Thirty Years of Thesis Eleven: a Survey of the Record and Questions for the Future

Abstract

For 30 years Thesis Eleven (T11) has consistently published top quality, original, and highly readable articles on topics unexpected and delightful. Over time, T11 has become a highly visible and respected forum for the presentation and critical analysis of some of the most innovative work being done in social theory worldwide. From its beginnings it has been interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary, bringing together thinkers from the social sciences and the humanities in new and surprising constellations. Given the central role played by Agnes Heller, Ferenc Fehér, György and Maria Markus, émigré members of Lukàcs' Budapest School, the journal has also been intercontinental, keeping the rest of the world informed about the extraordinary theoretical work being done in Australia. Many of the authors are world renowned -Luhmann, Wallerstein, Bauman, Heller, and Castoriadis have all been represented multiple times -while others are true discoveries by the ever-vigilant editors. From its origins in neo-Marxism and critical theory, the journal has steadily accumulated new accents and interests, as signaled by the recently added subtitle 'Critical Theory and Historical Sociology'. My comments will be concerned to plot the journal's trajectory and to ask how it arrived at its current point. I will try to determine exactly which forms of interdisciplinarity, internationalism, critical theory, and historical sociology are being presented. I will organize my comments around a comparison of the editors' published declarations of intent and their occasional surveys of T11's history with the journal's actual contents and evolving profi le.

A story of friendship: An homage to Peter Beilharz

“…Like De Beauvoir, Peter narrates his mental trip through the changes he underwent, along with his views about sociology, and describes his commitment to one of the most extraordinary projects he led, a journal rightly called Thesis Eleven . 3 The story of the journal deserves a separate, dedicated article, or a return to the 100th issue of 2010 (Steinmetz, 2010). The journal is woven throughout Peter’s memoir as an intellectual thread, from the very beginning when he starts his travels around the world and first meets Cornelius Castoriadis, whose journal Socialisme ou Barbarie had already made an impact on Peter’s intellectual interests.…”