Mission Statement JAS  – Journal of Adorno Studies 

The “Adorno Studies Journal” (ASJ) was founded by Martin Shuster and Kathy Kiloh in 2011 to foster inquiry into Adorno’s thought and to make the results of this research available to the scholarly community. After having published three issues, the journal is now ready to resume operation with a different look and feel and new direction under the editorship (in alphabetical order) of Samir Gandesha, Johan F. Hartle, Antonia Hofstätter, Han-Gyeol Lie and Stefano Marino.

The new “Journal of Adorno Studies” (JAS) explores the multifaceted work of Th. W. Adorno and its contemporary intellectual, cultural, and political potential. The journal facilitates exchanges between scholars, intellectuals, and artists who think with and against Adorno as much as about Adorno. Taking inspiration from the breadth of Adorno’s work, the Journal’s orientation is explicitly interdisciplinary. The editors encourage critical investigations of art, media, culture, society, politics, and philosophy.

The Journal explicitly welcomes contributions on hitherto overlooked areas of engagement within Adorno studies and the Frankfurt School, such as feminism, post-colonial discourse, queer studies, animal studies, the new materialism, etc. The Journal also invites more diverse perspectives from scholars based in regions such as Latin America, East and South Asia, and South Africa.

The main section of the Journal is dedicated to current research in the field of Adorno studies. With the section “Polemics and Encounters” the Journal historicizes the context in which Adorno lived and worked while also analyzing the cultures of correspondence, affinity and engagement. The section “Streaming Adorno. Digital Currents of Music” (coming soon) presents in readily accessible form Adorno’s musical material and offers audio samples. New translations and reviews of current publications complete the picture of contemporary discourse on Adorno and his legacy.

The JAS is published by the Mimesis International Press from Milano and appears biannually.  

 

"Have you heard of the horned shark or giraffe fish? From a distance, its skin resembles the skin of a giraffe and it has two strange horn-like extensions on its head." (Gretel Adorno, Los Angeles 1943) | The "golden giraffe" (© Adorno Archive) that inspired the JAS logo was a present by Max Horkheimer. The creator of the illustration is unknown. On March 8, 1943 Adorno wrote to his parents: "My dears, a thousand thanks for your terribly kind letter, and especially for the convalescent's book with the giraffe and hippo. I cannot tell you how happy you made us both with it. It now stands on the mantlepiece next to a golden giraffe, a present from Max."