The object of critical intellectual work is the present conjuncture as genealogy

Evidence

I would say that the object of my intellectual work is “the present conjuncture.” It is what Foucault called “the history of the present.” It is, “What are the circumstances in which we now find ourselves, how did they arise, what forces are sustaining them, and what forces are available to us to change them?” The “history of the present,” which is a kind of Foucauldian way of talking, brings together two rather contradictory ideas: history and the present. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 1196

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘history of the present’ as Hall’s reframing of the object of inquiry: present circumstances read through their genealogical anterior conditions.
• XREF: Links to Foucault’s genealogy, David Scott’s ‘problem space’, Althusser’s ‘problematic’, and Gramsci’s ‘conjuncture’ — core vocabulary the Islamophobia field builds on. — connects to: Nietzsche redefined philosophy as involuntary memoir and cultural genealogy — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 63; Critical literacy means analyzing the historical causes of one’s own circumstances. — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 202