Jensen Suther, a senior English major and Lumen Scholar, had his paper accepted for presentation at the Derrida Conference in Frankfurt, Germany in March.
The aim of the Derrida Conference is to continue to discuss and further develop Jacques Derrida’s philosophical concepts. Derrida is considered the founder of “deconstruction,” a way to criticize literature, philosophical texts and political institutes with the intention of achieving justice.
Suther said that his paper, titled “‘The Time is out of Joint:' A Dialectical Hauntology of Justice in Derrida’s Specters of Marx,” is based on a concept concerning the relationship between deconstruction and dialectics, meaning the conflict concerning Derrida’s theory and pursuit of truth through discourse. Suther said his interest in the topic began before learning about the conference.
“This problem is something that I have been interested in for a little over a year now, so I was interested even before the conference,” he said.
His paper discusses that negative theoretical projects can have some positive outcomes.
“There are negative theoretical projects, but what I’m interested in is their positive political power,” Suther said. “That’s where the notion of justice can come in. I think that these negative theoretical projects can have positive political power.”
He presented at three conferences last year, in addition to a conference at University of Minnesota in the fall.
Before speaking at the Derrida Conference in March, Suther will also be presenting another paper titled “Dialectic Contra Hegel” at the University of Toronto’s Conference on (An) Aesthetic of Absence.
Along with his presentation, he is looking forward to seeing some of the presentations from the keynote speakers and receiving feedback on his papers.
Suther’s end goal is to get something published, he said. The Toronto paper may be published in a journal, depending on the ability of the conference to compile enough money.
Suther also aspires to receive a Fulbright Scholarship in Frankfurt, Germany after graduating.
“If I were to get it, I would be researching Theodor Adorno's philosophical notebooks and the notes they contain pertaining to his final work, ‘Aesthetic Theory,’” he said.