The Internationalization of Critical Theory

From Walter Benjamin in Argentina to Theodor Adorno in Japan, this collection brings together leading scholars of Critical Theory to examine the impact of the Frankfurt School across global histories of the 20th century. From Walter Benjamin in Argentina to Theodor Adorno in Japan, this collection brings together leading scholars of Critical Theory to examine the impact of the Frankfurt School across global histories of the 20th century. Featuring essays on Critical Theory's role in Brazil during dictatorship and redemocratization; the influence of Herbert Marcuse in Pinochet's Chile; the politics of Critical Theory in South Korea and intellectual relationships across Yugoslavia, Germany and the United States, the chapters in this volume consider how social, political, historical and intellectual conditions shaped local receptions of the Frankfurt School, and how the School's key thinkers in turn helped to transform these conditions. Guided by Max Horkheimer's seminal distinction between critical and traditional theory, in which Critical Theory is distinguished by its self-reflexivity and awareness of its location within a larger social totality, The Internationalization of Critical Theory offers a groundbreaking reflection on Critical Theory at an international scale. Tracing the legacy of the Frankfurt School across Latin America, East Asia, Europe and North America, this volume offers new insights into the intellectual histories of both Critical Theory and global politics.