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Duane Rousselle

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Duane Rousselle
Rousselle in Mumbai, 2020
BornApril 28, 1982 (1982-04-28) (age 42)
Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada
Alma materUniversity of New Brunswick, Trent University, European Graduate School
AwardsGovernor General of Canada Gold Medal, Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick Medal
Scientific career
FieldsPsychoanalysis, sociological theory, anarchist theory
Academic advisorsSlavoj Žižek, Alain Badiou, Davide Panagia
Websitehttp://www.DuaneRousselle.com

Duane Rousselle (born April 28, 1982) is a Canadian sociological theorist, Lacanian psychoanalyst,[1] and Professor of Sociology.[2] He works in several academic fields including Social Movement Studies, Lacanian Psychoanalysis, Cultural Sociology, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Anarchist Studies, and Continental Philosophy. His work attempts to introduce an alternative to scholarly discourses that aim to produce consistent and coherent bodies of knowledge (e.g., "University Discourse"). It also offers a counterpoint to what Jacques Lacan has called "capitalist discourse."

He helped to contribute to the emergence of a new field of scholarly investigation known as "post-anarchism." He founded and edits the journal Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies.[3] He is a noted Canadian public intellectual.[4] He is often referred to as among the second generation of the Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis alongside Todd McGowan.[5] His work has been translated into multiple languages, including Russian, Arabic, Turkish, and Spanish.

Biography

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Duane was born in Miramichi, New Brunswick to Catholic parents. He attended the New Brunswick Community College and graduated with a diploma in Electronic Game Design.[6][7] After participating in a hunger strike for admittance, he was accepted as a Sociology Major at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. During this first year of his university education, he experienced devastating poverty, sleeping on park benches. He received numerous prestigious awards, including the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick silver medal for excellence in scholarship.[8][9]

He went on to complete a master's degree in sociology from the University of New Brunswick before joining the PhD program in Cultural Studies from Trent University.[10] During his time in Peterborough, he became a Freemason.[11] He was awarded the Governor General of Canada Gold Medal for his research into clinical psychoanalysis and continental philosophy.[12]

He studied also at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland,[13] working as an assistant for Slavoj Zizek and Alain Badiou.

In 2016, Duane raised more than $100,000 to help rebuild a mosque that was attacked in a hate crime in Peterborough, Ontario.[14][15] His efforts received international attention and he was invited for a private meeting with the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.[16] This was the subject of a documentary film by Matthew Hayes, The Masjid.[17][18] Duane received several death threats at this time and went into hiding.[19]

Duane converted to Islam in order to marry his former partner.[20] This relationship was documented by Colin Boyd Shafer in his documentary photo exhibit Interlove Project.[21][22]

In 2019, Duane moved to Mumbai. In 2020, he returned to Canada and accepted an appointment to teach at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Nipissing University.[23] In 2021, he became engaged to the "negative psychoanalyst" Julie Reshe.[24] Rousselle taught psychology and sociology at a university in Tyumen, Siberia, but fled to Kazakhstan with his fiancée and their daughter following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[25]

Duane is a Visiting associate professor of sociology at the University College of Dublin.[26] He currently holds the position of Associate Dean of Research and Associate Professor at the Aga Khan University.[27] In 2024, he established a psychoanalysis circle in Pakistan.[28]

Key Ideas

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Post-Anarchism

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Duane was a leading proponent of "post-anarchism." He published numerous texts and edited the foundational book "Post-Anarchism: A Reader." He has argued that post-anarchism allowed anarchists to reflect upon their own presuppositions and to discover problems with theories of revolutionary and insurrection. He said that "what was so essential about post-anarchist theory was that it surprised anarchists. We became surprised by what it was that we have been saying for over 150 years." [29]

Particular Affirmations

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One of Duane's key theories is that there has been a rise in the logic of 'particular affirmations' of enjoyment after what Slavoj Zizek and others referred to as the decline of symbolic efficiency. These 'particular affirmations' are capable of producing the same results as modern fascism without any need of prohibitions against particular segments of the population.[30] This logic has developed out of close readings of the late teachings of Jacques Lacan and the seminars of Jacques-Alain Miller. His argument was central to a debate with the noted philosopher Slavoj Zizek.[31]

The Ljubljana School

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One of his major projects has been to perform a torsion of the work of the Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis, resituating their theories into another register[32] In several published debates between himself and Slavoj Zizek he has advanced critiques of their theories of ideology, constitutive lack, surplus jouissance, totality, and capitalism to arrive at a distinctively anarchist psychoanalytic theory of contemporary politics.

Dreams

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Duane has argued that the dream is a meta-verse and that today we dream outside of ourselves.[33] He argues that there are today the perpetuation of false negativities, which are actually fawnings/faux-negs of jouissance or enjoyment. The argument is that our satisfactions are perpetuated through naive notions of cynicism, negativity, criticality, and so on.[34]

Faux-Negs

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In recent work, Duane has argued that theories of the death drive within Freudo-Marxism have led to misleading characterizations of the concept of negativity. He has claimed that the concept of negativity actually demonstrates positive fixations of jouissance. He has claimed that much of radical leftist continental philosophy today promotes “false negatives” and “false twists.”

Platform Capitalism

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His work focuses on what he terms “feudal fixations” which remain present within so-called contemporary capitalism. His claim is that we are today in a sort of “plat-farm” capitalism, which is really capitalism in a feudal mode. This has led to a controversial statement that “capitalism would be an advancement.”[35]

Psychoanalytic Sociology

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Duane has argued that psychoanalytic sociology is "not a sociology of psychoanalysis," but rather "the psychoanalyst's sociology."[36] He remarks that the psychoanalyst's sociology begins with what is singular, that is, with what remains resolutely non-social. Hence, against pragmatic sociology, psychoanalysis focuses on what doesn't work and the inexistence of the social relationship.

Awards

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Year Award
2015 Governor General of Canada Gold Medal
2007 Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick Medal
2007 Nels Anderson Prize in Sociology
2007 Queen's Jubilee Award

Works

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  • Post-Anarchism: A Reader (Pluto Books) ISBN 9781783714568
  • After Post-Anarchism (Repartee Books/LBC)
  • Lacanian Realism: Political and Clinical Psychoanalysis (Bloomsbury Books) ISBN 9781350003552
  • Jacques Lacan and American Sociology: Be Wary of the Image (Palgrave) ISBN 9783030197254
  • Gender, Sexuality, and Subjectivity: A Lacanian Perspective on Identity, Language and Queer Theory (Routledge)
  • Real Love: Essays on Psychoanalysis, Religion, and Society (Atropos)
  • Post-anarchism and Psychoanalysis: Seminars on Politics and Society (Real Books) ISBN 9798377450665
  • Negativity in Psychoanalysis: Theory and Clinic (Routledge) ISBN 9781032452098
  • Psychoanalytic Sociology: A New Theory of the Social Bond (Bloomsbury) ISBN 9781350410190

References

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  1. ^ "Trent University Alumni". Trent University. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  2. ^ "Ajeenkya DY Patil University - Meet Our Faculty". Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  3. ^ "Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies". journals.uvic.ca. Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  4. ^ "Trent University Notable Alumni". edurank.org. August 11, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  5. ^ "Clinical Psychoanalysis versus the Ljubljana School". Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  6. ^ "Duane Rousselle". nbcc.ca. Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  7. ^ "Visiting Professor Duane Rousselle - Sociology Department - Grand Valley State University". www.gvsu.edu. Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  8. ^ Carroll, Luke (2016). "From Poverty to Doctorate". Miramichi Leader (Newspaper). Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  9. ^ Carroll, Luke (June 16, 2016). "Miramichi Man in Business of Achieving Real Change in the World". Miramichi Leader Online. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  10. ^ "Duane Rousselle - Cultural Studies - Trent University". www.trentu.ca. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  11. ^ Shafer, Colin Boyd (2016). "Duane & Jinan". Interlove Project. Archived from the original on July 29, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  12. ^ "Trent University Convocation". Trent University. 2015. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  13. ^ "Profile of Duane Rousselle | EGS Alumni". alumni.egs.edu. Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  14. ^ An attack backfires: how a mosque bombing brought Peterborough together. Archived July 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Kovach, J (April 7, 2016). "Peterborough filmmaker produces short film on community response to arson at Masjid Al-Salaam". The Peterborough Examiner. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  16. ^ Hynes, Mary (August 26, 2016). "Canadian Broadcast Company - The Tapestry". CBC Radio. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  17. ^ "The Masjid". April 2016. Archived from the original on February 13, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2020 – via www.imdb.com.
  18. ^ "A Powerful Short Film Has Been Made About the Peterborough Mosque". PTBO Canada. April 3, 2016. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  19. ^ Silverman, Craig (November 16, 2015). "The Organizer Of The Peterborough Mosque Fundraiser Says White Supremacists Are Targeting Him". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  20. ^ Schmidt, Saint (May 12, 2019). "Islam: My Trauma". Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  21. ^ "InterLoveProject Website". Archived from the original on July 29, 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  22. ^ Gairola, Vibhu (May 5, 2016). "These Beautiful Portraits Peer Into the Live of Interfaith Couples". Toronto Life. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  23. ^ "Duaner@nipissingu.ca". Archived from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  24. ^ "Depressive Realism: An Interview with Julie Reshe". May 2, 2021. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  25. ^ "Russian Lawmakers Take Aim at Independent Coverage of Ukrainian Invasion". March 3, 2022. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  26. ^ "Visiting Scholars - University College of Dublin, Department of Sociology". August 1, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  27. ^ "Aga Khan University, Faculty ofArts and Sciences". September 5, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  28. ^ "Psychoanalysis Pakistan". September 3, 2024. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  29. ^ "Post-Anarchism and Psychoanalysis". The Anarchist Library. August 2, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
  30. ^ "The Lonely Anti-Racist". April 8, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  31. ^ "We Should Be Willing to go to the End Conference". YouTube. August 30, 2022. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  32. ^ "Rousselle's Ongoing Debate with Slavoj Zizek". December 3, 2022. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  33. ^ "The Nightmare of Continuing to Dream". YouTube. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  34. ^ "You are Having Milk!". November 21, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  35. ^ "Can we forgive the artificially intelligent?". Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  36. ^ "Aga Khan University Book Launch of Psychoanalytic Sociology". Retrieved December 15, 2024.
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