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Publication Management Dr. Bruna Della Torre

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Bruna Della Torre is a sociologist and cultural critic specialising in Critical Theory, particularly the Frankfurt School and its contemporary legacies. Her research examines the intersections of culture (literature, cinema, theatre), capitalism, technology, and political subjectivity, with a focus on the culture industry, digital capitalism, fascism and the far right, and apocalyptic political imaginaries.

Her current research revisits Critical Theory’s analyses of the culture industry, technological rationality, fascism, and authoritarianism in light of digital capitalism. She is particularly interested in platform neofascism: the convergence of the digital culture industry, authoritarian subject formation, anti-feminism, and far-right politics. At CAPAS, she brings these questions into dialogue with apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic studies, examining the political mobilisation of imaginaries of catastrophe and collapse and its ideological function in our end times capitalism.

Della Torre received her PhD in Sociology from the University of São Paulo (USP) and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature at the same university. She was a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and a Max Horkheimer Fellow at the Institute for Social Research (Institut für Sozialforschung) in Frankfurt am Main. She has also been a visiting scholar at Duke University, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, and Goethe University Frankfurt, and has taught at the University of Brasília.

At CAPAS, she is the editor of Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies (APAS), the Centre’s international open-access book series published in partnership with De Gruyter, and a member of Apocalyptica’s board.

Research Areas

  • Critical Theory and the Frankfurt School

  • Theories of Fascism, Authoritarianism, and the Far Right

  • Apocalypse, Catastrophe, and Political Imagination

  • Culture Industry, Digital Capitalism, and Platform Neofascism

  • Brazilian and Latin American Critical Theory

  • Marxism, Feminism, and Anti-Feminism

  • Cultural and Literary Criticism

  • Modernism and the Avant-Gardes

Publications

Monograph

  • 2019. Vanguarda do Atraso ou Atraso da Vanguarda? Oswald de Andrade e os teimosos destinos do Brasil. São Paulo, Alameda Editorial. [Backwardness of the Vanguard or Vanguard of the Backwardness? Oswald de Andrade and the Stubborn Destinies of Brazil]

Editor

  • Objective Form and World Literature: Antonio Candido and Roberto Schwarz' (Verso, forthcoming)
  • Forthcoming in 2026. Critical Theory at the Endgame. Apocalyptica.
  • Forthcoming in 2027. Hablar con callejones sin salida": Utopía, catástrofe y teoría crítica. Constelaciones: Revista de Teoria Crítica.
  • 2021. Marxismo e feminismo: perspectivas políticas para a sociologia. [Marxism and feminism: political perspectives for sociology] (Co-author: Giovanna Marcelino). Plural.

Peer-reviewed articles

  • Forthcoming in 2027. 批判理论中的二元论理性批判：论资本主义——南希·弗雷泽与拉赫尔·耶吉的批判理论对话 (Critique of Dualist Reason in Critical Theory: On Capitalism: A Conversation in Critical Theory, by Nancy Fraser and Rahel Jaeggi). 社会批判理论纪事 (Register of Critical Theory of Society).
  • Forthcoming in 2026. Adorno, Marx, and the Culture Industry. Journal of Adorno Studies.
  • Forthcoming. Theodor W. Adorno versus György Lukács: form, immanent critique, and two interpretations of Balzac. Historical Materialism Journal.
  • 2025. La unidimensionalidad en el siglo XXI: La racionalidad de las grandes tecnológicas, la industria cultural digital y la postmodernidad de plataformas. Constelaciones: Revista de Teoria Crítica, v. 17, p. 390-406.
  • 2024. Culture Industry, a feminist reading. Constelaciones: Revista de Teoria Crítica, v. 16, p. 39-71.
  • 2024. Plattform-Neofaschismus: digitale Kulturindustrie und die extreme Rechte heute. Westend. Neue Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, vol. 21, p. 31-52.
  • 2024. Anthropophagia and those Twenties in Brazil: Good Old Days or Bad New Ones? FormA. A Journal of Latin American Criticism & Theory, v. 2, p. 1-35, 2024.
  • 2024. Roberto Schwarz, Machado de Assis e o problema do realismo [Roberto Schwarz, Machado de Assis and the issue of Realism]. Letterature d'America, 195, 63-84.
  • 2023. Romance e reificação: Georg Lukács, Theodor W. Adorno e Fredric Jameson. À ocasião do centenário de História e Consciência de Classe [Reification and the Novel: Georg Lukács, Theodor W. Adorno and Fredric Jameson. On the occasion of the centenary of History and Class Consciousness]. Anuário Lukács, v. 10, 130-159.
  • 2023. Culture Industry, a (political) research agenda for Critical Theory. Global Dialogue. Magazine of the International Sociological Association, 13(3).
  • 2023. Indústria cultural. O conceito e sua atualidade em 7 teses [Culture industry. The concept and its relevance in 7 theses]. Revista do Centro de Pesquisa e Formação, 176-193.
  • 2022. Culture Industry, Subjectivity, and Domination: Adorno and the Radio Project. Mediations - Journal of the Marxist Literary Group, 35: 3-34.
  • 2022. Aquellos años veinte en Brasil: good old days or bad new ones? [Those 20s in Brazil: good old days or bad new ones?] Revista chilena de literatura, 106: 285-316.
  • 2022. Nicht mitmachen! and Weitermachen!: Rereading Adorno and Marcuse on Theory and Praxis. (Co-author: Eduardo Altheman). Rethinking Marxism, 34: 63-80.
  • 2021. Dialética da desumanização [Dialectic of dehumanization]. Sociologia & Antropologia, 11: 195-199.
  • 2020. Com quantos paus se faz uma canoa? Notas sobre a personalidade autoritária. [How many swallows make a summer? Notes on The Authoritarian Personality]. Crítica Marxista. Sao Paulo, 50: 103-110. 
  • 2020. Abra-te Sésamo: a teoria crítica de Gabriel Cohn. [Open sesame: the critical theory of Gabriel Cohn]. Revista Sociologia & Antropologia. Rio de Janeiro, 10: 449-465.
  • 2019. Neoliberal unfoldings of Lulism. (Co-authors: Eduardo Altheman; Vladimir Puzone). Revista de Estudos e Pesquisas Sobre as Américas, 13: 271-297.
  • 2019. Abaixo da superfície: Adorno e o cinema reconsiderado [Below the Surface: Adorno and Cinema Reconsidered]. Novos Estudos CEBRAP. São Paulo, 38: 477-493.
  • 2019. Adorno, leitor de Marx [Adorno reads Marx]. Revista Sociologia & Antropologia, 9: 519-541. 
  • 2019. Modelos críticos: Antonio Candido e Roberto Schwarz leem Oswald de Andrade [Critical models: Antonio Candido and Roberto Schwarz read Oswald de Andrade]. Revista do Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros, 74: 178-196.
  • 2018. Socialização e dominação: a Escola de Frankfurt e a cultura [Socialization and Domination: Frankfurt School and Culture]. (Co-author: Eduardo Altheman). Tempo Social, 30: 123-141.
  • 2016. Eles devoraram tudo: primitivismo, barbárie e as vanguardas [They have devoured everything: primitivism, barbarism, and the avant-gardes]. Revista do Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros, 64: 296-309.
  • 2016. Em rota de colisão: Adorno, Marcuse e os Movimentos Estudantis [On collision course: Adorno, Marcuse and the students’ movements]. Ideias. Campinas, 7: 37-57.
  • 2014. Benjamin leitor de Brecht: cinema e distanciamento [Benjamin reads Brecht: Cinema and Estrangement]. Pandaemonium Germanicum, São Paulo, vol. 37-52.
  • 2012. Desventuras da subversão: Oswald de Andrade, o Teatro Oficina e os dois momentos de O Rei da Vela [Misadventures of subversion: Oswald de Andrade, Teatro Oficina and the two moments of O Rei da Vela]. Proa - Revista de Antropologia e Arte, 4: 85-99.

Book Chapters

  • 2026. Industria cultural, subjetividad y dominación: Adorno y el Proyecto Radio. In: Leandro Sanchez Marin; J. Sebastian David-Giraldo. (Org.). Theodor W. Adorno y la Teoría Crítica de la negatividad. 1ed.Mdellín: Grupo de Teoria Crítica; ennnegativoEdiciones, v. 1, p. 175-226.
  • 2025. Mamut. Historia natural, apocalipsis e inmediatez. Ensayos en las orillas del tiempo. 1ed.Cidade do México: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, v. 1, p. 106-112.
  • 2025. Elisabeth Lenk, Theodor W. Adorno y las vanguardias. In: Sarah Speck; Christina Engelmann; Lena Reichardt; Bea S. Ricke; Stephan Voswinkel. (Org.). En las sombras de la tradición: Una historia de la Escuela de Frankfurt en perspectiva feminista. 1ed.Buenos Aires: Eterna Cadencia, v. , p. 175-194.
  • 2024. Elisabeth Lenk, Theodor W. Adorno, and the avant-gardes. In: Christina Engelmann; Lena Reichardt; Bea S. Ricke; Sarah Speck; Stephan Voswinkel. (Org.). Im Schatten der Tradition. Eine Geschichte des IfS aus feministischer Perspektive (IfS Aus der Reihe 5). 1ed.Berlin: Bertz Fischer Verlag, v. 1, p. 135-151.
  • 2024. The Position of the Narrator in the Peripheral Novel: Roberto Schwarz, Machado de Assis, and the Problem of Realism. In: Waller, Thomas (Ed.). Roberto Schwarz and World Literature. London: Routledge.
  • 2024. Mais uma vez, ainda, "Cultura e Política, 1964-1969" [Once again, still, "Culture and Politics, 1964-1969"]. In: Ricupero, Bernardo; Belinelli, Leonardo; Marino, Rafael. (Eds.). Ensaios sobre Roberto Schwarz. Campina Grande: Editora da Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, 2024, p. 219-244.
  • 2024. 21st Century One-dimensionality: Big Tech-nological Rationality, Digital Culture Industry, and Platform Postmodernity. In: Altheman, Eduardo; Jina Fast, Nicole K. Mayberry; Sid Simpson (Eds.) The Marcusean Mind. London: Routledge, 510-521.
  • 2023. "Marxismo feminista" [Feminist Marxism]. In: Camila Galetti; Jéssica Melo Rivetti (Eds.) Feminismos em Movimento. São Paulo: Luas, 270-278.
  • 2023. “The Cross and the Pink shotgun: Apocalypse in Bolsonaro’s Brazil”. In: Jenny Stümer (Ed.). Worlds Ending – Ending Worlds. Berlin: DeGruyter, 187-208.
  • 2023. Macunaíma: la epopeya negativa de Mário de Andrade [Macunaíma: the Negative Epic of Mário de Andrade]. In: Mónica González García; Sarah Moody; Astrid Santana Fernández de Castro (Eds.). Las fracturas del mármol - Heroicidades latinoamericanas a contrapelo. Havana/Buenos Aires: CLACSO; La Habana Editorial, p. 159-183.
  • 2023. Classe ou massa? Freud, Adorno e Marx. [Class or Mass? Freud, Adorno, and Marx] In: Raphael Seabra; Stefan Klein (Eds). Marx 200 Anos - questões, debates e vigência nas Ciências Sociais. Brasília: Zouk.
  • 2022. Dos veces cultura y política [Culture and Politics twice]. In: Mónica Gonzalez Garcia; Horst Nitschak. (Eds.). Diálogos Sur-Sur: década de 1960 y transformaciones culturales en Brasil y las Américas. Homenaje a Roberto Schwarz. Santiago de Chile: Universitaria, 2022, 161-182.
  • 2022. Cultura y Política, ayer y hoy [Culture and politics, now and then]. Entrevista a Roberto Schwarz. In: Mónica Gonzalez Garcia; Horst Nitschak. (Eds.). Diálogos Sur-Sur: década de 1960 y transformaciones culturales en Brasil y las Américas. Homenaje a Roberto Schwarz. Santiago de Chile: Universitaria, 281-292.
  • 2022. Karl Marx na metrópole do capital [Karl Marx in the Metropolis of Capital] (Co-author: Vladimir Puzone) In: Daniel Lago Monteiro; John Milton; Júlia Braga Neves; Marcelo Pen Parreira; Nilce M. Pereira; Thiago Rhys Bezerra Cass. (Eds.). Vitorianos. Contradições e desdobramentos. São Paulo: LiberArs, 59-78.
  • 2019. Cultura e Política, ontem e hoje. Entrevista com Roberto Schwarz Culture and Politics, now and then: Interview with Roberto Schwarz. In: Roberto Schwarz. (Ed.). Seja como for: entrevistas, retratos e documentos. São Paulo: Editora 34, 314-327.

Selected essays, reviews and interviews

  • 2026. Militärdiktatur in Brasilien, bewaffneter Widerstand und politisches Unbewusstes. Berliner Gazette.
  • 2026. Military Dictatorship in Brazil, Armed Resistance, and the Political Unconscious. Berliner Gazette.
  • 2024. No Road Map for Critical Theory: An Introductory Guide to the Frankfurt School (Studying Critical Theory Series). International Marcuse Society Website.
  • 2024. Thesen für das Social-Media-Zeitalter: Wie der Plattform-Neofaschismus die Techno-Apokalypse heraufbeschwört. Berliner Gazette.
  • 2024. Theses for the Social Media Age: Why Platform Neofascism Will Bring About the Techno-Apocalypse. Berliner Gazette.
  • 2022. The Setback of Women's Rights in Bolsonaro's Brazil. Washington Brazil Office.
  • 2018. Roberto Schwarz reflete sobre quatro tentativas de modernização do Brasil/Entrevista com Roberto Schwarz [Roberto Schwarz reflects on four attempts to modernize Brazil/Interview with Roberto Schwarz]. Folha de São Paulo, São Paulo, 22 jul.

English

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