Dr Chrys Papaioannou (b. 1979, Athens) is a critical theorist, activist and facilitator living in London.

Chrys (they/she) is an anti-nationalist Marxist thinker and organiser working at the intersection of continental philosophy, comparative literature, and cultural studies. Chrys’s intellectual work is informed by the legacy of the Frankfurt School, Marxist and post-Marxist literary and cultural theory, and contemporary queer-feminist and biopolitical thought. Their political organising is informed by their lived experience of PTSD, and their commitment to anti-oppression and intergenerational mutual learning. Chrys’s research interests have three main foci: philosophy of history and theories of temporality across the humanities and social sciences; post-structuralist and Marxist theories of subjectivation, agency and violence; and the epistemology and ethics of critical theory, especially in relation to questions of method, disciplinarity and institutional forms of knowledge production. Their writing has appeared in Radical Philosophy, New Formations, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books, and is forthcoming with Performance Research and Maska. 

Chrys is an experienced public speaker and facilitator, their pedagogical approach being inextricably linked to their political work. They have worked and volunteered in a number of community and grassroots spaces across London, including Black history archive George Padmore Institute; community arts centre Oxford House in Bethnal Green; cooperatively-run social centre The Field (New Cross); and live music venue and project space DIY Space for London. In an academic context, they were previously involved in the organisation of the Marxism in Culture seminar (Institute of Historical Research, London) and the London Conference in Critical Thought (LCCT). Chrys is committed to decentralised, non-hierarchical forms of political organising, rooted in practices of autonomy, anti-ableism, and collective care. Chrys is currently involved in trade union organising within the traditional university sector in the UK, and sits on the Advisory Board of the Toronto-based radical journal Upping the Anti. 

Chrys’s practice as scholar-activist is complemented and enriched by their interest in ensemble improvisation. Chrys has been practicing the postmodern dance-form Contact Improvisation (CI) since 2017, and is currently looking to further develop their interest in aleatory composition through musical collaborations. Chrys vocalises with avant-garde choir Musarc, and is learning the drums with drummers Riccardo Chiaberta (Moonfish, Dugong) and Benoît Parmentier (Kinkajous).

(Portrait by Ana Baeza Ruiz, © 2023)