From Agamben to Zizek: Contemporary Critical TheoristsEdited by Jon SimonsThis authoritative guide provides students and with an accessible, introductory and intelligent understanding of key figures in contemporary critical theory. It is designed as a sequel to the volumes From Kant to Lévi-Strauss: The Background to Contemporary Critical Theory and Contemporary Critical Theorists: From Lacan to Said (Edinburgh University Press, 2002 & 2004 respectively). For each thinker or pair of thinkers, an essay offers some biographical and intellectual contextualisation, presents and explains key concepts, outlines some major angles of criticism, indicates areas and ways in which the theories have been applied, and offers suggestions for further reading. The theorists in the volume have been selected because of their significant, trans-disciplinary impact on the Anglophone humanities since 1990. There are chapters on Agamben, Badiou, Bauman, Bhabha, Butler, Castoriadis, Green critical theorists, Haraway, Laclau and Mouffe, Latour, Negri, Rancière, Spivak, Virilio and 'ˆ‘i'ˆek. The range of critical theory covered in the volume includes, post- and neo-Marxism, post-structuralism, post-colonialism, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, phenomenology, feminism, queer theory, critical science studies, green theory, and critical political, cultural and social theory. On completing each chapter, readers should confident that they have a basic understanding of a thinker or range of thinkers, and thus can make an informed decision about whether to learn more, and subsequently to apply the theories in question. Key Features:* Up-to-date introduction to contemporary critical theorists* Expert commentaries introduce and evaluate established key thinkers* Clear explanations of terms and concepts* The chapter authors are an international team, working in the UK, USA, Australia and Hong Kong as well as across different disciplinesJon Simons is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University and has broad expertise in contemporary critical theory.