Gabriel Rockhill
Gabriel Rockhill (born 1972) is a French-American philosopher, writer, cultural critic, and activist. He is Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University,[1] Founder and Director of the Critical Theory Workshop/Atelier de Théorie Critique, and former Directeur de programme at the Collège International de Philosophie.[2]
Gabriel Rockhill | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1972 |
| Alma mater | Grinnell College School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences Paris 8 University Emory University |
| Occupation | Philosopher |
| Employer | Villanova University |
Best known for his innovative scholarly work in the fields of history, aesthetics and politics, he is also a regular contributor to public intellectual debate, and his writings have circulated widely in venues such as CounterPunch, Black Agenda Report, the New York Times, Libération and the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Early life
Gabriel Rockhill graduated from Grinnell College in 1995.[3] He earned a master's degree under the direction of Jacques Derrida and Luce Irigaray from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, and a Ph.D. under the direction of Alain Badiou from Paris 8 University, as well as a Ph.D. from Emory University.[3]
Work
Rockhill has advanced a new model for thinking the historical relationship between art and politics. Rather than understanding them as two spheres separated by an insurmountable divide or linked by a privileged bridge, he demonstrates through historical and materialist analysis that they are not fixed entities with a singular relation, but rather social practices and "concepts in struggle." In books like Radical History & the Politics of Art (Columbia University Press, 2014) and Interventions in Contemporary Thought: History, Politics, Aesthetics (Edinburgh University Press, 2016), he proposes a significant departure from extant philosophical debates on what is commonly called "art" and "politics" in the name of a radically historicist analysis of the political dimensions inherent in the modes of production, circulation and reception of aesthetic practices. Engaging with a diverse array of intellectual, artistic, and political traditions, his work carefully maps interactions between different aspects of aesthetic and political practices as they intertwine and sometimes merge in specific fields of struggle.
In his earlier work, Logique de l'histoire: pour une analytique des pratiques philosophiques (Éditions Hermann, 2010), he developed an alternative logic of history and historical change, which emphasizes the geographic and social dimensions of history, as well as a novel account of social practices and a multidimensional theory of agency. His most recent book, Contre-histoire du temps présent: interrogations intempestives sur la mondialisation, la technologie, la démocratie (CNRS Éditions, 2017; published in English as Counter-History of the Present: Untimely Interrogations into Globalization, Technology, Democracy, Duke University Press, 2017) expands this work to a critical analysis of the dominant image of the present moment, thereby dismantling what he refers to as the "historical and political imaginary of the contemporary conjuncture."
In addition to his scholarly publications, Rockhill has written a number of literary pieces and political essays that have circulated widely and been translated into multiple languages, including widely discussed articles like "The CIA Reads French Theory" in the L.A. Review of Books.
Bibliography
Books
- La CIA et les intellectuels: Une histoire souterraine des idées. De l'école de Francfort aux "nouveaux philosophes" (La fabrique éditions, forthcoming).
- Contre-histoire du temps présent: interrogations intempestives sur la mondialisation, la technologie, la démocratie (CNRS Éditions, 2017), published in English as Counter-History of the Present: Untimely Interrogations into Globalization, Technology, Democracy (Duke University Press, 2017).
- Interventions in Contemporary Thought: History, Politics, Aesthetics (Edinburgh University Press, 2016).
- Radical History & the Politics of Art (New York: Columbia University Press, Series "New Directions in Critical Theory," 2014), 288 pp. ISBN 978-0-231-15201-3. (pb.)[4]
- Logique de l’histoire: Pour une analytique des pratiques philosophiques (Paris: Editions Hermann, series "Hermann Philosophie," 2010), 534 pp. ISBN 978-2-7056-6965-2. (pb.)[5]
Edited books
- With Alfredo Gomez-Muller, in collaboration with Seyla Benhabib, Nancy Fraser, Judith Butler, Immanuel Wallerstein, Cornel West, Will Kymlicka, Michael Sandel and Axel Honneth: Politics of Culture and the Spirit of Critique: Dialogues (New York: Columbia University Press, Series "New Directions in Critical Theory," 2011), 240 pp. ISBN 978-0-231-15187-0. (pb.)
- French edition (slightly different): Critique et subversion dans la pensée contemporaine américaine: Dialogues (Paris: Editions du Félin, 2010).
- Spanish edition (slightly different): La teoría crítica en Norteamérica: Política, ética y actualidad (Medellín: La Carreta Editores, 2008).
- With Pierre-Antoine Chardel: Technologies de contrôle dans la mondialisation: enjeux politiques, éthiques et esthétiques (Paris: Editions Kimé, 2009), 207 pp. ISBN 978-2-84174-499-2. (pb.)
- With Philip Watts: Jacques Rancière: History, Politics, Aesthetics (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2009), 368 pp. ISBN 978-0-8223-4506-0. (pb.)
Edited translations
- With John V. Garner: Cornelius Castoriadis. Postscript on Insignificance: Dialogues with Cornelius Castoriadis (London: Continuum Books, 2011).
- Jacques Rancière. The Politics of Aesthetics (London: Continuum Books, 2004).
References
- "Gabriel Rockhill - Gabriel Rockhill". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
- "CIPh Paris". Ciph.org. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
- "Gabriel Rockhill, Ph.D." Villanova University. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
- "Radical History and the Politics of Art". Archived from the original on 2014-04-27. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
- "Trouver un livre - Hermann Éditeurs". Editions-hermann.fr. Archived from the original on 2013-02-13. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
