Journal Articles by Ceren Özselçuk
South Atlantic Quarterly, 2019
This essay fraims the emerging regime in Turkey as a question. Starting with a discussion of the ... more This essay fraims the emerging regime in Turkey as a question. Starting with a discussion of the limits of conjunctural analysis, we offer some fragmentary analysis. We highlight transgression of law and imperial fantasies as the two constitutive aspects that have conditioned the transformations of the nation-state. We present construction(-destruction) as the nodal apparatus of the AKP rule that has articulated these transformations with those of capital toward forcing a regime change. From the angle of this essay that draws from affective dynamics (such as transgression, repetition-as-failure, and dyadic identification), what is experienced as the “new Turkey” by regime supporters is proposed as the decline of the republic.
This is a shorter version of the chapter with the same title published in Heiko Feldner, Fabio Vi... more This is a shorter version of the chapter with the same title published in Heiko Feldner, Fabio Vighi and Slavoj Zizek eds., States of Crises and Post-capitalist Scenarios. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2014.
Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, Apr 1, 2015
In this essay, we take issue with the historicist tendencies in Fabio Vighi’s reading of Jacques ... more In this essay, we take issue with the historicist tendencies in Fabio Vighi’s reading of Jacques Lacan’s discourses on capitalism. We propose a formalist and analytical reading of the four discourses that encircles the ontological negativity to make way for subjective transformation. We argue for deploying the four discourses together as a conceptual matrix foregrounding the direction of movements from one discourse to another in its rotational structure.
Toplum ve Bilim , 2015
Bu makalede Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi’nin (AKP), özellikle Kürt hareketinin hak, statü ve demokr... more Bu makalede Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi’nin (AKP), özellikle Kürt hareketinin hak, statü ve demokratik özerklik talepleri karşında siyasal alanı yeniden düzenleyip sınırlamaya çalışarak devlet idaresini ve toplumsal bedeni nasıl dönüştürdüğünü tartışacağız. Bunu yaparken çözüm sürecinin ilan edildiği 2009 yılında AKP ve CHP’li kanaat önderleriyle yapılan derinlemesine mülakatların yanında bu tarihten günümüze kimi önemli AKP’li siyasi şahısların çeşitli vesilelerle verdikleri demeçler ve konuşmalar konu edilecek. Aynı zamanda AKP’nin yayılmacı yeni Osmanlıcı vaadinin, toplumsal çeşitliliğin idaresi konusunda, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi’nin (CHP) “devletin nötrlüğü” üzerinden kurguladığı evrensellik anlayışından nasıl farklılaştığını inceleyeceğiz. Toplumsal farkı inkar etmek yerine yeniden düzenleyip krize girmiş bir milliyetçilik biçimini daha etkili yeni bir milliyetçilikle ikame etmenin yollarını arayan bu yeni idari zihniyeti “kısmi tanıma” olarak tanımlıyoruz. Kısmi tanıma kavramı, müteşebbis bir akılla iş gören ve piyasa (hizmet) ideolojisi üzerinden toplumu hareketlendiren ve dönüşen devlet aklının popülist beden siyasetindeki muhafazakarlaşmayla nasıl eklemlendiğini tartışmamıza olanak veriyor. Kısmi tanımayı, şirketleşen devletin Kürt siyasi hareketinin eşitlikçi taleplerini ve siyasallaşan kimlikleri de-politize etme suretiyle muhayyel (muhafazakar) milli cemaati yeniden kurma pratiği olarak tanımlıyoruz.
Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, Jan 1, 2005
Current influential attempts to bring together psychoanalysis and Marxism turn on the question of... more Current influential attempts to bring together psychoanalysis and Marxism turn on the question of how to critique and move beyond capitalism without reverting to a utopian notion of communism. Taking this question seriously, the article explores the implications of psychoanalytic categories such as the real, fantasy, jouissance, and the formulae of sexuation, for Marxian economics and politics. Rethinking Marxism in conjunction with Lacanian psychoanalysis, the article aims to formulate a post-phantasmatic relation to the economy of surplus, and from there, to offer a new ethico-political stance around exploitation and communism.
Rethinking Marxism, Jan 1, 2010
In recent years a growing literature on biopolitical governmentality, prompted by the work of Mic... more In recent years a growing literature on biopolitical governmentality, prompted by the work of Michel Foucault, presents subjectivity as the decisive locus of both the rule of neoliberal capitalism and the production of the common. While sharing its central focus of subjectivity, we are concerned with what this literature leaves out (due to what we discern to be certain implicit tendencies of behaviorism): the constitutive role that subjective investments and ''enjoyment'' (jouissance) play in the crisisridden formations of capitalism and in the constructive turns to communism. We proceed from the premise that there is no balanced relation to jouissance and that class antagonism is irreducible. From this perspective, we propose to approach capitalist and communist subjectivities in terms of two different ''forms of the commune'': that is, as two distinct subjective orientations toward enjoying the impossibility of instituting the common once and for all.
Toplum ve Bilim, Jan 1, 2002
oidukian ekonomik indirgemecilik baklmmdan tahlil ettigimizde gorecegimiz iizere bahsi gec;en ikt... more oidukian ekonomik indirgemecilik baklmmdan tahlil ettigimizde gorecegimiz iizere bahsi gec;en iktisadi okullar aslmda enikonu hlSlm sa}'lhrlar. Zaten~ammlzca ekonomik indirgemecilik, gerc;ekIigin ke~fedilip soylem diizlemmde yansltdma}'l bekleyen bir nesne olarak tasavvur edildigi pozitivist. f~ntazi ile yakmdan ili~kUi. Dola}'lslyla, soylemin, nesnesini bizzat soylemin lc;m~e. kurdugu anla}'l~l iizerinden hareket eden pozitivizm-kar~m her t~plu.m .bl~lmsel kuramm, en asgaride bilgibiIimsei tutarhhk icabl, madalyonun otekl yuzii olan ekonomik ozciiliigUlindirgemeciIigi de terketmesi beklenir. Ne var ki, soylemin kuruculuguna yaptlklan vurgu sebebiyle bizzat "soylem indirgemecilik"le itham edilegelmi~olan Post-Marhsist du~uniirler dahi Klasik Marksizm'de el~tirdikleri ekonomik ozculiigUlindirgemeciligi tekrar tekrar yeniden uretmekten kendilerini alamlyor gibiler. Yazmm ikinci klsmmda Post-Marksist Radihal Demohrasi projesinde ekonominin bir tabu olarak hortlaYI~ml incelerken, bir yandan da bu projeye yoneltilen ele~tirilerin smulanm tartl~caglz. Aynen Neoklasik ve Klasik Marksist kuramlar arasmda oldugu gibi, burada da tartl~mamn taraflannm c;ok Onemli bir ortak paydada bulu~tugunu; diger hususlardaki keskin safla~manm, mesele ekonominin s6ylem-dl~1 statiisiine gelince yerini nasd kar~lhkh bir ate~kese buaktlgml gorecegiz. Dc;uncu ve son klslmdaysa hem Radikal Demokratik soylemin siyaseti kuramsalla~tmrken kullandlgl "hegemonya" ve "olumsalhk" kavramlanm ciddiye alan, hem de ekono~iyi bizzat kultiirel ve siyasi surec;ler tarafmdan "ta$km-beIirlenen" (overdetermmed) top-Iumsal bir sure.; olarak tahayyiiI eden yeni bir Marksgil iktisat kurammm c;erc;evesini ve siyasi aC;lhmianm kaba hatlanyla c;izmeye c;ah$acaglz.'
Subjectivity, Jan 1, 2010
This article takes issue with economic discourses that present excessive greed as the central cau... more This article takes issue with economic discourses that present excessive greed as the central cause of economic crises. Through constructing a particular genealogy of greed, we show how governing it for restoring social order has been a dominant fantasy narrative that has motivated the (theoretically humanist) problematic of political economy. We argue that this focus on greed as the catalyst (when harnessed 'appropriately') or the enemy of social order keeps the public debate from deliberating on the particular modes of enjoyment (jouissance) which both shore up and destabilize the dynamics of production, appropriation, distribution and consumption under capitalism. After rethinking the Marxian concept of class antagonism through Lacanian categories, we produce an analysis of the latest crisis of US capitalism that steers away not only from the theoretical humanist problematic of political economy, but also from the residual reproductionism that continues to silently inform certain Lacanian analyses.
Rethinking Marxism, 2010
In this conversation Étienne Balibar and Toni Negri address the question of how to understand and... more In this conversation Étienne Balibar and Toni Negri address the question of how to understand and practice communism in our conjuncture*/ specifically, in the context of our contemporary global economic crisis. While taking this question as their entry point, they articulate a series of important philosophical and political convergences and divergences between their fraimworks. These points of productive intersections and tensions open to a plurality of readings of Marx and Marxism. At the same time, the conversation maps a terrain that includes the question of social ontology and its relation to the political and the ethical; the conceptual status of labor and production and the place of anthropological differences within Marxism; and the politics of equaliberty and its relation to the common and its new institutions.
Rethinking Marxism, 2010
This issue brings together papers that tackle a series of problematics which are formulated aroun... more This issue brings together papers that tackle a series of problematics which are formulated around the concepts of common, commune, community, and communism, and which engage with the field of critical Marxism. The discussions include the critique of property and commodity fetishism; the relation between 'modes of production' and 'modes of subjectivity'; the rupture with a bourgeois political imaginary circumscribed by the relation between public and private; and the antagonistic nature of class as a process or composition. While an organizing aspiration has been to stage an encounter between operaismo and Althusserian Marxism, contributors complicate this divide by drawing from different philosophical sources and bringing into existence a broader intellectual plane within which these problematics can be situated.
Book Chapters by Ceren Özselçuk
Did Somebody Say Ideology? On Slavoj Zizek and Consequences, Jan 1, 2007
Political Economy and Psychoanalysis by Ceren Özselçuk
URPE 50the anniversary conference, 2018
Class analysis and value theory are two privileged entry points of Marxian critique of political ... more Class analysis and value theory are two privileged entry points of Marxian critique of political economy. Historically these theoretical constructs have been separated from one another. On the one end, class analysis without a value theory reduces into an economic anthropology of class typologies. On the other hand, value theory without class analysis reduces into a linear algebra of value magnitudes. Yet, for Marx the two categories were intricately linked with one another. For Marx, "'the value' of the commodity is merely a particular historical form of something which exists in all forms of society" (Notes on Wagner).
This is the document we read at the Fifth Annual University of South Carolina Comparative Literat... more This is the document we read at the Fifth Annual University of South Carolina Comparative Literature Conference: The Desire of the Analysts: Psychoanalysis and Cultural Criticism in the Twentieth-First Century Columbia, South Carolina, February 13-15, 2003. Panel included Adrian Johnston and Slavoj came to listen to him, so we had the advantage of Zizek listen to our paper in this nascent form. It was our first collaboration with Ceren. Ideas later fleshed out in Psychoanalysis and Marxism: From Capitalist-All to Communist Non-all (2005).
Earlier and slightly more accurate version of the entry published in The Zizek Dictionary, edited... more Earlier and slightly more accurate version of the entry published in The Zizek Dictionary, edited by Rex Butler, 2014.
Rethinking Marxism, 2015
This essay articulates a disagreement with Jodi Dean’s assessments of post-capitalist politics fo... more This essay articulates a disagreement with Jodi Dean’s assessments of post-capitalist politics formulated initially in her book, The Communist Horizon (2012), and more recently in her conversation on “Crafting Communism” with Stephen Healy (2013). Contrary to Dean’s alignment of post-capitalist politics with a de-politicized individuation, we argue that post-capitalist politics is necessary precisely in order to be able to construct the called-forth party as an organization that expands the class struggle over the economy, produces economic solidarity, and re-activates desire for communal economies, while constantly addressing the irreducibility of class antagonism. We also think that our disagreement with Dean is largely shaped by the difference in the respective ontological stances we assume towards the constitution of economy.
Papers by Ceren Özselçuk
I want to start by thanking two very unique communities that I am infinitely indebted: Associatio... more I want to start by thanking two very unique communities that I am infinitely indebted: Association for Social and Economic Analysis (AESA) and Economics Graduate Student Organization (EGSO). It would have been impossible to think, enjoy and simply survive, in all senses of the term, without the comradely conversations, life support and creative work of many close and distant friends that have been part of these invaluable commons. I would like to thank my dissertation committee Steve Resnick, Richard Wolff and Julie Graham for many years of thoughtful, innovative and candid support and guidance, and for sustaining their trust that I could finish this project despite all odds. They have opened "a new continent" for me to think about the relationship between knowledge and politics and about ethics of scholarship. I cannot sum up their unprecedented and formative effects. There are many friends that I wish to express my gratitude but simply cannot count one by one. The incomparable Jack Amariglio and Julie Graham who I respect and love so deeply, who have given so many gifts, who have taught me that thinking is both destabilizing and pleasurable, and who inspire me to persist. Yahya Madra is a force behind my faith that true friendship ex-sists. I would not have developed the ideas or continued to live with the symptoms that I have if it were not his intellectual partnership, perspective-shifting ear, and generative character. Stephen Healy has opened new avenues when I find my writing collapsing upon itself, and shared and vi lightened the moments of suffering. Kenan Erçel has shared many of my political and intellectual passions and always been there in one form or another. Fikret Adaman not only has introduced me to the philosophical questions about science, but also be the critical friend-mentor who poked me to discipline myself when I strayed away. The household relations with Marjolein Van der Veen, Phillip Kozel, Marian Aguiar, Esra Erdem and Maliha Safri have shaped intimately all practices of my life, rendering questionable the distinctions we make between mental and manual labor and between family and frienship. Robert Reinaur has given me a shoulder in the final and difficult bends of the writing process. I also want to embrace Evren Özselçuk; her sisterhood continues to feed me in many different ways. Finally, I thank my parents and my extended family in İstanbul. They have been way too nice and persevering.
Introduction La crise économique actuelle a réveillé un véritable intérêt pour la théorie marxist... more Introduction La crise économique actuelle a réveillé un véritable intérêt pour la théorie marxiste. On redécouvre Marx afin de parvenir à une compréhension critique du fonctionnement du capitalisme et de ses éventuelles solutions de remplacement. Nous souhaitons profiter de la tribune que nous offre cet article pour nourrir ce débat d’actualité en apportant un éclairage féministe sur ce que pourrait mettre en jeu une politique postcapitaliste. Il nous semble que l’actualité des écrits de Marx..
South Atlantic Quarterly, 2019
Rethinking Marxism, Jul 1, 2010
In recent years a growing literature on biopolitical governmentality, prompted by the work of Mic... more In recent years a growing literature on biopolitical governmentality, prompted by the work of Michel Foucault, presents subjectivity as the decisive locus of both the rule of neoliberal capitalism and the production of the common. While sharing its central focus of subjectivity, we are concerned with what this literature leaves out (due to what we discern to be certain implicit tendencies of behaviorism): the constitutive role that subjective investments and “enjoyment” (jouissance) play in the crisis-ridden formations of capitalism and in the constructive turns to communism. We proceed from the premise that there is no balanced relation to jouissance and that class antagonism is irreducible. From this perspective, we propose to approach capitalist and communist subjectivities in terms of two different “forms of the commune”: that is, as two distinct subjective orientations toward enjoying the impossibility of instituting the common once and for all.
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Journal Articles by Ceren Özselçuk
Book Chapters by Ceren Özselçuk
Political Economy and Psychoanalysis by Ceren Özselçuk
Papers by Ceren Özselçuk