Sarah Clift

Sarah Clift holds a BSc and a BA from the University of Western Ontario, an MA in Methodologies from Trent University and a PhD in Social & Political Thought from York University. She also holds a Doctoral Diploma in German and European Studies from the Centre for German & European Studies (York University/UQAM).

In her doctoral work, Sarah traces the conceptualization of memory at the heart of modern philosophy in order to question the assumption of the loss of radical futurity in the philosophical/theoretical tradition. Focal points of her study include the empiricism of John Locke, Hegel’s speculative philosophy and the literary theoretical writing of French writer Maurice Blanchot. The dissertation was awarded York University’s 2009 President’s Prize for best doctoral thesis.

In addition to being active as a translator of French and German contemporary theory, Sarah’s current work involves an in-depth examination of the roles played by figure and representation in the writings of political theorist Hannah Arendt and philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy.

Sarah is delighted to be taking on the position of Assistant Professor in the Foundation Year Programme and in Contemporary Studies this year. Previously, she was a Senior Fellow in the Foundation Year Programme.

Select Publications/Translations

• “Regarding the Image (on Jean-Luc Nancy’s The Ground of the Image),” Poiesis 10, 2008. 
   
• “Narrative life-span, in the wake.” Biopolitics, Narrative, Temporality. Eds. Rod Frey and Alexander Ruch. Polygraph 18 (2006): 13-45.
   
• “Impossible Testimony: Figures of Memory in Locke’s Essay.” Inventing the Past: Memory Work in Culture and History. Basel: Schwabe Press, 2005: 159-179.
   
• “Testimony in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility,” Poiesis 4, 2002: 114-129.

Selected Translations

• Aleida Assmann. The Long Shadow of the Past:  Cultures of Memory and the Politics of History. New York: Fordham University Press, forthcoming. Translation from German.

• Jean-Luc Nancy, “Possibility of Sense,” Perspectives – On the Borders of Art and Philosophy, Reykjavik Art Museum, 2011. Translation from French.

• Jean-Luc Nancy. God, Justice, Love, Beauty: Four Little Dialogues. New York: Fordham University Press, 2011. Translation from French.

• Jean-Luc Nancy. Noli me Tangere: On the Raising of the Body. New York: Fordham University Press, 2008. Translation from French.