Colin Wright
Lecturer in Critical Theory, Faculty of Arts
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Expertise Summary
My general areas of research interest include French Critical Theory (particularly Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze & Guattari), Continental Philosophy (particularly poststructuralism and the critique of humanism), Psychoanalysis (particularly Freud, Lacan, and Zizek), and the intersections between Political and Postcolonial Theory (Agamben, Hardt & Negri, Spivak, Fanon, Garvey etc.). More specific research themes include the relationships between conflict and culture, violence and subject-formation, and revolutions and historiography.
Research Summary
I am currently working on a book entitled 'Alain Badiou: The Politics of Conflict'. This examines both the role of conflict in his evolving project (his analyses of the Paris Commune, the French… read more
Selected Publications
WRIGHT, C., 2006. Philosophy, Rhetoric,Iideology: Towards a Sophistic Democracy Auckland: Magnolia Press.
DEMARIA, C. and WRIGHT, C., eds., 2006. Post-conflict cultures: Rituals of representation London: Zoilus Press.
WRIGHT, C., 2006. Power, conflict, visuality: Ironic iteration in the anti-Iraq War movement Versus: Quaderni di studi semiotici. 100-101, 115-133
Current Research
I am currently working on a book entitled 'Alain Badiou: The Politics of Conflict'. This examines both the role of conflict in his evolving project (his analyses of the Paris Commune, the French Revolution, October 1917, May '68 and the Chinese Cultural Revolution etc.) and the potential contribution of his concept of the 'event' to radical political theory in general, and to the theory and philosophy of conflict in particular. Unusually in treatments of Badiou's thought, however, I am testing its utility through 'applications' to examples drawn both from the history of Jamaica and more contemporary political sequences, such as the anti-globalisation movement (of which Badiou is so scathing). I expect to complete this project by late 2008.
Past Research
My book 'Philosophy, Rhetoric, Ideology: Towards a Sophistic Democracy' (Magnolia: 2006) explored the ideological impact of classical and renaissance rhetorical theory on the discourses of philosophy, literature and politics. Drawing primarilly on poststructuralist and post-Marxist theories, it outlined a sophistic understanding of democracy based on dissensus rather than on consensus. These political interests were focussed on the specific relationship between conflict and representation in my co-edited volume (with Cristina Demaria), Post-Conflict Cultures: Rituals of Representation (Zoilus: 2006). Thanks to contributions from diverse fields, this book examined representations of conflict in five areas: the media, visual cultures, politics and the law, ethnicity and gender, and history and literature. I also have a short introduction to psychoanalytic theory - entitled, with astonishing creativity, Introduction to Psychoanalysis - coming out with Zoilus in 2007. Articles on topics ranging from media images of conflict to the World Social Forum, from postcolonial theory to Alain Badiou, have appeared in journals such as Culture, Theory, and Critique, Ephemera, Versus and Theory & Event.
Future Research
I am in the early planning stages of a more politically and culturally oriented monograph on conflict in the history (and historiography) of Jamaica. Likely topics include the Maroons, the Sam Sharpe slave rebellion, the Morant Bay Revolt, Garveyism, Rastafarianism, the struggle for independence, Michael Manley's brand of socialism and his conflict with the IMF, as well as contemporary urban gang culture. Although born in Jamaica, I make no claims to 'being' Jamaican, so would welcome enquiries from 'native informants', academic or otherwise, who might be interested in such a project.