People think
People think.
This week, we are talking with Rafael Khachaturian from the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, a para-academic institution offering a variety of courses across the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences to people who are interested in pursuing questions outside of the boundaries of the traditional university. We talk about how BISR is turning academic precarity into a site of solidaristic strength, how they’ve moved from an experimental to essential phase as attacks in higher education have increased, what it means to be a scholar, and how people are still coming together to think, despite everything that tries to prevent us from doing so. People never stop thinking.
The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research is an interdisciplinary teaching and research institute that offers critical, community-based education in the humanities and social sciences. Working in partnership with local businesses and cultural organizations, they integrate rigorous but accessible scholarly study with the everyday lives of working adults and re-imagine scholarship for the 21st century.
Rafael Khachaturian is an Associate Faculty member with the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, where he teaches social and political theory. His research is at the intersection of theories of the state, critical theory, and the history of the social sciences. His writing has appeared in both scholarly journals and public venues, including Jacobin, The Nation, and Dissent. He is the co-editor of Marxism and the Capitalist State: Toward a New Debate, which appeared in 2023. Together with Igor Shoikhedbrod, he is currently translating and editing The Revolution of Law: Developments in Soviet Legal Theory, 1917-1931, which is under contract with Brill and which will appear in the Historical Materialism series with Haymarket. He is a Lecturer in Critical Writing at the University of Pennsylvania.
Time Stamps:
Intro (0:00)
What is the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research? (2:34)
Crisis in Higher Education and BISR’s Role (6:33)
Building Community at BISR (13:23)
Scholarship and Public Accessibility (20:22)
Scholarship as inseparable from citizenship (23:33)
Future of Learning Spaces: Rethinking the Purpose of Higher Education (28:22)
Human Flourishing and Neoliberal Mindset (36:31)
We’ve taken the possibility of human flourishing off the table (37:03)
Marxism and Historical Materialism (40:44)
People Never Stop Thinking (53:16)
Outro (54:45)
Show Notes and Credits:
In this episode, we reference the following thinkers, organizations, and resources:
Praxis at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
"Socialists Think" by Asad Haider
Viewpoint Magazine, co-founded with Asad Haider and Salar Mohandesi
Marxism and the Capitalist State: Towards a New Debate edited by Rafeal Khachaturian, Rob Hunter, and Eva Nanopoulos.
Support the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research:
Learn more and support the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research here: https://thebrooklyninstitute.com/items/support/
Music:
Huge thank you to Devon Church for making music available from his album All That’s Solid Melts Into Air. Check out more of his music here.
