How to Run a Kritik Affirmative

Alex McVeyHow to Run a Kritik AffirmativeK affs Cheating?!May or may not be cheatingWhich may or may not be OK the rules of debate are up for debate! No one kritik is alikeKritiks on the aff may or may not be related to the topic, they may or may not have a planDebate is a persuasive activity. There are some persuasive reasons why you should have to have a topical, fiated, USFG plan, but there are also some persuasive reasons why you may not need one.

Flavors of K affsTopical, Fiated, USFG plantext with critical advantage areasHas a plantext, but may not defend its literal impelmentationResolution as a metaphorPassive voice No plantext, but related to the resolutionNo plantext, not related to the resolutionPerformanceHigh TheoryA mix of the twoHow close you are to the resolution helps determine how you will answer frameworkGo all in Usually, teams who try to play the middle of the road have a hard time:Plans can be easily defeated on a slew of new/tiny counterplans with small but substantial net benefits.Or teams will go the other way and use the K literature you read against you, PICS out of the plan, floating PIKs etcInconsistent literature basesIf you have a K aff with a plan, you have to get in depth on the plans functionIf youre going to cheat, cheat!

Make an argument*Remember people like debate because it is an activity that engages in controversial political questions with argumentative insight and pointed analysis. Avoid obfuscation for obfuscations sake. Note: Frequently, K affs will avoid telling the entire story of their argument in the 1ac. (Deferral) This is not the same as not making an argument. Enthymeme is an argument with an unstated premise. The Stock IssuesGood critical affirmatives will usually fall under the basic argumentative norms of the stock issues paradigm.Inherency: Prove that there is currently a certain assumption, discourse, debate practice, cultural text, norm, way of interpreting the resolution, etc that is problematicHarms: Explain why it is problematicSolvency: Propose a critical method of analysis/evaluation/performance that resolves, moves beyond, challenges, or critiques the assumption that you find to be problematic. Role of the ballotA good critical aff will tell the judge what the role of their ballot is, The role of the ballot shapes how you respond to / how the judge should interpret every argumentA good role of the ballot should deal with both questions of method and questions of impacts. A good role of the ballot should tell the judge what matters, and what does not matter. You must be prepared to weigh between/against competing roles of the ballot80 % of your prelim debatesT/FrameworkCap

How to debate against framework Will depend on your relationship to the resolutionIf you defend a topical plan, make framework a T question and apply your Ks as reasons to prefer. If you dont have a plan but are related to the resolution, you may want to try to play some defense to their topic education claims.If you are entirely unrelated to the resolution, you probably want to impact turn their topic education claimsKritik their specific standards/evidence have a diverse set of 2ac FW kritiks so you can adapt to diverse flavors of FW.How to debate against FW part 2You should probably have either a compelling list of things they can say against your affA compelling impact turn to the idea of predictability and groundYour framework should be intimately tied to your role of the ballot. Debate framework like a disad/counterplan what are the relative impact/solvency claims for each teams framework?Be prepared to invest substantial time in the framework debate remember, usually if you win your role of the ballot you will tend to win the debate.

The Debate about DebateDebate as an activity has serious diversity issues: underrepresentation of women and people of color both as debaters and as coaches/judges.The kritik of universality / the view from nowhereDebates about inclusion/accessibility in the debate spaceDebates about the performativity/style of debateDebates about identityRaceSexGenderClassIntersectionsKnow your stuffDefending a critical aff will require an immense depth of knowledge of the literature base surrounding your argument/philosophyYou should be constantly reading new journal articles about your argumentNothing is worse than someone who doesnt know what theyre talking about trying to BS about critical literature youll sound ignorant and will probably double turn yourself. Know the literature know the critiques of your theory and your theorys deep application.Practice CX Especially when first developing a critical aff, it is important to practice CX30 minute CX drills with a coach are a good idea, especially if that coach isnt familiar with critical literature. Have an answer to the question why vote affirmativeBe prepared to give examples

Bring your voice to the debateThe best critical affs are ones that the debaters care deeply aboutDive in! There is an immense amount of critical/cultural literature out there to learn from. Start your journey and you never know where youll end up.Be passionate. We kritik because it matters. Be open to learning. Some random ideas for critical aff areas specific topicGuantanamo BayCiudad JuarezCartography/Borders K (Michael J. Shapiro, Gregory Tuathail, Derek Gregory)Cuban embargo State of Exception (Agamben)Imperialismas a metaphor for gated communities / Segregation Antiblackness (Wilderson, Sexton) Cuban SlaveryChicana Cultural Theory (Anzaldua) Decoloniality CommunismWar on DrugsDebating Against Kritikal Affs When to run frameworkDo they have a plan? If so you better have a specific T argument before getting into a framework debate. If they dont have a plan, and you dont have a stock kritik to go for against their aff, framework is a good option for the 1nc.If you have a kritik or a case argument to make against the aff, most judges would prefer to hear that over a framework debate But dont run away from framework use it strategicallyUse framework to get strategic concessions for arguments on other flowsDebating FW against a K affEstablish a clear violation and a clear interpretation of your role of the ballot. Make the standards turn the case (stasis, agonism, democracy/deliberation/dialogue key to check abusive power of state/capitalism) Substantiate the impact to fairness and education Testability, portable skills, limits, switch side debate.Either A. Theres a Topical version of the affB. You can do it on the neg. Think of these like counterplans that solve their offense to framework.

Have a stock Kritik vs K affsCap (Historical Materialism) AnthropocentrismBaudrillardNietzscheKs of impactsMethod/Performance KsEither go One Off or make sure you have an explanation for any contradictions.

Have a big case debateShould include: Impact turns, impact framing arguments, author/philosophy indictsImpact turns they say cap bad, you say cap good. Usually not wise with identity based arguments, i/e DONT SAY RACISM/SEXISM GOOD!However, it IS ok to say that identity politics, personal politics, body politics, etc are all bad.Impact framing Always Value to Life, Extinction impacts first, Util good, Predictions good, Security goodIndicts criticisms of the affs author or branch of philosophy frequently can be found in book reviews!It is hard for K affs to answer a diverse 1nc with a big case debate. Chances are they will either undercover framework or drop something important on case.