Theodore Adorno was a visionary philosopher, sociologist, and musicologist, known for critiquing capitalism and modern culture.
Jacques Derrida was a renowned philosopher, influential in establishing deconstruction, probing the complexities of language and meaning.
Judith Butler is a renowned American philosopher and gender theorist whose groundbreaking work on gender performativity has shaped contemporary feminist and queer theory.
Edward Said was a renowned Palestinian-American literary theorist and cultural critic who advocated for Palestinian rights and coined the term "Orientalism" to examine Eurocentric views in academia.
Walter Benjamin was a German philosopher, cultural critic, and essayist, known for his unique insights into the modern world and his contributions to the fields of aesthetics, literature, and cultural theory.
Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, and semiotician, whose groundbreaking works on cultural and media analysis greatly influenced post-structuralist thought.
Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist and philosopher who critically analyzed power structures, cultural reproduction, and social class, profoundly influencing social theory.
Michel Foucault was a French philosopher and historian whose groundbreaking work on power, knowledge, and social institutions profoundly influenced modern thought.
Stuart Hall was a Jamaican-British cultural theorist who significantly influenced British cultural studies, sociology, and media theory.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is a prominent Indian literary theorist and feminist, known for coining the term "subaltern studies" and challenging postcolonial discourse.
Qian Mu was a renowned Chinese historian, philosopher, and educator, whose works significantly influenced modern Chinese historiography.
Raymond Williams was a prominent British cultural critic and literary theorist, whose works significantly shaped the fields of cultural studies and sociology.
Leopold Senghor was a Senegalese poet, philosopher, and politician, serving as the first president of Senegal from 1960 to 1980.
Edward Sapir was an American anthropologist and linguist, renowned for his pioneering work in the study of Native American languages and the development of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
Dell Hymes was an influential linguist and anthropologist, renowned for his contributions to ethnography of communication and development of the concept of communicative competence.
José Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish philosopher, essayist, and cultural critic who profoundly influenced 20th-century European thought.