Christopher Churchill | University of Lethbridge (original) (raw)

Papers by Christopher Churchill

This essay examines the considerable intellectual debt left-wing Albert Camus owed to one of the ... more This essay examines the considerable intellectual debt left-wing Albert Camus owed to one of the most unlikely of sources: far-right intellectual Maurice Barrès. Before achieving fame in France as an existential writer, he developed as a settler intellectual in colonial Algeria. The far-right exerted a profound influence on settler intellectual communities in Algeria. Many of Camus’s colleagues and friends were deeply inspired by Barrès. He was as well. Examining Camus’s complex intellectual debts to Barrès requires both a contextualization of his development as an intellectual in both Algeria and France, as well as a textual analysis of what he indeed assimilated from this icon of the far right. Camus’s attempts to wed Barrèssian fantasies of collective solidarization to his liberal political commitments risked leaving him at an impasse; however, wedding these sometimes conflicting approaches also allowed for a much broader engagement with his texts from a variety of political positions. As he confided to his mentor Jean Grenier: “I like my ideas on the left and my men on the right.”

This short essay responds to the question of whether there are affinities between a radical imagi... more This short essay responds to the question of whether there are affinities between a radical imagination and other ideas of social organization, including ideas associated with the radical right. The answer to this question involves understanding the history of political ideas as situated in specific contexts rather than as manifestations of dehistoricized doctrines of the left or right—an answer which is relevant to understanding discussions of a radical imagination today.

This essay examines Albert Camus's considerable debt to Antonin Artaud. Camus was not only a dram... more This essay examines Albert Camus's considerable debt to Antonin Artaud. Camus was not only a dramatist, but he also employed dramaturgical techniques in his more famous fiction and essays. In this regard, Artaud's ideas on social reconstitution through aesthetic terror were crucial to the development of many of Camus's most famous works, written both in Algeria and in France before and after World War II. This article considers the ways in which aesthetic–political techniques adapted from Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty were employed to challenge fascism in Algeria and France, by simultaneously summoning Algerian settler myths of exile, destitution and regeneration. Camus's considerable sophistication in the use of these techniques, and the colonial context in which they were initially applied, have often been missed by scholars and critics who have sought to unproblematically situate his works within debates about the Cold War and more recently the " War against Terror " .

Teaching Documents by Christopher Churchill

This syllabus builds on years of teaching career-building skills within a liberal education frame... more This syllabus builds on years of teaching career-building skills within a liberal education framework. This course and its organization drew on the expertise of Dr. Janine Bower, Dr. Athena Elafros, Dr. Alexandria Lockett, Dr. Janay Nugent, Brandy Old, and Seanna Uglem. Please credit them too.

This essay examines the considerable intellectual debt left-wing Albert Camus owed to one of the ... more This essay examines the considerable intellectual debt left-wing Albert Camus owed to one of the most unlikely of sources: far-right intellectual Maurice Barrès. Before achieving fame in France as an existential writer, he developed as a settler intellectual in colonial Algeria. The far-right exerted a profound influence on settler intellectual communities in Algeria. Many of Camus’s colleagues and friends were deeply inspired by Barrès. He was as well. Examining Camus’s complex intellectual debts to Barrès requires both a contextualization of his development as an intellectual in both Algeria and France, as well as a textual analysis of what he indeed assimilated from this icon of the far right. Camus’s attempts to wed Barrèssian fantasies of collective solidarization to his liberal political commitments risked leaving him at an impasse; however, wedding these sometimes conflicting approaches also allowed for a much broader engagement with his texts from a variety of political positions. As he confided to his mentor Jean Grenier: “I like my ideas on the left and my men on the right.”

This short essay responds to the question of whether there are affinities between a radical imagi... more This short essay responds to the question of whether there are affinities between a radical imagination and other ideas of social organization, including ideas associated with the radical right. The answer to this question involves understanding the history of political ideas as situated in specific contexts rather than as manifestations of dehistoricized doctrines of the left or right—an answer which is relevant to understanding discussions of a radical imagination today.

This essay examines Albert Camus's considerable debt to Antonin Artaud. Camus was not only a dram... more This essay examines Albert Camus's considerable debt to Antonin Artaud. Camus was not only a dramatist, but he also employed dramaturgical techniques in his more famous fiction and essays. In this regard, Artaud's ideas on social reconstitution through aesthetic terror were crucial to the development of many of Camus's most famous works, written both in Algeria and in France before and after World War II. This article considers the ways in which aesthetic–political techniques adapted from Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty were employed to challenge fascism in Algeria and France, by simultaneously summoning Algerian settler myths of exile, destitution and regeneration. Camus's considerable sophistication in the use of these techniques, and the colonial context in which they were initially applied, have often been missed by scholars and critics who have sought to unproblematically situate his works within debates about the Cold War and more recently the " War against Terror " .

This syllabus builds on years of teaching career-building skills within a liberal education frame... more This syllabus builds on years of teaching career-building skills within a liberal education framework. This course and its organization drew on the expertise of Dr. Janine Bower, Dr. Athena Elafros, Dr. Alexandria Lockett, Dr. Janay Nugent, Brandy Old, and Seanna Uglem. Please credit them too.