Claudio Canaparo is currently a visiting professor at Universidad de Quilmes, in Argentina. He has written as a literary critic, epistemologist, sociology of culture analyst and philosopher.
Education and career
Canaparo was born in the city port of Campana, Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a mother of Hebrew origins and an Italian rooted father; he was a traveller, manual worker and scientific researcher before entering academia. He studied at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Rosario, at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in Buenos Aires, at the DAMS at the UniversitÃÂ degli Studi di Bologna, and received his Ph.D. under the supervision of William Rowe at King's College London in 2000.
He joined the Faculty of Arts at Exeter University in 1995 where he created the Centre for Latin American Studies. In 2009 he was appointed Visiting Professor at Birkbeck College, where he stays until 2015. He was also Associated Researcher at the Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium between 2007 and 2012. Between 2015 and 2021 he was professor or philosophy at the Académie de Bordeaux in France.
In 2012 he started to supervise and teach within the postgraduate program from the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes and from Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, both in Argentina. In the same year he developed a project of teaching basic philosophy to 8âÂÂ10 years old children from âÂÂArc-en-Cielâ public school of Feugarolles in France. From 2015 he has been also professor of philosophy at the Académie de Bordeaux in France.
Themes and related subjects
The principal effort of his work goes to establish the relation between knowledge and conceptual evolution, mainly focused on theories and related concepts about space with peripheral areas of the planet or, more precisely, having the peripheral spaces of the planet as its main intellectual frame. Themes of his works also include sociology of knowledge (Muerte y transfiguración de la cultura rioplatense, 2005), epistemology (Geo-epistemology. Latin America and the Location of Knowledge, 2009) and colonialism (La cuestión periférica. Heidegger, Derrida, Europa, 2021), authorship theory (The Manufacture of an Author, 2000; El mundo Ingaramo, 2015), and science and writing (Ciencia y escritura, 2003).
In the 2010s he was working in relation with the radical changes that the Anthropocene conditions of the biosphere has in terms of speculation and thinking, always in peripheral areas of the planet (El mundo de atrás. Efecto antropoceno y especulación en los ámbitos periféricos, 2019; El pensamiento basura. Transitoriedad, materia, viaje y mundo periférico, 2017). More specifically, he is trying to explore the growing entanglement between thinking and anthropology, and the consequences, on peripheral areas of planet, of the classical philosophical tradition of using cartesian-kantian ways of conceptualization to justify a theory of understanding (El fin de la naturaleza. Fallo y propósito en la especulación. AntropologÃÂa de la naturaleza en la periferia, 2023).
More recently he had been working on the consequences and possibilities that a radical standing concerning academic institutions, post-colonialism, climate change and the mercantilization of knowledge have in terms of understanding and savoir-faire within peripheral areas of planet (Insurrección nativa. Antropofósiles, inhumanismo, especulación, 2024). Equally, he is working in an intellectual and conceptual history written from an ethnographical reversal standpoint (Derrotero en falta. Memoria etnográfica, 2025). More recently, his focus was set on formulating a notion of understanding as a tool to determine what can be considered as politics in terms of Anthropocene and from a peripheral point of view (Bios politikos. Viviente y no-viviente en la especulación, 2025).
Select bibliography
Books
- (1998) El artificio como cuestión. Conjeturas en torno a Respiración artificial.
- (2000) Jorge Luis Borges. Intervenciones sobre pensamiento y literatura.
- (2000) The Manufacture of an Author. Reinaldo ArenasâÂÂs literary world, his readers and other contemporaries.
- (2000) Imaginación, mapas, escritura. Noción de espacio y perspectiva cognitiva.
- (2001) El perlonghear. Postulados de un pensamiento posracionalista.
- (2004) Ciencia y escritura. Una historia retórica e intelectual de "Nature" 1869-1999.
- (2005) Muerte y transfiguración de la cultura rioplatense: breve tratado sobre el pensamiento del espacio en el RÃÂo de la Plata, 1830-1980.
- (2007) El enigma de lo real (ed. with Geneviève Fabry).
- (2009) Geo-Epistemology. Latin America and the Location of Knowledge.
- (2011) El imaginario Patagonia. Ensayo acerca de la evolución conceptual del espacio.
- (2015) El mundo Ingaramo.
- (2017) El pensamiento basura. Transitoriedad, materia, viaje y mundo periférico.
- (2019) El mundo de atrás. Efecto antropoceno y especulación en los ámbitos periféricos.
- (2021) La cuestión periférica. Heidegger, Derrida, Europa.
- (2023) El pensamiento basura. Transitoriedad, materia, viaje y mundo periférico. New edition.
- (2023) El fin de la naturaleza. Fallo y propósito en la especulación. AntropologÃÂa de la naturaleza en la periferia.
- (2024) Insurrección nativa. Antropofósiles, inhumanismo, especulación.
- (2025) Bios politikos. Viviente y no-viviente en la especulación.
- (2025) Derrotero en falta. Memoria etnográfica.
Articles/ chapters in books
- (with Sergio Pedernera) âÂÂSangre, espacio y cartografÃÂaâÂÂ, en Mataderos. Pampa y asfalto, Buenos Aires: Dirección General patrimonio, museos y casco histórico, 2022, pp. 17-35.
- âÂÂDiéresis y acontecer en The Imaginary Agent (1985) de Edmundo BenajánâÂÂ, en Claudia Hammerschmidt, ed. Patagonia literaria II. Funciones, proyecciones e intervenciones de autorÃÂa estratégica en la nueva literatura patagónica, Potsdam: INOLAS, 2016, pp. 445âÂÂ459.
- âÂÂLa especulación cartográficaâÂÂ, in Sergio Pedernera, ed., Ars Cartographica. CartografÃÂa histórica de Buenos Aires 1830âÂÂ1889, Buenos Aires: Dirección General Patrimonio e Instituto Histórico, 2015, pp. 17âÂÂ20.
- âÂÂFilm and Migration in Latin AmericaâÂÂ, in Immanuel Ness, ed. Encyclopaedia of Global Human Migration, London: Wiley Blackwell, 2013.
- âÂÂEl pensamiento del ojoâÂÂ, in Israel SanmartÃÂn Barros/Patricia Calvo González/Eduardo Rey Tristán, eds., en América Latina y Europa, Santiago: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 2012, pp. 125âÂÂ141.
- (with André-Jean Arnaud, ÃÂrika Patino Cardoso, Marco Aurélio Serau Junior, Ricardo Rollo Duarte) âÂÂFrontièresâÂÂ, in André-Jean Arnaud (ed.), Dictionnaire de la globalisation, Paris: L. G. D. J., 2010, pp. 226âÂÂ228.
- (with Guilherme Figueiredo Leite Gonçalves, Márcio Alves Fonseca) âÂÂGouvernabilitéâÂÂ, in André-Jean Arnaud (ed.), Dictionnaire de la globalisation, Paris: L. G. D. J., 2010, pp. 263âÂÂ265.
- (with Guilherme Figueiredo Leite Gonçalves, Márcio Alves Fonseca, Orlando Villas Bôas Filho) âÂÂPouvoirâÂÂ, in André-Jean Arnaud (ed.), Dictionnaire de la globalisation, Paris: L. G. D. J., 2010, pp. 415âÂÂ419.
- âÂÂGeo-EpistemologÃÂaâ in Hugo E. Biagini/Arturo Roig (dirs.), Diccionario de pensamiento alternativo II, available at www.cecies.org. Project of âÂÂPensamiento Latinoamericano AlternativoâÂÂ, based at the University of Lanús, Argentina.
- âÂÂScience and Empire. The Geo-epistemic Location of Knowledgeâ in P. Lorenzano, H-J Rheinberger, E. Ortiz and C. Galles, eds., History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, Oxford: UNESCO/EOLSS Publishers, 2008.
- âÂÂLa consumación del realismoâ in G. Fabry/C. Canaparo (eds.), El enigma de lo real, Bern: Peter Lang], 2007 pp. 199âÂÂ275.
- âÂÂThe <Nature effect> in Latin American Science Publicationsâ in E. Ortiz/E. Fishburn (eds.): Science and the Creative Imagination in Latin America], London: [Institute for the Study of the Americas], 2005, pp. 97âÂÂ118.
- âÂÂMarconi and other Artifices: Long-range Technology and the Conquest of the Desertâ in J. Andermann/W. Rowe (eds.), Images of Power. Iconography Culture and the State in Latin America], Toronto, 2005, pp. 241âÂÂ254.
- âÂÂMedir, trazar, ver. Arte cartográfico y pensamiento en Jorge Eduardo Eielsonâ in José Ignacio Padilla (ed.), Nu/do. Homenaje a J. E. Eielson, Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú], 2002, pp. 289âÂÂ314.
- âÂÂâ in W. Rowe et al. (editors): Jorge Luis Borges. Intervenciones sobre pensamiento y literatura, Barcelona/Buenos Aires: Paidós, 2000, pp. 199âÂÂ247.
- Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature, London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997, 926 pp. Articles on: (1)âÂÂGELMAN, Juan (1930- ) âÂÂ; (2)âÂÂJuan Gelman: el juego en que andamosâÂÂ; (3)âÂÂCambaceres, Eugenio (1843-1888)âÂÂ; (4)âÂÂORTIZ, Juan Laurentino (1896-1978)âÂÂ; (5)âÂÂSORIANO, Osvaldo (1943- ) âÂÂ; (6)âÂÂEl juguete rabioso en las Aguafuertes porteñasâÂÂ; (7)âÂÂEl astilleroâÂÂ; (8)âÂÂIbarguengoitia, Jorge (1928-1983)âÂÂ; (9)âÂÂYañez, AgustÃÂn (1904-1980)âÂÂ.
Articles in journals
- âÂÂA dónde ir, qué hacer. Periferia y latourismoâÂÂ, in Revista Orillera, Universidad Nacional de Avellaneda, Buenos Aires, año 3, num. 4, primavera 2018, pp. 63âÂÂ68.
- âÂÂHistoria especulativa del presenteâÂÂ, in HistoriografÃÂas, número 15, Enero-Junio, 2018, pp. 16âÂÂ21. Doi 10.26754/ojs_historiografias/21744289
- âÂÂMás allá del fin del mundo: Seguridad, violencia, territorioâÂÂ, in Vegueta. Anuario de la Facultad de GeografÃÂa e Historia, número 17, 2017, pp. 279âÂÂ298.
- âÂÂLa idea de revolución en la periferiaâÂÂ, en SÃÂMATA, Ciencias Sociais e Humanidades, 2016, vol. 28: 29âÂÂ55.
- âÂÂWas ist Aufklärung? o la teorÃÂa del iLuminismoâ in Pensamiento de los Confines, University of Buenos Aires, número 29, mayo 2013, pp. 171âÂÂ176.
- âÂÂEl Antropoceno argentinoâÂÂ, in Revista Orillera, Universidad Nacional de Avellaneda, Buenos Aires, año 1, num. 1, invierno 2016, pp. 67âÂÂ71.
- âÂÂMigration and radical constructivist epistemologyâÂÂ, in Crossings: Journal of Migration and Culture, volume 3, number 2, pp. 181âÂÂ200, 2012.
- âÂÂPara una fisiologÃÂa de las condiciones del especular. Posthumanismo, pensamiento e historiografÃÂa europea en la periferiaâÂÂ, in Pensamiento de los Confines, University of Buenos Aires, número 27, marzo 2011, pp. 136âÂÂ156.
- (Co-authored with Luis Rebaza-Soraluz and William Rowe) âÂÂIntroduccciónâÂÂ, in Latin American Studies in the UK, Bulletin of Spanish Studies (Glasgow), volume LXXXIV, Numbers 4âÂÂ5, pp. 441âÂÂ445.
- âÂÂCiencia y tecnologÃÂa en El Eternautaâ in Revista Iberoamericana, University of Pittsburgh, volumen 73, number 221, Oct-Dec 2007, 871-886.
- âÂÂArte y desencanto en Elias Ingaramoâ in Bulletin of Hispanic Studies], Liverpool, volume 84, number 3, pp. 335âÂÂ346, 2007.
- âÂÂLa finalidad literariaâ in Pensamiento de los Confines, University of Buenos Aires/Fondo de Cultura Económica, número 19, diciembre 2006, pp. 112âÂÂ118.
- âÂÂDe poiesis sive poetica. Notas para una fisiologÃÂa del lenguajeâ in Aleph. Revista de literatura hispanoamericana, Université de Liège/Catholique de Louvain, número 20, enero de 2006, pp. 81âÂÂ104.
- âÂÂUn mundo modernista para la cultura rioplatenseâ in Bulletin of Spanish Studies] (Glasgow), volume LXXIX, numbers 2âÂÂ3, MarchâÂÂMay 2002, pp. 193âÂÂ209.
- âÂÂEl mapa borgeano y sus alrededoresâ in INTI. Revista Literaria Hispánica], Providence, Brown University, number 48, 1998, pp. 3âÂÂ18.
- âÂÂJuan José Saer interviewedâ in Travesia. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies], [London], volume 4, number 1, June 1995.
References
- Ciencia y escritura.
- The Manufacture of an Author.
- La consumación del realismo.
- El imaginario Patagonia.
External links