This book deals in different ways with the politics of death, with art and politics and with the politics of refuge and asylum. Cutting across these fields brings to the fore the fluid quality of social life under late capitalism. The elements of time, space and emotion are part of the overall approach adopted. The individual chapters illustrate themes of despair, striving and the politics of hope, and bring out the fluid and unpredictable qualities of social life. The guiding metaphor is fluidity, or what Urry refers to as “waves; continuous flow; pulsing; fluidity and viscosity” characteristic of life, death, refuge and art under the contemporary global system. Between the worlds of culture, political violence and art, the interconnected themes in this study illuminate conditions of 'liminality', or in-betweenness. The study presents a politics of hope under late capitalism, and cuts through more usual boundaries between art and science, harm and help, death and the politics of bare life. Each chapter grapples with issues that help illustrate wider trends in Global Development and International Relations scholarship and teaching. Amidst growing cynicism about human or even humanitarian values, the volume appeals for a politics of hope and social justice, based on the fluid contours of borderless and amorphous processes of self-organising and radical anarchy.
Author(s): Helen Hintjens
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 330
City: Cham
Preface
References
Contents
About the Author
List of Images
Part I: The Politics of Art: All at Sea
Chapter 1: Introduction: Diving In
Introduction
Liquefied Life
The ‘Narrative Turn’ and the Arts in Social Science
‘Thanatopolitics’: Death and Courage at the Edges
Collaging Evidence: Fluid Methods
Introducing the Chapters
Conclusion
References
Chapter 2: Two Artists and the Tides
Introduction
Artistic Tides and Tribes
Malevich
Rothko
Chiasmic Parallels and Turning Points
Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea
The Freedom to Starve?
Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: Decolonising Contemporary Art? Collage+
Introduction
From Collage to Collage+
Four Contemporary Artists
Steve Bandoma: Futuristic Bodies
Maurice Mbikayi: Techno Suffering and Beauty
Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo: Metamorphosis and Homecoming
Wangechi Mutu: Acid Pleasure and Pain
Four Questions for Four Artists
Common Themes: The ‘West’ and the ‘Rest’
Common Themes: Future Sexual
Conclusion
References
Part II: Drowning and Waving
Chapter 4: Fluidity, Death, Denial: The Rwanda Genocide
Introduction
The Genocide as Liquid Death
Researching Genocide Denial
Waves of Genocide Denial
Other Forms of Denial
Challenging Organised Denial
Conclusions
References
Chapter 5: Death and the Mediterranean
Introduction
The State of Things
Steerage, the Global Precariat and Deterrence
Proxy War at Sea
Hard to Stomach: Narratives of Suffering and Death
Organised Hypocrisy’s Rearrangements
Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: Undocumented People’s Self-Advocacy: Between Drowning and Dreaming
Introduction
Advocacy, Self-Advocacy and the Politics of Hope
Stories of Hope
Glasgow Girls Challenge Child Detention
Iraqi Men Struggle for the Right to Remain
Self-Advocacy by Cleaners
Concluding Thoughts
References
Part III: Back to Sea: Imperial Sunsets
Chapter 7: Fear of Flooding: Convivial Racism in The Netherlands
Introduction
Frequent Flooding
Convivial Racism
Seeing like a Wilders
Convivial Anti-Racism: Challenging ‘Zwarte Piet’
A Lesser Fear of Flooding?
Conclusion
References
Chapter 8: HMS UK Hits the Rocks
Introduction
Questions Around Three Crises
The Dream
Never Apologise: Covering up the Cover-Up
Never Explain: Brexit on the Rocks
Never Complain: Thrown Overboard to COVID-19
Britain Hits Rock-Bottom
Conclusion
References
Chapter 9: Concluding Notes: Flotsam and Jetsam
Opening: Sea Foam Dream
Towards a Second Century of Genocide
Art, Refuge and Nomadism: Travelling to Survive
Refuge: Marooned, Yet Hopeful
With a Pinch of Salt: Dutch Politics and Brexit
Conclusion
References
Index
