The end of the Cold War revitalised continental philosophy and, more particularly, interest in it from outside philosophy. "After Poststructuralism: Transitions and Transformations" analyses the main developments in continental philosophy between 1980-1995, a time of great upheaval and profound social change. The volume ranges across the birth of postmodernism, the differing traditions of France, Germany and Italy, third generation critical theory, radical democracy, postcolonial philosophy, the turn to ethics, feminist philosophies, the increasing engagement with religion, and the rise of performativity and post-analytic philosophy. Analyses of the major figures are integrated within the discussion. After Poststructuralism reveals how continental philosophy - fuelled by an intense ethical and political desire to reflect changing social and political conditions - responded to the changing world and to the key issues of the time, notably globalisation, technology and ethnicity.

This book articulates the key theoretical assumptions of poststructuralism, but also probes its limits, evaluates rival approaches and elaborates new concepts. Building on the work of Derrida, Foucault, Heidegger, Lacan, Laclau, Lévi–Strauss, Marx, Saussure and Žižek, the book also provides a distinctive version of the poststructuralist project.

In the last decades of the twentieth century, French poststructuralist 'theory' transformed the humanities; it also met with resistance and today we frequently hear that theory is 'dead'. In this brilliantly argued volume, Colin Davis: *reconsiders key arguments for and against theory, identifying significant misreadings *reassesses the contribution of poststructuralist thought to the critical issues of knowledge, ethics, hope and identity *sheds new light on the work of Jean-François Lyotard, Emmanuel Levinas, Louis Althusser and Julia Kristeva in a stunning series of readings *offers a fresh perspective on recent debates around the death of theory. In closing he argues that theory may change, but it will not go away. After poststructuralism, then, comes the afterlife of poststructuralism. Wonderfully accessible, this is an account of the past and present fortunes of theory, suitable for anyone researching, teaching, or studying in the field. And yet it is much more than this. Colin Davis provides a way forward for the humanities - a way forward in which theory will play a crucial part.

Ideology was proposed by Count de Tracy in 1796 as "a unified science of ideas" and has lived on as a theoretical concept among many social and political theorists, but has spurred the opprobrium of poststructuralist theorists. Malesevi'c (political science and sociology, NUI, UK) and MacKenzie (politics, Queen's U. of Belfast, Northern Ireland) present eight contributions from equal numbers of poststructural and ideology theorists. Efforts are made to critique ideology theory from a poststruc tural standpoint without a blanket rejection of the theory. Other chapters attempt to integrate some poststructural criticisms in order to maintain ideology theory as a relevant analytical concept. Distributed by Stylus. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

A distinct and original post-structuralist approach to Marx, allowing him to be read in a new light.

"After Poststructuralism is an accessible account of the past and present fortunes of theory, suitable for anyone researching, teaching or studying in the field. However, it offers much more than this, by tracing the real contribution of poststructuralist thought to core philosophical and critical issues. Most importantly, Colin Davis's study offers a way forward for the humanities - a way forward in which theory will play a crucial part."--BOOK JACKET.

After Poststructuralism: Interdisciplinary and Literary Theory challenges the premises of and suggests new alternatives to the more extreme approaches in current literary theory. The essays collected here examine the trend of "theorizing" in interdisciplinary studies from the perspective of more rigorous research methodologies, with the aim of establishing the validity of interdisciplinary literary studies and broadening the field of inquiry. The collection is divided into three groups. The first examines the question of what "interdisciplinarity" has meant in literary studies in the last twenty years, the reasons for its ascension as a trend, and the inherent theoretical flaws in certain poststructuralist positions. The second explores the relationship of theory and practice, while the third group looks ahead to the rich possibilities for thinking and working in practical new directions.