Conference Report: From Berg to Beyonce: Adorno and Politics: 1st Istanbul Critical Theory Conference, Bogazici University

The organizers' opening address to this conference laid out an ambitious aim: to weigh up the Aktualitat of Adorno's critical theory in its capacity as a heuristic, pedagogcial tool for the analysis of current political crises in Turkey and beyond; to apply the precpts of his negative dialectic to 'concrete' historical struggles. This was a timely task, given recent developments in Turkey. Such political directives were clearly reflected in the conference programme--particularly in a noteworty session on critical theories of race, which appears to have come closest to fulfilling the conference brief. OA