Adorno, Foucault, and the End of Progress: Critical Theory in Postcolonial Times
Author:
Allen, A.
Date:
2017
Language:
English
Region:
Global
Country:
[unspecified]
Full Harvard Reference:
Allen, A. (2017). ‘Adorno, Foucault, and the End of Progress: Critical Theory in Postcolonial Times.’ In Critical Theory in Critical Times: Transforming the Global Political and Economic Order, edited by Penelope Deutscher and Cristina Lafont, 183–206. New York: Columbia University Press.
This article intended for an academic audience starts with Said's critique of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory which espouses, similarly to other European theories, a ‘false individual’ and remains silent on racist and colonial issues. The author states that this remains true for the contemporary Frankfurt School and argues that the reason behind this silence lies on the foundations of the theory. Critical theory rely greatly on the idea that modernity is the result of a process of historical learning or social evolution, giving it a normative aspect. The author then compares and contrats critical theory with postcolonial approaches.