Jesse Cohn

Who is Jesse Cohn?

Jesse Sheppard Cohn is an academic and author of the work Anarchism and the Crisis of Representation. Cohn earned his bachelor's degree in English literature from Earlham College in 1994 before going on to earn an M.A. and PhD from Binghamton University in 1996 and 1999 respectively. After six years on the faculty of Purdue University North Central, he was promoted to associate professor of English in 2006. Cohn's Science Fiction and Fantasy class was the impetus for the establishment of the "Simulated Selves, Virtual Worlds" film festival.

His work Anarchism and the Crisis of Representation: Hermeneutics, Aesthetics, Politics is a challenge to conventional interpretations of anarchism which investigates the notion of "representation", questioning the legitimacy of some individuals speaking for others. Cohn is a noted critic of postanarchism, as the author of the influential article "What is 'Postanarchism' Post?", a critical review of Saul Newman's From Bakunin to Lacan, as well as the co-author with Shawn P. Wilbur of "What’s Wrong With Postanarchism?". Besides Wilbur, Cohn has collaborated with scholars of anarchism such as Todd May, Lewis Call and Robert Graham, and has been published in journals including Anarchist Studies, Fifth Estate, Radical Philosophy and Postmodern Culture.