Students may continue to declare this minor through the end of Spring 2026. This minor will no longer be available to be declared beginning Fall 2026. All declared students will be fully supported to complete their minor.
The Critical Perspectives on Democratic Anti-Colonialism graduate minor is currently open only to graduate students at The New School for Social Research.
This interdisciplinary graduate minor explores the theoretical foundations and political manifestations of radical democratic and anti-colonial traditions. It focuses on various struggles of peripheral peoples, past and present, in countries of the central core and peripheral fringe. The aim is to make sense of the changing meanings and practices of plebeian forms of dissent, resistance, and self-rule that have surfaced in the modern and contemporary world.
Students critically examine the dominant socio-institutional structures, power relations, and regimes of knowledge and how plebeian groups reformulate, subvert, and generate emancipatory and heterodox alternatives. Discussions combine theoretical and empirical readings of influential thinkers from core and peripheral countries, such as Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky; W.E.B. DuBois, Antonio Gramsci, and José Carlos Mariátegui; Hannah Arendt and Frantz Fanon; and the Latin American Dependency, Indian Subaltern, and African Perspective schools. Readings will cover notions such as uneven and combined development, the boomerang effect of colonialism, indigenous anti-imperialism, and world systems as well as narratives of universalism, particularism, and provincialism.
Students are encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities, including monthly workshops, a lecture series, and an annual distinguished lecture followed by an intensive seminar.
This graduate minor requires successful completion of 9 credits. Students generally select one course from each of the subject areas in the chart below.
Course availability may vary from semester to semester. Some courses may be in development and offered at a later time. Students seeking to pursue alternative coursework in other subject areas to fulfill the minor should consult with the Critical Perspectives on Democratic Anti-Colonialism faculty advisors.
Please consult this spreadsheet for a list of past courses.
A student who has completed this graduate minor should be able to demonstrate:
The Critical Perspectives on Democratic Anti-Colonialism graduate minor is available only to graduate students at The New School for Social Research. Students can retroactively count successfully completed courses toward a minor upon declaring. After students successfully complete the minor’s requirements, the completed minor will appear on their academic transcripts at graduation.
For questions about this minor, please contact Andreas Kalyvas at kalyvasa@newschool.edu.
Contact your Student Success advisor to discuss how a minor will fit with your degree requirements.
Declare or change a minor on my.newschool.edu in the Academics tab. Note that some minors require an application.
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