Part 7: Forcing the Generic, ft. Madhavi Menon

Covering Part 7 of Alain Badiou’s Being and Event on “Forcing the Generic,” Alex and Andrew discuss the four truth procedures as a way to force the generic into existence. Guest Madhavi Menon presents a queer universalist approach through indifference to difference. Menon is Professor of English at Ashoka University in India. She is the author of five books, including Indifference to Difference: On Queer Universalism published by University of Minnesota Press.   Concepts related to Forcing the Generic, The Four Truth Procedures (Love, Science, Politics, Art), Critiquing the Encyclopedia of Knowledge, Generic Procedures as Constructing through Negation, The Figure of the Militant, Naming, Jacques Rancière, Generic versus Universal, Gender and Genre, The Undocumented Family, Supernumerary, the Young Marx, Indifference to Difference, Rousseau’s General Will.   Interview with Madhavi Menon Reading as Surprise, Queerness and Superabundance, Universalism of Failure, Indifference to Difference, Cultural and Identity Politics, Scene of the Street, Frantz Fanon, Black Skin White Masks, Comic Books, the Hijab, Anti-Philosophy, Anti-Identity, GWF Hegel and the Fury of the Absolute, Indian Transgender, Against the Sovereign.   Links Menon profile, https://www.ashoka.edu.in/profile/madhavi-menon/ Menon, Indifference to Difference: On Queer Universalism, https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/indifference-to-difference

Om Podcasten

Discover the radical potential and technical virtuosity of philosopher Alain Badiou's major treatise Being and Event (1988). Co-hosts Andrew Culp and Alexander R. Galloway guide the listener through each section of the book, pairing each episode with a special guest interview. Over nine episodes, they follow Badiou as he explores the nature of being, the function of the state, when and how events arise, and the political potential of subjects in their relation to truth.