German Primera is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Politics at the University of Brighton. He is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics, and Ethics (CAPPE), and serves as an editor for both Contemporary Political Theory and the Journal of Italian Philosophy. His teaching and research interests include contemporary French and Italian philosophy, Black studies, and biopolitics.

He is also a member of the Cartography of the Political Novel in Europe (CAPONEU) consortium, a research network funded by the EU Horizon scheme, which explores the cultural and political significance of the political novel in contemporary Europe.

German is currently co-authoring a book with Professor Mark Devenney, Troubling Democracy: On Practices of Care, Fugitivity, and Refusal, forthcoming with Edinburgh University Press. His first monograph, The Political Ontology of Giorgio Agamben (Bloomsbury, 2019), examines the relationship between political ontology and violence. His broader research explores how relational ontologies shape contemporary critical theory and radical philosophy.

My recent publications include:

Primera, German. "Agamben y la Signatura de la Secularización: entre lo Profano y lo Postsecular" in Azucena Blanco (ed.), Los Estudios Postseculares de la Literatura: Teoría, Historia y Crítica, Tiran lo Branch Editores, (Forthcoming, 2025).

Primera, German. (2024) "Institución y Fugitividad: La Italian Theory y el Reto de la Teoría Crítica Negra" in Alfonso Galindo (ed.), La institución o la vida: un análisis filosófico, Guillermo Escolar Editor, Madrid.

Primera, German. (2024). Inoperativity as a form of Refusal: On Bonnie Honig’s Reading of Agamben. Res Publica. Revista de Historia de las Ideas Políticas, 27(1), 45-49.

Marmont, G and Primera, G (2020) G 'Propositions for Inoperative Life' in The Journal of Italian Philosophy, Vol 3

Primera, German.   ‘Violence, Biopolitics and Resistance: The Meaning of Violence in the work of Giorgio Agamben’ in Gavin Rae and Emma Ingala eds. The Meanings of Violence: From Critical Theory to Biopolitics (Routledge: 2019). 

Primera, G and Lamb, M. 'Sovereignty between the Katechon and the Eschaton: Rethinking the Leviathan' in Telos: Critical Theory of the Contemporary N.187, 2019;

Primera, German. (2019) ‘Introduction to the Thought of Roberto Esposito’ in The Bloomsbury Italian Philosophy Reader, eds. D. Rose and M. Lewis. London; New York: Bloomsbury

Primera, German. (2019) ‘Giorgio Agamben’ in The Bloomsbury Italian Philosophy Reader, eds. D. Rose and M. Lewis. London; New York: Bloomsbury

Primera, German. (2016). “Economic Theology, Governance and Neoliberalism: The Lessons of The Kingdom and the Glory.” Praktyka Teoretyczna, 2.

He has recently co-edited a special issue for the Journal of Italian Philosophy entitled The Politics, Ethics and Aesthetics of Inoperativity

In previous work, he has explored neoliberalism, sovereignty, and governmentality through the lenses of French poststructuralism and Italian political thought. His research on political violence and biopolitics interrogates the dynamics of exclusion and their relationship to liberal democracy. This has led him to engage in post-Marxist debates on populism and radical democracy, including participation in the Transnational Populist Politics project (Buenos Aires 2015; Brighton 2016, 2017).

Selected Conference Presentations

“Institución y Fugitividad: La Italian Theory y el reto de la teoría critica negra” en Seminario Internacional Escrit: Estudio y Critica de la Italian Theory. Murcia, 7-8 Junio 2023

“The Politics of Inoperativity and the Homo Sacer Project” en Congreso Internacional: Agamben, La Urgencia del Pensamiento. Granada, Oct 2022

“Political Theology and Inoperativity.” Society for European Philosophy / Forum for European Philosophy Joint Annual Conference, Royal Holloway, London (2019).

“Logistics, Biopolitics and Ordering.” Violence, Space and the Political, National University of Ireland, Galway (2018).

“The Signature of Secularisation: The Profane Philosophy of Giorgio Agamben.” London Conference in Critical Thought, London South Bank University (2017).

“Violence, Biopolitics and Resistance.” The Meaning of Violence, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (2017).

“Resisting Biopolitics: Destituent Power and Inoperativity.” British Political Studies Association Conference, University of Brighton (2016).

“Extrajudicial Killings in Colombia.” Theorising Transnational Populist Politics, Buenos Aires (2015).

“Disposable Life and Neoliberalism.” CAPPE, University of Brighton (2014).

“The Signature of Life: From Butler’s Social Ontology to Agamben’s Politicisation of Ontology.” Critical Studies Research Group, Brighton (2014).

“Neoliberalism, Governmentality and Bare Life.” ACLA, New York University (2014).

“Agamben, the Proper and the Improper.” University of the West of England, Bristol (2014).

“Extra-judicial Killings and Bare Life in Colombia.” University of Brighton (2014).