In this essay, Julian Tepfers explores the interconnectedness of the nation state, the state of nature, and our state of mind. He argues that the nation state need not be a permanent end in itself, but can rather be a temporary state of continuous development. By bringing social contract theory into dialogue with Vedic wisdom, he proposes a continuous return to the state of nature within … Read more
This essay by guest author Ben Brent investigates the subtle ways in which Eurocentrism can be reproduced in what otherwise appear to be anti-Eurocentric, decolonial theory. Distinguishing between “shallow” and “foundational” anti-Eurocentrism, the decentering approach pursued by some anti-Eurocentric authors is analysed in juxtaposition with the stronger position which forms the kernel of much decolonial theorising. A more “foundational” anti-Eurocentrism does, however, entail its own … Read more
An essay which utilises short fiction and music to reflect on the teleological determinism characteristic of historical Eurocentric theorising which aspired to a global universality. How can we think theory in the ruins of such meta-narratives? Does theory still retain an emancipatory function? Can global thought also mean an excavation of wreckages, or giving voice to revisiting spectres from the past? Can such ghosts meaningfully contest the ‘capitalist realism’ which threatens the subsumption of futurity nd utopian imagining today?
