Francois Debrix named director of interdisciplinary Ph.D. program at Virginia Tech
François Debrix, a bilingual scholar whose research focuses on critical world order studies and the theory of transnational politics, has been named director of the Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought, an interdisciplinary Ph.D. and certificate program in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech.
The alliance, also known as ASPECT, is a collaborative effort with the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the Pamplin College of Business.
“Debrix combines administrative expertise and extensive research with an international flair,” said Sue Ott Rowlands, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. “He brings a wealth of experience to the position and will be a true asset to the program and the college.” Ott Rowlands notes that Debrix is one of 27 new faculty hires in the college for 2011-2012, and one of three holding the rank of professor.
Debrix is formerly the associate chair of the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University, where he also directed an international lecture series. His research concentrates on contemporary political and social theory; critical and popular geopolitics; postmodern theory and culture; and the media and international relations.
Debrix has authored three books: the forthcoming "Beyond Biopolitics: Theory and Violence in World Politics" (Routledge, 2011); "Tabloid Terror: War, Culture, and Geopolitics" (Routledge, 2008); and "Re-Envisioning Peacekeeping: The United Nations and the Mobilization of Ideology" (University of Minnesota Press, 1999). He is the editor of "Language, Agency, and Politics in a Constructed World" (M.E. Sharpe, 2003) and the co-editor of "Rituals of Mediation: International Politics and Social Meaning" (University of Minnesota Press, 2003), as well as "The Geopolitics of American Insecurity: Terror, Power, and Foreign Policy" (Routledge, 2009).
Debrix has published more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and refereed long review essays in interdisciplinary theory journals across the social sciences and humanities such as Millennium, Philosophy & Social Criticism, Third World Quarterly, Alternatives, Geopolitics, New Political Science, Peace and Change, Études Internationales, Telos, Postmodern Culture, and International Political Sociology, among others.
Over the past 15 years, Debrix has translated (from French into English) many of French critical social theorist Jean Baudrillard's essays for the journal C-Theory, a Web-based international journal of theory, technology, and culture. He has also published more than 10 book chapters and written several critical essays on current international events for philosophical reviews in Japan such as "Jokyo (Situation)" and "Associé."
Debrix received his Ph.D. and a master’s degree from Purdue University and holds two bachelor's degrees: one in English and Spanish literatures from the University of Haute Normandie, France; the other in International Relations and Diplomatic History from the Institute of Political Science in Strasbourg, France.
