Governmentality

Peer reviewe

Space Invaders in Barcelona: Political Society and Institutional Invention Beyond Representation

In the contemporary neoliberal urban dynamics, those agencies that are on the margin of society constantly disrupt the boundaries of civil representation and forge new institutional relations within the dynamics of urban governance. I explore how this process was enacted at the turn of the century in Barcelona, looking at two coeval social mobilisations: the lock-in of undocumented migrants in the Iglesia del Pi (2001), and the project of las agencias at the Museum of Contemporary Arts (1999–2003), both of which unfolded in the central neighbourhood of Raval. The invasion of the boundaries of civil society emerges here as a double phenomenon—one that develops both within society and in relation to institutions, instituting new modes of urban politics

Justice Through a Multispecies Lens

The bushfires in Australia during the Summer of 2019–2020, in the midst of which we were writing this exchange, violently heightened the urgency of the task of rethinking justice through a multispecies lens for all of the authors in this exchange, and no doubt many of its readers. As I finish this introduction, still in the middle of the Australian summer, more than 10 million hectares (100,000 km2 or 24.7 million acres) of bushland have been burned and over a billion individual animals killed. This says nothing of the others who will die because their habitat and the relationships on which they depend no longer exist. People all around the world are mourning these deaths and the destruction of unique ecosystems. As humans on this planet, and specifically as political theorists facing the prospect that such devastating events will only become more frequent, the question before us is whether we can rethink what it means to be in ethical relationships with beings other than humans and what justice requires, in ways that mark these deaths as absolute wrongs that obligate us to act, and not simply as unfortunate tragedies that leave us bereft

Towards nuclear geography: Zones, bodies, and communities

Since the discovery of radioactivity in 1895, ionising radiation has become an increasingly prominent part of modern life. Here, we explore the diverse modes of interaction that occur between bodies and nuclear technology and point towards the scope for further research on nuclear geographies. We bring together different strands of this nascent discipline and, by doing so, highlight how nuclear technology interacts across a spectrum of geographic scales, communities, and bodies. Although nuclear geographies can be sensational and exceptionalising, such as the experiences of nuclear accident survivors and the creation of “exclusion zones,” they can also be mundane, everyday and largely unrecognised, such as the production of nuclear energy and the life‐giving nature of radioactive medicine. To frame our discussion, we take three cuts at nuclear geography, highlighting the importance of zones, bodies, and communities. By discussing this gamut of spaces and societies created through ionising radiation, we open the way for more research into the cross section of benefits, challenges, and social phenomena that arise, as we coexist with nuclear technology

Resource Warfare, Pacification and the Spectacle of ‘Green’ Development: Logics of Violence in Engineering Extraction in Southern Madagascar

Bringing political ecology's concern with the critical politics of nature and resource violence into dialogue with key debates in political geography, critical security studies and research on the geographies and phenomenology of violence and warfare, this paper explores strategies ‘from above’ in relation to the establishment and operation of the Rio Tinto QIT-Madagascar Minerals (QMM) ilmenite mine in southeast Madagascar. While QMM claims to be a responsible ‘green’ self-regulator and sustainable development actor, it has triggered serious social, environmental and legal conflicts since its inception, including allegations of a ‘double land grab’ to accommodate mining activities and compensatory biodiversity offsetting. We argue that ‘pacification’, theorised as a productive form of violence that works through the re-ordering of socio-nature, underwrites the forms of ‘security’, ‘stability’ and even ‘sustainability’ that facilitate multiple and overlapping strategies of value extraction in the territorial and extra-territorial spaces occupied by the QMM mine partnership. By situating these dynamics historically, we identify ways in which pacification draws upon sedimented and evolving logics of racialised violence to facilitate operations and silence opposition

La « chose » et ses doubles dans la caricature camerounaise.

Abstract The "Thing" and its Doubles in Cameroonian Caricatures. — Cameroonian caricatures are analyzed as a form of writing that mixes images and words. Through French Creole, these caricatures politically mix local and general issues by insisting on how politics in general affects the image to become an event. The aesthetics of this form of writing, which obstinately insists on indiscipline as the basis of its relevance, mainly resides in the boldness to speak up about, and show, what should neither be said nor shown in public. Caricatures can do this because, like rumors, they do not daim to reproduce the world through mime-sis. They only produce a double for showing what everyone knows but no one dares say.Résumé Ce texte analyse l'image comme écriture, non seulement parce que la caricature camerounaise est un parfait mélange de l'image et du mot, du mot et du son (donc de la parole), mais aussi parce qu'elle s'immisce constamment dans l'espace pictural pour y introduire le mouvement. Elle est aussi politiquement un métissage du local et du global par son français créole, par son insistance à mettre l'accent sur les mécanismes, situés dans l'espace politique global, qui agissent sur les événements locaux. La caricature semble s'identifier à une rumeur saisie sur le vif qui, pour ne pas devenir mot discipliné, a absolument besoin de l'image pour continuer à être un événement, pour échapper au risque de devenir le double de la vie qui se présente comme son portrait. L'esthétique de cette écriture, qui s'obstine à faire de l'indiscipline le fondement de sa pertinence, repose essentiellement sur l'audace de dire, de montrer, ce qui ne devrait être ni dit, ni montré publiquement. Toutes choses que la caricature peut se permettre puisque, comme la rumeur, elle ne prétend pas reproduire le monde de façon mimétique ; elle n'en produit qu'un double dont l'éthique permet de montrer ce que tout le monde sait mais que personne n'ose dire.Mbembe Achille. La « chose » et ses doubles dans la caricature camerounaise.. In: Cahiers d'études africaines, vol. 36, n°141-142, 1996. Images. pp. 143-170

La palabre de l'indépendance : les ordres du discours nationaliste au Cameroun (1948-1958)

Analyses of the nationalist movement in Cameroon have favored the marxist side of ils enunciations. From this perspective, the conclusion was that it was communist. Analysis of a new corpus of oral and written texts produced at various levels, different times and places by a variety of actors breaks this monolithic appearance of the nationalist discourse. Statements in native languages (Basaà, in particular) make clear the genuinely autochtonous political categories. While these categories do not cancel out the external influences, they go beyond them while seeking to set up bridges, continuities and ruptures. The perception of politics and of ils enunciation in the languages of the actors deepens the analyst's potential understanding of the problematic of the passage or non passage to politics.Les analyses du mouvement nationaliste au Cameroun ont privilégié, jusqu'à présent, le versant marxisant de ses énoncés. Fortes de cette perspective, elles ont conclu à son identité communiste. Mais un recours à un corpus nouveau, fait de textes oraux ou écrits produits à divers niveaux, en des lieux et à des époques différentes, et par une pluralité d'acteurs, permet de faire éclater l'apparence monolithique du discours nationaliste. Les énoncés en langue nationale (Basaà en particulier) mettent en relief des catégories politiques proprement autochtones. Celles-ci ne gomment sans doute pas les apports extérieurs. Mais elles les débordent au moment même où elles tentent d'établir avec eux des passerelles, des continuités et des ruptures. La perception du politique et de son énonciation dans les langues propres aux acteurs enrichit l'intelligibilité que l'analyste peut avoir de la problématique du passage ou du non-passage au politique.Mbembé J. ACHILLE. La palabre de l'indépendance : les ordres du discours nationaliste au Cameroun (1948-1958). In: Revue française de science politique, 35ᵉ année, n°3, 1985. pp. 459-487

El poder del archivo y sus límites

El término “archivos” primero se refiere a un edificio, un símbolo de una institución pública, uno de los órganos de un Estado constituido. Sin embargo, “archivos” también es entendido como una colección de documentos –normalmente escritos– guardados en este edificio. No puede por lo tanto haber una definición de “archivos” que no incluya tanto el edificio en sí como los documentos que almacena.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació