Varn Vlog

Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Varn Vlog is the pod of C. Derick Varn. We combine the conversation on philosophy, political economy, art, history, culture, anthropology, and geopolitics from a left-wing and culturally informed perspective. We approach the world from a historical lens with an eye for hard truths and structural analysis.

Podcasting since 2021 • 391 episodes

Varn Vlog

Latest Episodes

From Dawn To Decadence, Part 6: Aufheben's Decay

In Part 6 of our series "From Dawn to Decadence," we examine the intellectual trajectory and eventual "decay" of the Aufheben collective. This episode explores the group's early contributions to Marxist theory, their critique of the state, and ...

April 20, 2026 • Season 2 • Episode 69 • 1:33:46

German Romanticism and Idealism Beyond Nostalgia And Reaction

Romanticism gets treated like a synonym for nostalgia, and German Idealism gets shrunk to a few brand-name thinkers. We push back on both habits by talking with Christopher Satoor, a York University doctoral candidate and founder of the Young I...

April 13, 2026 • Season 2 • Episode 68 • 1:38:37

Diving Into the Wreckage: The French Left Remains Unbowed

Join hosts as they dive deep into the complexities of modern French politics with guest Henry Wallace. This episode explores the concept of the "new municipalism" and the strategic efforts of the La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) mo...

April 10, 2026 • Season 2 • Episode 67 • 1:18:59

Mapping The United Front Debate with Brandon Lightly

What happens when “march separately, strike together” meets real history? We dive into the tangled story of the United Front—where it came from, how it changed, and why its results ranged from lifeline to dead end. Starting with Marx and the Fi...

April 06, 2026 • Season 2 • Episode 66 • 1:35:32

Wall Street Went To Homeroom And Stole The Whiteboard with David I Backer

What if the real story of American education isn’t test scores or culture wars, but air you can breathe, roofs that don’t leak, and the invisible money pipes that decide who gets both? We sit down with David I. Backer, associate professor of ed...

March 30, 2026 • Season 2 • Episode 65 • 1:38:05

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If you wish to understand Bataille in the Post Structuralist context, refer to Rosalind Krauss’ definitive analysis of Bataille, Documents and Surrealist photography, The Optical Unconscious (MIT Press).

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