Theory Underground: Tough on anti-intellectualism, tough on the causes of anti-intellectualism

Anti-intellectualism is rampant in the United States, and it is spreading. So much so that anti-intellectualism can now be counted as America’s greatest cultural export. Theory Underground’s European tour brings a cast of “American Idiots” to London as unofficial counter-ambassadors of this movement.  

What are the roots of today’s American anti-intellectualism? Commentators observing the rise of populism circa 2016 lamented the intellectual poverty of Donald Trump’s voting base and its demagogues. Today, a backlash against all sorts of ‘critical theories’ perversely leads to a proliferation of intellectual narratives which don’t stand the test of time. Attempts to combat anti-intellectualism thus often only breed more. 

Theory Underground’s David McKerracher, Ann Snelgrove-McKerracher, and Bryce Nance, together with their London colleagues Helen Rollins and Nina Power reflect on a variety of issues stemming from the current stalemates of intellectual life, inviting a discussion with the audience.

The event will also be the London launch of Theory Underground’s volume Underground Theory which brings together texts by 31 authors, spanning names from Slavoj Žižek to warehouse workers in the US. The volume reflects on education, politics, theory, and history, with an emphasis on critical media theory and the failures of the neoliberal university.

Theory Underground is a teaching, research, and publishing platform by and for dropout workers with earbuds and burnt out post-grads who want to understand “The Situation” as a means towards figuring out the conditions of possibility for The Good Life. The emphases of research at Theory Underground are critical media theory, critique of political economy, psychoanalysis, phenomenology, existentialism, and post-marxism.