Theorizing the Multitude

3 units

Figures of multitude, mixture, and hybridity have gained increasing currency among politically-oriented critics over the last fifteen years or so. This class examines some of the recent theorizations of multitude and its allied concepts, mixture and hybridity, from the perspective of their origins in seventeenth-century philosophy. Readings are likely to include selections from Benedict de Spinoza, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Homi Bhaba, Antonio Negri, and Giorgio Agamben. Our goal is to gain a perspective on the paradigm that currently drives some of the most original research in literary and cultural studies.