malowitz:

www.soziopolis.de/das-recht-au...

Save the Date: Next Wednesday, we will meet at Uferstudios to discuss the relation between capitalism and racism with Manuale Bojadžijev, R. Gooding-Williams, Tommie Shelby and Inés Valdez. More infos: criticaltheoryinberlin.de/event/racial...

Unfortunately, this year's Benjamin Lectures are already over, but we are very thankful that so many people took interest in Tommie Shelby's Political Ethics of the Oppressed. Thank you all for coming and for such great Q&A sessions! The lectures will soon be uploaded on our youtube channel.

Tonight, it is time for Tommie Shelby's final Benjamin lecture - he will talk about the role of self-respect for the oppressed and its relation to protest. We are excited to see him wrap up this lecture series and to see you back at the HKW at 6pm!
criticaltheoryinberlin.de/en/benjamin_...

Tonight, it is time for Tommie Shelby's second lecture - he will speak about the role of solidarity and intellectuals in the struggle for liberation. We're looking forward to seeing you (again) at the HKW at 6pm!
criticaltheoryinberlin.de/en/benjamin_...

In his first lecture, Tommie Shelby talked about what it means to live a life of dignity under conditions of oppression. Come (back) tomorrow to hear about his views on "Solidarity, Politics and Intellectual Life"!

Tommie Shelby zur Ethik der Unterdrückten: „Es geht darum, Ängste zu überkommen“ In den USA protestieren Millionen gegen Trumps Abschiebepolitik. Der Philosoph Tommie Shelby entwickelt bei den Benjamin Lectures in Berlin eine politische Ethik der Unterdrückten. Was tun, wenn…

In den USA protestieren Millionen gegen Trumps Abschiebepolitik. Der Philosoph Tommie Shelby entwickelt bei den Benjamin Lectures in Berlin eine politische Ethik der Unterdrückten. Was tun, wenn Überleben und Würde in Konflikt geraten? (F+)
www.freitag.de/autoren/lore...

FAQ:
🔴How to get to HKW: U Bundestag/Bus 100 Haus der Kulturen der Welt.
🔴Translation into German available.
🔴No registration needed.
🔴Lectures from 6-8pm today, tomorrow and Friday.

Tonight it is finally time for Tommie Shelby's first Benjamin Lecture! He will begin with the topic of "Race and Class in the Political Ethics of the Oppressed". We are looking forward to seeing many of you at Haus der Kulturen der Welt at 6pm!
criticaltheoryinberlin.de/en/benjamin_...

Have you already discovered our posters around Berlin? Only two more days until Tommie Shelby gives his first lecture on the political ethics of the oppressed at Haus der Kulturen der Welt:
criticaltheoryinberlin.de/en/benjamin_...

#306 Tommie Shelby: "Only grassroots solidarity can stop the march of authoritarianism" Politics for the rich, blatant discrimination against minorities and attacks on basic rights: How can we build new forms of solidarity against the creeping authoritarianism in the United States and el...

If you want to get a first impression of what our Benjamin Lectures next week will be about, you can listen to Tommie Shelby talk to the host Lukas Ondreka on Dissens Podcast about grassroots solidarity and resistance to today's authoritarian movements:
podcast.dissenspodcast.de/306-racism