Free (ing) social theory!

Monday I realized just how hungry I've been for intellectual stimulation and, even better, that I am not alone! Thanks to the Vancouver Institute For Social Research, a free series of professor-led talks that aims to free critical theory from the confines of the University,  I am now able to flex my brain once a week with about one hundred wool clad, designer framed theory nerds of all ages (who made up the majority of those present) at the Or gallery!

The list of speakers is awesome including two of my own heroes, Steven Taubeneck (who I took existentialism and post-war German lit with and who made an impression on me by forcing the most entitled students-as-consumers tell him what they thought of the state of the world) and Thomas Kemple (who I took two theory courses with, who encouraged me to write unorthodox papers and who got my ass into grad school.) 

This week's speaker, Clint Burnham, presented a genealogy of the "unconscious" from Freud, to Lacan, Benjamin, Jameson, Krauss and Zizek and examined the degree to which the Internet functions as an extension of this tradition. This was in many ways a "graduate class" in so far as the levels of abstraction reached by both the speaker (and the thinkers he presented) require some degree of higher education to comprehend (either formal or informal yet library based), which demonstrates the degree to which this really is a "para-university" and therefore not completely inclusive. But the choice of conceptual device to expand on these thinkers made the talk somewhat more accessible, and quite brilliant. My head kind of hurt by the end of it but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the seminar and felt strangely energized the following day! The evening also restored some of my hope in the world to tell you the truth, due to the number of people who actually voluntarily showed up reminding me, much like the Anti-Olympic and Occupy movements did,  that Vancouver has a place for political discourse.

These talks happen every Monday from 7-9 (though show up early because seats fill up) until April 1st (and hopefully thereafter, as this is the pilot phase of the project). Readings are accessible online and free of charge on this website, which will also tell you a bit more about the varied topics that will be discussed: 

http://visrfreeschool.wordpress.com/

And check out the Or Gallery website to find out more about this and other events: 

www.orgallery.org/VISR