Jason Barker
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jason Barker (born 1971) is a British theorist of contemporary
French philosophy French philosophy, here taken to mean philosophy in the French language, has been extremely diverse and has influenced Western philosophy as a whole for centuries, from the medieval scholasticism of Peter Abelard, through the founding of modern ...
, a film director, screenwriter and producer. He is a professor of cultural studies at
Kyung Hee University Kyung Hee University (abbreviated to KHU) (Hangul: 경희대학교; Hanja: 慶熙大學校) is a private research university in South Korea with campuses in Seoul and Suwon. Founded in 1949, it is widely regarded as one of the best universities i ...
in the Graduate School of British and American Language and Culture"English Language & Education"
and visiting professor at the
European Graduate School The European Graduate School (EGS) is a private graduate school that operates in two locations: Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Valletta, Malta. History It was founded in 1994 in Saas-Fee, Switzerland by the Swiss scientist, artist, and therapist, Pao ...
,"Biography"
.
where he teaches in the Faculty of Media and Communication alongside
Alain Badiou Alain Badiou (; ; born 17 January 1937) is a French philosopher, formerly chair of Philosophy at the École normale supérieure (ENS) and founder of the faculty of Philosophy of the Université de Paris VIII with Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucau ...
,
Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler ...
,
Jacques Rancière Jacques Rancière (; born 10 June 1940) is a French philosopher, Professor of Philosophy at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII: Vincennes—Saint-Denis. After co-authoring '' ...
,
Avital Ronell Avital Ronell ( ; born 15 April 1952) is an American academic who writes about continental philosophy, literary studies, psychoanalysis, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the humanities and in the departments of Germanic l ...
,
Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New Y ...
and others. Most notable for his translation and introductions to the philosophy of Alain Badiou, Barker draws on an eclectic range of influences including
neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonism, Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion, religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of ...
,
Lacanian psychoanalysis Lacanianism or Lacanian psychoanalysis is a theoretical system that explains the mind, behaviour, and culture through a structuralist and post-structuralist extension of classical psychoanalysis, initiated by the work of Jacques Lacan from the ...
and
Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
. Writing in both the English and French languages, Barker has also contributed to debates in
post-Marxism Post-Marxism is a trend in political philosophy and social theory which deconstructs Karl Marx's writings and Marxism itself, bypassing orthodox Marxism. The term "post-Marxism" first appeared in Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's theoretica ...
. In an article published in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' in February 2012, Barker criticised the selective interpretation of
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
's writings by economists such as
Nouriel Roubini Nouriel Roubini (born March 9 1958) is a Turkish-born Iranian-American economist. He is Professor Emeritus (2021–present) and was Professor of Economics (1995–2021) at the Stern School of Business, New York University, and also chairman of Ro ...
when responding to the
global recession A global recession is recession that affects many countries around the world—that is, a period of global economic slowdown or declining economic output. Definitions The International Monetary Fund defines a global recession as "a decline i ...
. According to Barker, such interpretations water down the revolutionary aspects of Marx's ideas and focus unduly on their reformist tendencies. Writing in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' on the occasion of the Marx bicentennial anniversary, Barker argued: "The key factor in Marx’s intellectual legacy in our present-day society is not 'philosophy' but 'critique,' or what he described in 1843 as 'the ruthless criticism of all that exists: ruthless both in the sense of not being afraid of the results it arrives at and in the sense of being just as little afraid of conflict with the powers that be'".


''Marx Returns''

Barker is the author of ''
Marx Returns ''Marx Returns'' is the debut novel by the British writer and filmmaker Jason Barker. It tells the story of the German philosopher Karl Marx and his struggle to complete his magnum opus ''Capital''. Reception Reviewing ''Marx Returns'' in the ' ...
''. The story focuses on the life of
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
and his struggle to write his major work on
political economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...
, ''
Capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
''.
Philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
Ray Brassier Raymond Brassier (born 1965) is a British philosopher. He is member of the philosophy faculty at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, known for his work in philosophical realism. He was formerly Research Fellow at the Centre for Resear ...
described it as " rious, funny, perplexing, and irreverent"."Marx Returns"
According to
Nina Power Nina Power is an English writer and philosopher. She is a senior editor of and columnist for the online magazine ''Compact''. Power received her PhD in philosophy from Middlesex University on the topic of humanism and antihumanism in postwar ...
, reviewing the work in the ''
Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...
'', ''Marx Returns'' is "an imaginative, uplifting, and sometimes disturbing alternative history".


''Marx Reloaded''

Barker is the writer, director and producer of the 2011 partly animated documentary film ''
Marx Reloaded ''Marx Reloaded'' is a 2011 German documentary film written and directed by the British writer and theorist Jason Barker. Featuring interviews with several well-known philosophers, the film aims to examine the relevance of Karl Marx's ideas in rela ...
'', which considers the relevance of Marx's ideas in the aftermath of the global economic and financial crisis of 2008—2009. The film includes interviews with several distinguished
philosophers A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
including
Michael Hardt Michael Hardt (born 1960) is an American political philosopher and literary theorist. Hardt is best known for his book ''Empire'', which was co-written with Antonio Negri. Hardt and Negri suggest that several forces which they see as dominat ...
,
Antonio Negri Antonio "Toni" Negri (born 1 August 1933) is an Italian Spinozistic- Marxist sociologist and political philosopher, best known for his co-authorship of ''Empire'' and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political ...
, Nina Power, Jacques Rancière,
John N. Gray John Nicholas Gray (born 17 April 1948) is an English political philosopher and author with interests in analytic philosophy, the history of ideas, and philosophical pessimism. He retired in 2008 as School Professor of European Thought at the ...
,
Alberto Toscano Alberto Toscano (born 1 January 1977) is an Italian cultural critic, social theorist, philosopher, and translator. He has translated the work of Alain Badiou, including Badiou's ''The Century'' and ''Logics of Worlds''. He served as both editor ...
,
Peter Sloterdijk Peter Sloterdijk (; ; born 26 June 1947) is a German philosopher and cultural theorist. He is a professor of philosophy and media theory at the University of Art and Design Karlsruhe. He co-hosted the German television show ''Im Glashaus: Das Phi ...
and
Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New Y ...
. ''
The London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after bei ...
'' cited the film alongside the 2012 re-edition of ''
The Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Comm ...
'' and
Owen Jones Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984) is a British newspaper columnist, political commentator, journalist, author, and left-wing activist. He writes a column for ''The Guardian'' and contributes to the ''New Statesman'' and ''Tribune.'' He has two w ...
' best-selling book '' Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class'' as evidence of a resurgence of left-wing ideas. British philosopher
Simon Critchley Simon Critchley (born 27 February 1960) is an English philosopher and the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, USA. Challenging the ancient tradition that philosophy begins in wonder, Critchley ...
has described ''Marx Reloaded'' as "a great introduction to Marx for a new generation" while German political scientist Herfried Münkler has called it "the type of film that Marx himself would have approved of".


Select bibliography


Nonfiction works

* ''Alain Badiou: A Critical Introduction'', London:
Pluto Press Pluto Press is a British independent book publisher based in London, founded in 1969. Originally, it was the publishing arm of the International Socialists (today known as the Socialist Workers Party), until it changed hands and was replaced ...
, 2002, .


Fiction works

* ''
Marx Returns ''Marx Returns'' is the debut novel by the British writer and filmmaker Jason Barker. It tells the story of the German philosopher Karl Marx and his struggle to complete his magnum opus ''Capital''. Reception Reviewing ''Marx Returns'' in the ' ...
'', Winchester:
Zero Books John Hunt Publishing is a left-wing publishing company founded in the United Kingdom in 2001, initially named O Books. The publisher has 24 active autonomous imprints, with the largest of these being the Zero Books imprint (styled Zer0 Books) fou ...
, 2018, .


Edited works

* ''맑스 재장전: 자본주의와 코뮤니즘에 관한 대담''/''Marx Reloaded. Interviews on Capitalism and Communism'',
Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
: Nanjang Publishing House, 2013. ."맑스 재장전 - 자본주의와 코뮤니즘에 관한 대담"
* Other Althussers. Special issue of ''
diacritics A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacritic ...
'', with G. M. Goshgarian (Vol. 43.2, 2015), . * Marginal Thinking: A Forum on Louis Althusser, ''
Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...
'', May 15, 201
online


As translator

* Alain Badiou, ''Metapolitics'', trans. and with an introduction by Jason Barker, London:
Verso Books Verso Books (formerly New Left Books) is a left-wing publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of ''New Left Review''. Renaming, new brand and logo Verso Books was originally known as New Left Books. The ...
, 2005, .


Articles

* "The Topology of Revolution" in ''Communication and Cognition'' (Vol. 36, no. 1/2, 2003), . * "Principles of Equality: on Alain Badiou's ''Manifesto for Philosophy'', ''Deleuze: The Clamor of Being'', and ''Ethics. An Essay on the Understanding of Evil''" in ''
Historical Materialism Historical materialism is the term used to describe Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx locates historical change in the rise of class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. For Marx and his lifetime collaborat ...
'' (No. 12.1, 2004), . * "Topography and Structure" in ''Polygraph'' (no. 17, 2005), . * "Nous, Les Sans-Marxisme" in
Gilles Grelet Gilles Grelet () is a French theorist and former student of the French philosopher François Laruelle. He is the author of books and pamphlets which develop the main tenets of Laruellean non-philosophy. Following years of teaching, he lives as a sai ...
(ed.), ''Théorie-rébellion: Un Ultimatum'', Paris: L’Harmattan, 2005, . * "Nothing Personal: From the State to the Master" in ''Prelom'' (no. 8, 2006), . * "De L'État au Maître: Badiou et le post-marxisme" in Bruno Besana et Oliver Feltham (eds.) ''Ecrits Autour de la Pensée d’Alain Badiou'', Paris: L’Harmattan, 2006, .
“Wherefore Art Thou Philosophy? Badiou without Badiou”
in ''Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy'' (Vol. 8.1, 2012), .
"Master Signifier: A Brief Genealogy of Lacano-Maoism"
in ''Filozofia'' (Vol. 69, no. 9, 2014), . *"Epic or Tragedy? Karl Marx and Poetic Form in The Communist Manifesto" in ''Filozofia'' 71, 2016, No. 4, pp. 316–327.


Filmography

* ''
Marx Reloaded ''Marx Reloaded'' is a 2011 German documentary film written and directed by the British writer and theorist Jason Barker. Featuring interviews with several well-known philosophers, the film aims to examine the relevance of Karl Marx's ideas in rela ...
''. A Film by Jason Barker. Germany/UK: 2010. Medea Film – Irene Höfer/ Films Noirs/
ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
/
Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...
; 52 minutes.


See also

* ''
Marx Reloaded ''Marx Reloaded'' is a 2011 German documentary film written and directed by the British writer and theorist Jason Barker. Featuring interviews with several well-known philosophers, the film aims to examine the relevance of Karl Marx's ideas in rela ...
'' * ''
Marx Returns ''Marx Returns'' is the debut novel by the British writer and filmmaker Jason Barker. It tells the story of the German philosopher Karl Marx and his struggle to complete his magnum opus ''Capital''. Reception Reviewing ''Marx Returns'' in the ' ...
''


References


External links


Jason Barker's page
at
Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...
website
Jason Barker's page
at ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' website *
Interview in New Left Project

''Marx Reloaded'' trailer at YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Jason Living people British film directors Continental philosophers French philosophy 21st-century British philosophers 21st-century British translators British male writers Male non-fiction writers 1971 births