Radicalized capitalism + traditional values + interpassivity ruled by Big Tech + nationalism 2.0 + religious fundamentalism + a new war on minorities under the pretext of containing 'wokeism' = the serious fascist temptation we are currently facing in every single part of the world. Ten years ago I wrote a brief pamphlet on the historical push to the right of world politics ever since the 1980s, but I had no idea it would soon turn out to be a push to the FAR right. How we got there is both a historical question and a political & existential urgent call. Which this lecture and discussion will attempt to address.

A former director of the New York-based French Publishers' Agency, François Cusset is a writer and intellectual historian, best known for his research on transatlantic intellectual exchange and his work on the contemporary global history of both activist politics and the conservative backlash. He is also a columnist and chronicler in various French media, a translator, and a cultural commentator, including, most recently, of minority struggles and the culture wars over 'wokeness'. He is professor of American Studies at University of Paris Nanterre, and teaches seminars in critical theory at Paris-based Sciences-Po and various art schools in Europe. Among his books available in English are: French Theory: How Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze & Cy transformed the Intellectual Life of the United States (University of Minnesota Press, 2008), The Inverted Gaze: Queering the French Literary Classics in America (Arsenal Pulp, 2011), and How the World Swung to the Right: Fifty Years of Counterrevolutions (Semiotext(e) / MIT Press, 2018). He lives in Paris.

Sponsors:  Centre for the Study of France and the Francophone World (CEFMF), Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, with the support of the French consulate in Toronto