In Memoriam: Jochen Schulte-Sasse 1940-2012

In 2004, issue number 57, the editors of Cultural Critique marked the tragic passing of Edward W. Said. This was important not only because of Said's immense stature in the numerous fields of humanistic inquiry known to fall within the journal's purview but because of his early commitment to and support of the journal.

This is different.

With Jochen Schulte-Sasse's death in December 2012 the journal lost one of its founders, both in the sense of someone who served on its first editorial board, and, more importantly, in the sense of someone whose intellectual and political passions provided the journal with its drive, its angle, its—and Jochen taught us to hear this word properly—Geist. Although typically in clined to spar with Habermas, Jochen understood that journals—if done well—constituted what hope academic intellectuals had for a public sphere in the historical moment of its disintegration. He inspired those of us around him to take seriously the indispensability of this hope, to recognize that intellectual curiosity and rigor, to which he was devoted, depended on Aufschreibesysteme through which they could be materialized. We will continue on in the lantern glow cast by this inspiration, holding that it is his footsteps we hear trudging on ahead of us in the darker dark.

Farewell dear friend.