On Deconstruction as a Social Bond: Field notes on 17, Institute of Critical Studies (Mexico City), 2001-2022
17, Instituto de Estudios Críticos was established in Mexico City, in 2001. Its founding trope was the Blind Photographer and its original intuition was that of a silence-producing machine. Over the last two decades it has given forth to an archipelago of sorts, including the first Spanish-speaking accredited postgraduate programs in Critical Theory, a Center for Advanced Studies, a publishing house, a consultancy, and an online radio station. More recently it also designed a social and economic mechanism designed to provide support for the academic, cultural and social communities in Latin America and their initiatives: the “Critical Ensemble” incorporating the Mutual social network, the Floating Market online exchange, and Critical Switch, a platform for new initiatives. Although originally concerned with Literature, Philosophy, Art, Political Thought and Psychoanalysis, the Institute gradually focused too on the study of Gender, "Disability", Health, Childhood, Pedagogy, Mediation, Improvisation, Historicity, Territoriality and Management. It has convened thirty-five international colloquiums, published 700 authors, offered some 1,500 courses, and awarded a dozen honorary doctorates.
How can its contributions be related to its essential intention to put in motion a deconstructive social bond? And how might such a bond exceed the span of Jacques Derrida’s own formulation of the University Without Condition?
Speakers:
- Benjamin Mayer-Foulkes, Psychoanalyst, Founding director of the Institute of Critical Studies & O'Gorman Fellow at Columbia University.
- Claudio Lomnitz, Campbell Family Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University.
This event will be a hybrid event:
In-person: International Affairs Building, Room 802 (420 West 118th St, New York, NY 10027)
Zoom: click here to register.
For further reference:
17, Archipiélago. Entrevista con Benjamín Mayer Foulkes (2022)
Towards the Post-University: Experimenting with Psychoanalysis and Institutions (2014)
Websites: 17edu.org, diecisiete.org, 17mutual.org
