Ian Buchanan

Ian Buchanan (born 1969) is an Australian philosopher who has published works on Michel de Certeau, Gilles Deleuze, and Fredric Jameson. He is Professor of Critical Theory and Cultural Studies at the University of Wollongong.

Biography Born in rural Western Australia, Buchanan grew up in the suburbs of Perth. He did his BA and PhD in the English and Comparative Literature program at Murdoch University, graduating in 1995. His PhD dissertation is titled Heterology: Towards a Transcendental Empiricist Approach to Cultural Studies.

Since 2011, Buchanan has been a member of Faculty of the Arts at the University of Wollongong, where he is Professor of Critical Theory and Cultural Studies.

Work Buchanan edited special issues of the journals Social Semiotics (vol 7:2, 1997) and South Atlantic Quarterly (vol 93:3, 1997); the latter was subsequently reprinted as the book A Deleuzian Century?

Buchanan on assemblage

Assemblage Theory and Method (2020) develops Buchanan’s account of assemblage theory as distinct from Manuel DeLanda’s systems-oriented version. Buchanan emphasises desire, stratification, and the resonance between content and expression, presenting assemblage not as a neutral system of parts but as an arrangement animated by purposive organisation.

Reception In a 2023 article, Stephen Jay and Timothy Acott distinguish between "systems-oriented" assemblage theory (DeLanda) and "purpose-oriented" assemblage theory (Buchanan). They suggest that Buchanan's interpretation may be described as a "Buchanan assemblage," in contrast to DeLanda's more widely cited model. The article highlights the incompatibility of the two approaches, with Buchanan's emphasising desire and purposive composition and DeLanda's emphasising emergent systems of heterogeneous parts.