Etienne Balibar papers, 1963-2001

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Summary

Creators:

Abstract:

This collection is comprised of manuscripts and research materials from philosopher and political theorist Etienne Balibar.

Extent:

2.6 Linear Feet (8 boxes)

Language:

Collection materials are in French and English.

Preferred citation:

Etienne Balibar papers. MS-C023. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection is comprised of manuscripts, typescripts, and research materials documenting Etienne Balibar's studies and research from 1963 to 2001. A student of Louis Althusser, Balibar is best known as a Marxist philosopher and political theorist focused on historical materialism, critical theory, ethics, and political philosophy. The collection contains research notes and writings during his work with Althusser in the 1960s and documents the structuralist and Marxist thought of this group. It also includes Balibar's writings as a member of the French Communist Party. Balibar's notes and writings on Baruch Spinoza, René Descartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Ludwig Wittgenstein are also included, as are a variety of publications and lectures. The vast majority of the materials are in French.

Biographical / historical:

Etienne Balibar is best known as a Marxist philosopher and political theorist focused on historical materialism, critical theory, ethics, and political philosophy. As a student of Louis Althusser at the École Normale Supérieure from 1960 to 1965, Balibar contributed to Althusser's collective theoretical work Reading Capital(1965). Major books written by Balibar include Spinoza and Politics (1985), Race, Nation, Class(with Immanuel Wallerstein, 1991), The Philosophy of Marx (1993), Politics and the Other Scene (2002), and We, the People of Europe? Reflections on Transnational Citizenship (2004).

Etienne Balibar was born in Avallon, Yonne, Bourgogne, France on April 23, 1942. He earned a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1962 and Diploma of Higher Studies in 1963 from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) while a student at the École Normale Supérieure. In 1987, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree, cum laude, from the Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen (Netherlands) for his dissertation entitled, "The infinite contradiction: elements of a philosophy in history."

Balibar received an habilitation from Université Paris I in 1993 and an honorary doctorate from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) in 2005. Etienne Balibar is Professor Emeritus of moral and political philosophy at the University of Paris, Nanterre and was appointed Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine from 2000 to 2012.

Chronology
Date	Event
1942	Etienne Balibar born in Avallon, Yonne, Bourgogne, France on April 23.
1960	Begins studies at Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, ending in 1965.
1961	Joins the French Communist Party
1962	Receives Bachelor of Philosophy degree from Sorbonne.
1963	Receives Diploma of Higher Studies under direction of Georges Canguilhem, Sorbonne.
1965	Joins the University of Algiers as Assistant, leaving in 1967. Publishes Lire le Capital (English translation, Reading Capital in 1970), a collection of essays developed by Louis Althusser and his students (Balibar, Roger Establet, Jacques Rancière, and Pierre Macherey) in a seminar on Karl Marx's Das Kapital.
1967	Joins the School of Savigny sur Orge as Professor, leaving in 1969.
1969	Joins the University of Paris I as Assistant, then Senior Lecturer, leaving in 1976.
1976	Joins Rijksuniversiteit Leiden you (Netherlands) as Wetenschappelijk Hoofdmedewerker, Faculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid, leaving in 1977. Publishes Sur la dictature du prolétariat (English translation, On the Dictatorship of the Proletariat in 1977)
1977	Joins the University of Paris I as Senior Lecturer, leaving in 1994.
1981	Expelled from the French Communist Party for criticizing the party's attitudes towards immigration.
1985	Publishes Spinoza et la politique (English translation, Spinoza and Politics in 1998)
1987	Receives Ph.D. degree in Philosophy from Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen (Netherlands).
1988	Publishes Race, Nation, Classe (English translation as Race, Nation, Class in 1991).
1993	Publishes La philosophie de Marx (English translation, The Philosophy of Marx in 1995) Receives Habilitation from Université Paris I.
1994	Joins University of Paris, Nanterre as Professor. Publishes Masses, classes, ideas. Studies in politics and philosophy
2000	Becomes Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine.
2003	Publishes L'Europe, l'Amérique, la Guerre. Réflexions sur la médiation européenne
2002	Publishes Politics and the Other Scene Becomes Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris, Nanterre.
2004	Publishes We, the People of Europe? Reflections on Transnational Citizenship
2005	Receives honorary doctorate from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece).

Acquisition information:

Gift of Etienne Balibar, 2012.

Processing information:

This collection is minimally processed in order to facilitate access. It was arranged and described by Michelle Light in consultation with Etienne Balibar in 2012. Finding aid created and additions processed by Audra Eagle Yun in 2012.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in 12 series:

Series 1. Work with Louis Althusser, 1963-1977
Series 2. "Ecole project," 1968-1971
Series 3. Communist Party writings, 1965-1977
Series 4. Personal reading notes, 1980-2000
Series 5. "Travaux, 1965-1987," for PhD at Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, circa 1987
Series 6. Ludwig Wittgenstein translation project, 1987-1989
Series 7. Habilitation, Universite de Paris I, 1992-1993
Series 8. La philosophie de Marx, after 1993
Series 9. Teaching seminars at Universite de Paris X Nanterre, 1995-1996, 2001
Series 10. "Passion profane," 1991-1992
Series 11. Writings, lecturess, and interviews, 1985-2012
Series 12. Scholarly journals, 2003-2011

The collection was arranged by the creator in consultation with Special Collections & Archives staff.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Critical theory -- Archives.
Critical theory -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- California -- Irvine
Philosophy, Marxist -- 20th century
Philosophy, French -- 20th century
Philosophers.
Names:: University of California, Irvine -- Archives
Balibar, Étienne

Access and use

Restrictions:: The collection is open for research. Writings not authored by Etienne Balibar may not be photocopied or duplicated.
Terms of access:: Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.