The Social and Political Body

The Social and Political Body PDF Author: Theodore R. Schatzki
Publisher: Guilford Press
ISBN: 9781572301405
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Beginning with the provocative premise that the body is the anchor of the social order, this book delves into the multidimensional relationship between sociopolitical bodies and human bodies. It explores the way that prevailing economic and political institutions affect our experience of our physical selves and, in turn, the ways that our bodily senses, energies, activities and desires reinforce or challenge the status quo.

The Social and Political Body

The Social and Political Body PDF Author: Theodore R. Schatzki
Publisher: Guilford Press
ISBN: 9781572301405
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Beginning with the provocative premise that the body is the anchor of the social order, this book delves into the multidimensional relationship between sociopolitical bodies and human bodies. It explores the way that prevailing economic and political institutions affect our experience of our physical selves and, in turn, the ways that our bodily senses, energies, activities and desires reinforce or challenge the status quo.

Embodied Performances

Embodied Performances PDF Author: B. Allegranti
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9781137484574
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
With a companion website that includes short online film episodes, this book proposes expansive ways of deconstructing and re-constituting sexuality and gender and thus more embodied and ethical ways of 'doing' life, and offers an understanding and critique of embodiment through an integration of performance, psychotherapy and feminist philosophy.

Political Bodies/Body Politic

Political Bodies/Body Politic PDF Author: Darlene M. Juschka
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317491149
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
'Political Bodies/Body Politic' draws on feminism, gender studies, and queer theory to examine how myth, symbol and ritual express belief systems. The book explores the operation of gender in a variety of social and historical contexts, ranging from feminist speculative fiction and systems of belief to popular culture and ancient historical texts. 'Political Bodies/Body Politic' makes an original contribution to religious and feminist studies in its examination of gender in human communication and belief systems.

The Political Lives of Dead Bodies

The Political Lives of Dead Bodies PDF Author: Katherine Verdery
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231500432
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
Since 1989, scores of bodies across Eastern Europe have been exhumed and brought to rest in new gravesites. Katherine Verdery investigates why certain corpses—the bodies of revolutionary leaders, heroes, artists, and other luminaries, as well as more humble folk—have taken on a political life in the turbulent times following the end of Communist Party rule, and what roles they play in revising the past and reorienting the present. Enlivening and invigorating the dialogue on postsocialist politics, this imaginative study helps us understand the dynamic and deeply symbolic nature of politics—and how it can breathe new life into old bones.

Political Affect

Political Affect PDF Author: John Protevi
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452914923
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
For many philosophers, the rational cognitive (Cartesian) subject defines the human, or at least defines what humans should be. Yet some recent cognitive science, as well as the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari, has called into question such individuality and rationality and emphasized social and emotional subjectivity. Understanding such embodied and embedded subjectivity, John Protevi argues, demands the notion of bodies politic. In Political Affect, Protevi investigates the relationship between the social and the somatic: how our bodies, minds, and social settings are intricately and intimately linked. Bringing together concepts from science, philosophy, and politics, he develops a perspective he calls political physiology to indicate that subjectivity is socially conditioned and sometimes bypassed in favor of a direct connection of the social and the somatic, as with the politically triggered basic emotions of rage and panic. Protevi's treatment of affective cognition in social context breaks new theoretical ground, insisting that subjectivity be studied both in its embodied expression and in terms of the distribution of affective cognitive responses in a population. Moving beyond the theoretical, Protevi applies his concept of political affect to show how unconscious emotional valuing shaped three recent, emotionally charged events: the cold rage of the Columbine High School slayings, the racialized panic that delayed rescue efforts in Hurricane Katrina, and the twists and turns of empathy occasioned by the Terry Schiavo case. These powerful individual and collective political events require new philosophical understanding.

Queer Democracy

Queer Democracy PDF Author: Daniel D. Miller
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000418847
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Queer Democracy undertakes an interdisciplinary critical investigation of the centuries-old metaphor of society as a body, drawing on queer and transgender accounts of embodiment as a constructive resource for reimagining politics and society. Daniel Miller argues that this metaphor has consistently expressed a desire for social and political order, grounded in the social body’s imagined normative shape or morphology. The consistent result, from the “concord” discourses of the pre-Christian Stoics, all the way through to contemporary nationalism and populism, has been the suppression of any dissent that would unmake the social body’s presumed normativity. Miller argues that the conception of embodiment at the heart of the metaphor is a fantasy, and that negative social and political reactions to dissent represent visceral, dysphoric responses to its reshaping of the social body. He argues that social body’s essential queerness, defined by fluidity and lack of a fixed morphology, spawns queer democracy, expressed through ongoing social and political practices that aim to extend liberty and equality to new social domains. Queer Democracy articulates a new departure for the ongoing development of theoretical articulations linking queer and trans theory with political theory. It will appeal to both academic and non-academic readers engaged in research on political theory, populism, US religion, gender studies, and queer studies.

Introduction to Political Sociology

Introduction to Political Sociology PDF Author: Anthony M. Orum
Publisher: Prentice Hall
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
This comprehensive collection of readings shows the broad social bases of politics and identifies how politics and actions by government can influence the fate of nations and their citizens. The text provides insight into recent political sociological theories and helps students make sense of the many major social and political changes taking place in the world. Text focuses on the economy and politics, states and societies, civil society and politics, basic forms of political rule, power and equality in modern America, political parties and citizen participation. For individuals interested in a comprehensive look at social movements and political changes.

The Political Forms of Modern Society

The Political Forms of Modern Society PDF Author: Claude Lefort
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262620545
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Claude Lefort is one of the leading social and political theorists in France today. This anthology of his most important work published over the last four decades makes his writing widely accessible to an English-speaking audience for the first time. With exceptional skill Lefort combines the analysis of contemporary political events with a sensitivity to the history of political thought. His critical account of the development of bureaucracy and totalitarianism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is a timely contribution to current debates about the nature and shortcomings of these societies. His incisive analyses of Marx's theory of history and concept of ideology provide the backdrop for a highly original account of the role of symbolism in modern societies. While critical of many traditional assumptions and doctrines, Lefort develops a political position based on a reappraisal of the idea of human rights and a reconsideration of what "democracy" means today. The Political Forms of Modern Society is a major contribution to contemporary social and political theory. The volume includes a substantial introduction that describes the context of Lefort's writings and highlights the central themes of his work.

Living on Earth in the Sky: The human being

Living on Earth in the Sky: The human being PDF Author: Conradin Perner
Publisher: Schwabe
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
The Anyuak definition of what a human person is appears to be a relatively easy one, at least in theory, because it is based upon purely physical criteria; The metaphysical dimensions of a human being are completely neglected in this definition and are only of importance when needed to exclude a human being from human society. The term "person" is essential in Anyuak language, for it introduces a special category within the large category of "human beings": not all human beings are also persons. The notion of "personality" is, in this context, of no relevance, because it is merely a qualitative extension of the notion of human person, its individual aspect. There is no moral element in the judgement of a human person, at least in this theoretical sense, and even intelligence which elsewhere is considered to be almost exclusively human is not considered when defining the truly human qualities of a person. Because the individual characteristics of a person, his or her mistakes and problems, do not turn into existential questions, Anyuaks hardly ever ask themselves about their "real" identity or meditate about their inner life: Anyuaks know perfectly well who they are and what place they have in existence, and it is with this deep and sober self-knowledge that they face their private destiny. The best, as well as the most complete, answer to the philosophical question "Who am I?" thus is for Anyuak a very easy, self-evident one: "Who I am? - I am a human person!" "Human person" means in Anyuak language "dhano". "Dhano mo dicwo" is a male, "dhano mo dhago" a female person; the plural is "jiy" or "jow", the latter meaning literally "fellows, people". The term "dhano" is positively discriminating and describes a definite sphere of exclusively human values. A human person is of course a human being, the latter being a particular species living on earth an thus clearly different from animals, birds or fish. The differentiation from animals is, as we shall see, of importance, because unlike animals the human being has a spiritual dimension and is conscious of his or her existence. But because of human superiority over animals and because of the usually peaceful coexistence between man an animals on earth, the human being contents himself with stating the differences between man an animals in their physical nature and intellectual capacities; the difference between man an animals is a positive one because it strengthens the position of the human being and is therefore of psychological rather than of truly existential importance to the definition of a "human person". Anyuak existence would probably be much less problematic if their universe were simply divided into a spiritual sphere above (of God) and an earthly sphere of existence below (of humans, animals, etc.). The problem of human society is aggravated by the fact that the nature of human being is not the same in all people, that there exist treacherous elements which side with the spiritual, nonhuman matters and find tremendous pleasure in torturing an killing other human beings. A "human being" is therefore not necessarily a "human person" but can, in spite of his or her human appearance, very well have supernatural, i.e. inhuman qualities. When Anyuaks define a "human person", they primarily think of these cetergories of existence: while the difference to animals and the one to invisible spiritual matters in the sky does not need to be stressed, the differentiation between real human persons and people of mainly spiritual nature has to be emphasised and made perfectly clear because it is a differentiation within the same category of earthly appearances, the category of human beings. The human beings thus are divided into "persons" and "non-persons", the former defined by purely human values, the latter depending upon spiritual attributes. If one wonders "Who is walking over there?", anyuaks never give a precise answer such as "These are people coming from Ajwara" but simply say what in their opinion is the most and the only essential "Be jiy di piny", "These are people of the earth", i.e. earthly, not spiritual existences, they are normal people. This expression shows clearly that a true human person is closely linked to the earth, while spiritual non-persons of course are rather related to the sphere of the sky, to immaterial spirituality. To be a "human person" is the most positive thing an Anyuak can say about her or himself. Here, there is no idea of humanity as a fault of the humans'' imperfection and need for salvation, on the contrary, the human person is the only positive and solid criterion on which all other matters are to be judged. The term "dhano", person, thus qualifies or disqualifies somebody as a human being. Soemtimes, one does hear it in a positive sense, as in the already mentioned examples or when for example a difficult discussion is to be put on a constructive level by saying "yini dhano thuoo", i.e. "you are a human being like me" (and should therefore not argue as if you were a sorcerer); usually, however, one applies the term to disliked or even hated people, by calling them "non-persons", i.e. "pa dhano". A man walking naked in a big village (like Akobo or Otalo) is today considered to be mad (at least if he never wars clothes) and thus said to be "no person any more" ("pa dhano ket") and consequently left in peace (even by the police). In such a context, to be a non-person is synonymous with "to b mad" (bol): when for example my watercarrier in one of his frequent malaria attacks completely lost his mind and even forgot all the obligatory respect due to the king, walking with shoes in royal presence and even disregarding the king''s orders, he was not caught, tied up and slashed as normally would have been the case: "Let him be," the king said calmly, "he is no human person any more" (i.e. he does not know what he is doing).

Political Physics

Political Physics PDF Author: John Protevi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1847143989
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Political Physics analyses the work of two of the most influential thinkers of our time - Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze. The book takes the reader on a transversal journey, crossing the boundaries of philosophy and science.Political Physics explores the limits and strengths of Derridean and Deleuzean philosophical approaches. Focussing on their differing approaches to the question of the 'body politic' - in all its registers, from the physical-chemical body, to the economic, the social and the political body - the book reveals a profound difference in ontological commitment. The book argues that the straightforward materialism of Deleuzean philosophy can operate across the range of analysis whereas Derridean deconstruction effectively operates at the level of reason, consciousness and culture.Cross-cutting a Derridean analysis of the history of philosophy with a Deleuzian approach to creative dialogue and complexity theory, Political Physics illuminates the value of both approaches to the analysis of contemporary culture, politics and science and to the rereading of the history of ideas.