Each year the Centre for Social Critique at Humboldt University invites a leading critical theorist to Berlin to give the public Walter Benjamin Lectures. On three consecutive nights, the lectures present an up-to-date analysis of the crises of our time and ways to overcome or grapple with them. Named after the Berlin-born philosopher Walter Benjamin, the lecture series is dedicated to his intellectual integrity and political commitment in the face of historical catastrophe. The list of lecturers since 2019 comprises Charles Taylor, Nancy Fraser, Axel Honneth, Sally Haslanger, and Lea Ypi. 

Philosopher and African American Studies scholar Tommie Shelby from Harvard University will hold the Benjamin Chair at the Centre for Social Critique in 2025. In his Benjamin Lectures Shelby will develop a Political Ethics of the Oppressed, based on the Black radical tradition’s major contribution to social and political philosophy in this regard.

Tommie Shelby is Lee Simpkins Family Professor of Arts and Sciences and the Caldwell Titcomb Professor in the Department of African and African American Studies and the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University. He is the author of much-discussed and prize-winning books that are waiting to be discovered by a broad public in Germany. His works combine fundamental philosophical questions about belonging, solidarity and the possibilities of overcoming racist conditions with a precise knowledge of the Black radical tradition. Shelby’s impressive analyses are characterized by their sincerity and systematic approach. They respond to the challenges that radical approaches to the struggle against oppression have faced and continue to face. Shelby focuses on individuals—their ethical obligations and political possibilities—as well as the need to organize together in solidarity. There are no simple solutions to the inherent social tensions, but in dialog with the Black radical tradition, important insights emerge for contemporary debates. Shelby sharpens our view of the present and continues to unveil surprising perspectives for its transformation. 

Tommie Shelby is the author of The Idea of Prison Abolition (Princeton University Press 2022), Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform (Harvard University Press 2016), and We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity (Harvard University Press 2005). In addition, he co-edited the volume Hip Hop and Philosophy (Open Court, 2005).