Theoryish

Hegel’s short essay “Who Thinks Abstractly?” (1808) argues that “abstract thinking” is something the ‘uneducated’ partake in, not the educated. Through a string of vivid scenes – a crowd sneering at a condemned murderer, an old market woman reducing a rival to a single insult, a servant reduced to nothing but his function – Hegel shows how flattening a person into one label (“just a murderer,” “just a servant”) is itself the crude, abstract move, while genuine thought holds a person’s full, contradictory concreteness together.  

In this episode of Theoryish, we work through Hegel’s essay, unpacking why he insists thinking concretely is harder than it sounds; what his examples reveal about class, judgment, and moral condemnation, and why this brief, almost comic, piece has become one of the most quoted entry points into Hegelian thought. Along the way, we ask what “abstraction” means for Hegel versus how we use the word today, and why an essay about a hanged man and some rotten eggs still has something to say about how we categorize each other now.  

Sources and Media 

In 1910, architect Adolf Loos stood before a Viennese audience and declared ornament a crime, a moral failing, a symptom of degeneracy and a drag on cultural progress. “Ornament and Crime” remains one of modernism’s founding manifestos, the text that helped strip architecture down to clean lines and bare surfaces. This set the tone, for better or for worse, for everything from the Bauhaus to the glass towers of today.  

This week on Theoryish, we’re joined by Dr. Matthew Bliss to dig into Loos essay, thinking about what it argues, why he reached for the language of crime and degeneracy to make an aesthetic point, and how his comparisons to “primitive” tattooing reveal the racial and evolutionary assumptions baked into his theory of progress.  

We also confront the uncomfortable question that shadows any serious engagement with Loos: he was a convicted pedophile, and that fact sits uneasily – impossible to ignore, difficult to reconcile – alongside his outsized influence on modern design. What do we do with a foundational text when its author’s life implicates him in real harm to child?  

It’s a conversation about ornament, morality, empire, and the limits of seperating the art from the artist. 

Content note: This episode includes discussion of child sexual abuse in the context of Adolf Loo’s biography. Listener discretion advised.  

Sources and Media 

Hello all! We have an incredible episode for you today. In this episode of Theoryish, we’re joined by Akane Kanai, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, to discuss her new book The New Politics of Online Feminism. Drawing on interviews with young feminists in Australia, Kanai’s research moves past familiar stories of online feminism as pure activism and resistance, instead tracing the everyday dilemmas young women face as they try to be “good” feminists in digital spaces. This is a candid, theoretically rich conversation about what feminist politics actually feels like to live inside, online, right now. 

Sources and Media 

Hello all, welcome to our first video episode! This is a shorter episode that aims to explain our year long hiatus in a bit more detail.

We have a backlog of new episodes to share with you, and we look forward to sharing more theory with you soon.

Contact Us 

Updating the trailer now that me and Paola are both doctors!

Contact Us 

In this episode, we sit down with author Christopher Ewing to discuss his groundbreaking book The Color of Desire: The Queer Politics of Race in the Federal Republic of Germany after 1970. Together, we explore how race, sexuality, migration, and national identity intersected in post-1970 West Germany, and how queer communities both challenged and reproduced racial politics during a period of profound social change.

Christopher Ewing unpacks the histories of activism, desire, belonging, and exclusion that shaped queer life in the Federal Republic of Germany, revealing the often-overlooked experiences of queer migrants and people of color. The conversation also examines the broader political and cultural currents of the era — from postwar memory to liberation movements and debates around citizenship and identity.

This episode offers a rich and thought-provoking discussion for listeners interested in queer history, race and ethnicity, German studies, migration, and the politics of identity in modern Europe.

Sources and Media 

Today we bring you an incredible author interview with the lovely Erika Herrera Rosales, who released her book Ambivalent Humanitarianism and Migration Control Colonial legacies and the Experiences of Migrants in Mexico in 2025. This book explores the complex relationship between migrants and local aid organisations, unpacking the implications of humanitarian actors in migration governance and bordering practices, which have serious and long-lasting effects on the lives of migrants.

Sources and Media 

Hello all, welcome back to the Theoryish podcast! In this episode, we turn to Akhil Kang's Savarna Citations of Desire: Queer Impossibilities of Inter-caste Love to understand how caste, sexuality, and desire intersect in South Asian contexts. We are joined by our wonderful former guests dipbuk Panchal and Roshan Johri, who bring along with them their thoughtful perspectives on queer politics and caste critique. Together, we unpack how discussions of inter-caste relationships have remained tethered to heterosexual norms and what it means to queer caste by centring desire, intimacy, exclusion.

Sources and Media 

Did you miss us?

Contact Us 

Hello all, apologies for the delay in releasing this episode! Hannah has been going through some medical issues and has recently had surgery. Hannah also recently passed her PhD Viva and so has been busier than usual. We have more episodes recorded for this season and we will work hard to get these to you much sooner than we did before. 

In this episode, we dive in Carl von Clausewitz’s On War to explore its relevance to the 21st century. We are joined by Dr. Henry Brown who has experience in the militarisation of antifacist politics in Interwar Europe. Throughout the episode we examine Clausewitz’s concept of “absolute war” and how this changes in the age of total war, proxy conflicts, and mutually assured destruction. We discuss the gendered language of war, as well as Clausewitz’s life and On War’s history and uses.  

Sources and Media 

Join us for a very special interview with Rustam Alexander, author of Red Closet: The Hidden History of Gay Oppression in the USSR. Alexander uncovers an overlooked area of 20th century history, tracing the roots and realities of the lives of queer people in the USSR. We explore how Alexander conducted the archival research for this book, how he felt writing the text, and some of the history discussed in the text.  

This is the second collaboration with Manchester University Press, offering you an exclusive discount on this book. This is one of the only texts covering this topic in an easy to read format, and we highly recommend you pick up a copy! 

We’re back from our mid-season break and diving fang-first into the Gothic! In this episode, we sink our teeth into Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872), the vampire novella that predates Dracula and oozes with queerness, gothic description, and Victorian sensibilities. Join us as we explore themes of desire, tension, obliviousness, and erotic friendship. Expect vampires, hand holding, and a lot of laughs.  

Sources and Media 

A little update on where we've been...

Contact Us 

This week we’re taking a deep dive into all things witchy by discussing The Malleus Maleficarum (edited by Peter Maxwell-Stuart). Originally written by Heinrich Kramer in the 15th century, this book played a pivotal role in the witch hunts across Europe. Utilizing Maxwell-Stuart's translation and introduction, we explore the Malleus’ origins, impact, and why women are often seen at the center of witch trials.  

This episode marks one of the first collaborations of the season with Manchester University Press, offering you an exclusive discount on this text. This edition of the Malleus offers a clear, readable translation and an introduction that lays out the context of late-medieval Europe, a time of spiritual paranoia when powerful men suspected women’s sexuality was a tool of the Devil.  

In this episode we dive into the world of phenomenology, exploring its rich history and evolution from its roots with Edmund Husserl to its contemporary developments with thinkers like Sara Ahmed. Phenomenology, a complex yet fascinating philosophical movement, focuses on the study of consciousness and experience. Join us as we break down key terms, examine the central ideas and history that have shaped this field, explore the critical counterpoints to phenomenology and explore how phenomenology still holds sway today.  

Sources and Media 

In this episode, we dive into Clement Greenberg’s influential 1939 essay ‘Avant-Garde and Kitsch’. We explore and outline the concepts of avant-garde and kitsch, unpack their complex relationship, and examine how Greenberg connects kitsch with totalitarianism. Join us as we unpack these ideas and their continued relevance to the world of art and culture.  

Sources and Media 

Welcome to the first theory episode of Season 3! Today we are joined by Matthew Bliss, a PhD researcher based in the History of Art department at the University of Warwick.

The Arcades Project is the dreamlike and fragmentary unfinished project of Walter Benjamin which offers an enormous amount of writing on Paris in the 19th century. In the episode we unpack the architectural structure of arcades, why Benjamin was so fascinated with them, the flâneur before finishing with a discussion of films, books and more that feature strolling about as a theme.

This is our fourth (and possibly final) episode on Walter Benjamin and we really hope you enjoy!

Find out more about Matthew Bliss here: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/scapvc/arthistory/research/students/studentresearch/bliss/

Sources and Media 

You kind find all source material discussed in the episode here:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WPKpI5Wb1uGc6b9qjEoQgR1A0ZIQDGGbjWX7W5WXk_M/edit?usp=sharing

Contact Us 

We are back (and better than ever!)

Join us as we give some much needed life updates and chat about the upcoming season.

Contact Us 

Thank you for listening to Season 2 of Theoryish! In this episode we reflect on the season, give life updates, and chat about Season 3.  

We will begin preparation for Season 3 soon, and have some really exciting episodes coming your way next year.  

Until then, please don’t forgot to subscribe, comment, and rate our podcast 5 stars!  

Contact Us 

In this week’s incredible episode, we got the opportunity to speak to Migueltzinta Solís about his article Embodying the postcolonial perverse: mestizXXX sadomasochist performance methodologies (2021). In this episode we discuss consent, queer and trans methdologies, perversity, creative practice, land relations and more!  

Migueltzinta Solís is a trans Chicanx interdisciplinary artist, writer, educator, and Tarot practitioner. A creator of immersive site-specific experiences, his creative practice blends performance, video, installation, painting, and textile. Migueltzinta writes across multiple genres and forms, working towards a counter-institutional poetics of knowledge mobilization. Theme parks, amateur porn, Indigenous futurities, colonial imaginaries, queer materialities, and (un)belonging have been recurring themes. Migueltzinta holds an MFA in Art and a PhD in Cultural, Social and Political Thought from the University of Lethbridge/Iniskim in Treaty 7, traditional Blackfoot territory. 

Sources and Media 

This week we provide an overview of intersectionality, a concept that gave a name to the ways in which individuals experience intersecting oppressions that combine to create varied modes of discrimination and privilege. This introduction to intersectionality covers the history of the term, Kimberlé Crenshaw's 1989 article, and some of the critiques and issues with applying intersectionality in research and praxis.  

Whether you’re new to the concept yourself, or want to offer an introductory source for your students, friends, family and loved ones, this episode offers a comprehensive overview for those who want to understand this important concept.  

Sources and Media 

This week, guest Meaghan Allen joins us to discuss Julia Kristeva’s 1980 book Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Join us as we discuss abjection, the allure of horror, final girls, the body, and Carol J. Clover’s Men, Women and Chainsaws. Towards the end of the episode, we use abjection to discuss the 1973 film The Exorcist. If you’re interested in horror, this is definitely an episode you don’t want to miss!  

Meaghan Allen is a PhD researcher at the University of Manchester interested in the intersections of the medieval and the modern, with a particular focus on violence against women. Her thesis uses blood to investigate the medieval inheritance of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, exploring topics like vampires and the Eucharist, virgin martyrs and horror heroines; blood and the soul.  

Sources and Media 

We are back from our midseason break with an episode on Sigmund Freud’s 1920 essay Beyond the Pleasure Principle. In this essay Freud challenges some of his preconceived ideas about the pleasure principle through his exploration of the death drive. Join us as we break down Freudian terminology, deepen our understanding of psychoanalysis, and use the death drive to think about the Sopranos and Persona 3.  

Sources and Media 

Welcome to our first ‘Introduction To...’ of the season! In this episode we introduce you to Poststructuralism, outline what this concept is, where it came from, and who the poststructuralists are (despite their insistence to the contrary).  

Sources and Fan Fiction 

Join us for our second ever author interview, in which we are joined by J. Daniel Luther and Roshan Johri to discuss Luther’s book Queering Normativity and South Asian Public Culture: Wrong Readings Only (2023). In this episode we discuss how normativity functions, and how difficult it can be to interrogate. We discuss how to find and create a queer archive, or an archive of ‘the normal’. Daniel and Roshan also discuss publishing outside of academia, and academic practices more generally.  

J. Daniel Luther is Associate Programme Director at the Rhodes Trust, University of Oxford (UK). They are the co-founder of the international platform and network called ‘Queer’ Asia. They have previously taught at the Department of Gender Studies at LSE (UK) as a LSE fellow in Gender, Film and Media, and at the University of Warwick, and SOAS, University of London. Their doctoral research examined the production and reiteration of gender and sexual norms in South Asian public culture. They are the co-editor of ‘Queer’ Asia: Decolonising and Reimagining Gender and Sexuality (2019). 

Roshan Johri is a Masters student in English at the Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence Delhi NCR. Johri helped support with creation of the book through conceptual editing and proof reading.  

Sources

Following on from Part 1, this episode discusses the last three chapters of Eve Kosofsky Sedwick's seminal 1990 text, Epistemology of the closet. Join us as we discuss sentimentality, homosexuality in Renaissance England, and the idea of a closet made of glass.

Sources & Fan Fiction

Join us as we dive into Walter Benjamin's 1935 essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. In this episode we cover the history and context of this essay; the difference between mechanical production and traditional art production; Benjamin's changing relationship to Aura; film and the production of film.

Sources 

This special bonus episode was filmed live on the 6th December 2023 at 1 Mill Street Leamington Spa, UK.

In this episode, we connect Season 1 and Season 2 by talking about one of our favourite thinkers, Walter Benjamin. How has our relationship to the camera changed in the age of new technology? Artificial intelligence, digital filters, and voice changers can impact upon the way we understand ourselves through the lens of the camera. Drawing on themes raised in the first season, this discussion uses feminism, art history, and visual sociology to help unpack the question: is aura dead?

This episode formed part of the a series called Encounters, a curated series of four conversations between University of Warwick academics and guests. This event was supported by Resonate - a project by the Warwick Institute of Engagement at the University of Warwick.

Contact Us 

Welcome to the final episode of Theoryish Season One! We've had a really wonderful time with you all and will be back January 2024. Until then, please continue to listen, share, like, and follow - see you soon!  

Contact Us 

In this episode, Hannah is joined once again by dipbuk Panchal to discuss Stuart Hall's 2017 text The Fateful Triangle: Race, Ethnicity, Nation. We go through the first chapter of the book titled Race - The Sliding Signifier. This is a chapter with a lot of theoretical depth and so we take you through some of the key terms of the text such as 'signified', 'discourse' and 'power'. In addition to this, we also relate the text to other source material, and dipbuk talks about their research with the police.

dipbuk is a PhD researcher in the Sociology department at the University of Warwick. They research policing through an intersectional lens, and in particular focus on the relationship between the body and the police uniform with regards to power and identity.

Paola was away for the episode due to a visit with family, but will be back for our season finale.

Sources 

This episode contains discussions of 19th and early 20th century American history, slavery, racism and race.

In this episode we are joined by dipbuk Panchal to discuss W. E. B. Du Bois seminal 1903 text The Souls of Black Folk. We take you through Du Bois' life, as well contextualise why this book was so important for the time. We cover some of Du Bois' main theories including the colour-line, the Veil, and double-consciousness. We finish by thinking about Du Bois' relationship with religion, and tracking the threads of his work to today.

dipbuk is a PhD researcher in the Sociology department at the University of Warwick. They research policing through an intersectional lens, and in particular focus on the relationship between the body and the police uniform with regards to power and identity.

Sources 

Contact Us