Brook Farm Institute for Critical Studies

09/05/2026

Autumn seminars in Harper’s Magazine Sabeen Ahmed Emilio Porras Vergara Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton

09/05/2026

The Revolutionary Paradox begins October 1.

Since the French Revolution, the last 250 years might be described as a history of gloriously successful revolutions that failed miserably — of human freedom…

09/03/2026

Thinking Palestine (online) begins in two weeks and there are only two seats left.

An online seminar on Thinking Palestine, taught by Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton, meeting Thursdays, 6:30 PM—9:30 PM ET, September 17–October 8, 2026. $300 tuition.

09/02/2026

Borders and Boundaries begins in two weeks.

08/22/2026

Borders and Boundaries begins September 16 at Brook Farm Institute (Online)

08/20/2026

The Book of Disquiet begins Sept 9 in Boston or Sept 13 online.

08/19/2026

We are very excited to announce that Sabeen Ahmed has joined the Brook Farm Institute faculty and will be leading a seminar this October on “Michel Foucault: Biopower and Race.” More at brookfarminstitute.com

08/18/2026

Borders and Boundaries begins September 16

"People have been on the move for millennia. Even as the nation-state form and its associated conception of citizenship consolidated in the nineteenth century, migration boomed, thus immediately problematizing the boundaries of these units. Nevertheless, it was only in the twentieth century that nation-state borders really began to be actively controlled. This was manifested in the passport becoming a near-universal requirement for travel and migration, in turn further magnifying the importance of citizenship. Thus we will look at how the institution of citizenship and its physical manifestation in the passport relate to the broader question of borders."

A boundary is a real or imagined line demarcating space – something quite useful in geometry, and in many aspects of the human world; in cognitive science, t…

08/08/2026

"Thinking Palestine" begins in person on Sept. 15 and online Sept. 17.

"This seminar will explore the ideological origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How did the obscure nineteenth century movement known as Zionism grow from a utopian obsession to a powerful nation-state presiding over the longest military occupation in modern history? How did Zionism and Palestinian nationalism co-evolve against the dramatic backdrop of two world wars, the fall of empires, and the efflorescence of American global power? How can we interpret the development of the Palestinian liberation movement alongside the history of earlier anti-colonial independence movements? How did a state founded as a refuge from genocide come to be charged today with committing one?"

Two decades ago, the late historian Tony Judt described Israel as an “anachronism” — an ethno-nationalist state born through violent expropriation and seekin…

08/07/2026

New October course just added!

"Buffeted by the winds of revolution blowing in from North America, France, and Haiti, as well as by the industrial revolution and developing colonial project transforming their local landscape and social structures, British writers and thinkers of this period–the Romantics–grappled with questions of political organization, social change, and ecological transformation."

In our present time of quickly accelerating technological, economic, and social change paired with powerful government repression of revolutionary ideas and …