Dematerializing Sovereignties in The Character of Holland and The Loyal Scot

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-171
Author(s):  
William Fitzhenry
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
The Aesthetic

Abstract This paper argues that in The Character of Holland and The Loyal Scot, Marvell consistently meditates on the nature of political sovereignty, especially regarding its perils and shortcomings. By ventriloquizing republican propaganda and monarchical ideology in these poems, Marvell creates a space where he can stage and then dematerialize these absolutist forms of power. Marvell demonstrates how the debate regarding union and division in each poem is really an argument about the nature and potential excesses of sovereign power. He does this by constructing a poetics in which his delineations of the political, as well as his own provisional status as an author, call into question the various formations of national identity put forward in these early and late satires. By entangling the political and the aesthetic, Marvell is able to imagine deeper, more abiding kinds of human attachment that transcend national boundaries and limit the exercise of sovereign power.

Martina L. Weisz, Jews and Muslims in Contemporary Spain: Redefining National Boundaries. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2019. 189 pp.

2021 ◽  
pp. 300-302
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Comparative Framework ◽  
Collective Self ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Cultural Negotiations ◽  
Contemporary Spain ◽  
The Way

This chapter studies Martina L. Weisz's Jews and Muslims in Contemporary Spain: Redefining National Boundaries (2019). This book aims to analyze “the place granted to Jews and Muslims in the construction of contemporary Spanish national identity, with a special focus on the transition from an exclusive, homogeneous sense of collective self toward a more pluralistic, open and tolerant one, in a European context.” This narrative of progress, however, is challenged by the excellent information provided in the book itself, which shows how these processes have been filled with contradictions and deep ambivalence, both historically and in the present, and how exclusionary nationalism has not been left behind. One of the book's richest contributions is its Jewish/Muslim comparative framework, which, as the author argues, is not usually undertaken. Ultimately, this book contains an abundance of useful information and insights for all those interested in Spain's relationship with its Muslim and Jewish minorities, the political and cultural negotiations of multiculturalism in Spain, and the way these relationships are affected by international events and diplomatic concerns.

Dante Alighieri

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Bartoloni
Keyword(s):  
Dante Alighieri ◽  
The Political ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Artistic Process ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
The Aesthetic

The Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) is invoked several times in the work of Giorgio Agamben, often in passing to stress a point, as when discussing the political relevance of désoeuvrement (KG 246); to develop a thought, as in the articulation of the medieval idea of imagination as the medium between body and soul (S, especially 127–9); or to explain an idea, as in the case of the artistic process understood as the meeting of contradictory forces such as inspiration and critical control (FR, especially 48–50). So while Agamben does not engage with Dante systematically, he refers to him constantly, treating the Florentine poet as an auctoritas whose presence adds critical rigour and credibility. Identifying and relating the instances of these encounters is useful since they highlight central aspects of Agamben’s thought and its development over the years, from the first writings, such as Stanzas, to more recent texts, such as Il fuoco e il racconto and The Use of Bodies. The significance of Agamben’s reliance on Dante can be divided into two categories: the aesthetic and the political. The following discussion will address each of these categories separately, but will also emphasise the philosophical continuity that links the discussion of the aesthetic with that of the political. While in the first instance Dante is offered as an example of poetic innovation, especially in relation to the use of language and imagination, in the second he is invoked as a forerunner of new forms of life. Mediality and potentiality are the two pivots connecting the aesthetic and the political.

Simone Weil

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Marovich
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Bare Life ◽  
Intellectual Curiosity ◽  
Creation Theology ◽  
Simone Weil

Few of Giorgio Agamben’s works are as mysterious as his unpublished dissertation, reportedly on the political thought of the French philosopher Simone Weil. If Weil was an early subject of Agamben’s intellectual curiosity, it would appear – judging from his published works – that her influence upon him has been neither central nor lasting.1 Leland de la Durantaye argues that Weil’s work has left a mark on Agamben’s philosophy of potentiality, largely in his discussion of the concept of decreation; but de la Durantaye does not make much of Weil’s influence here, determining that her theory of decreation is ‘essentially dialectical’ and still too bound up with creation theology. 2 Alessia Ricciardi, however, argues that de la Durantaye’s dismissal of Weil’s influence is hasty.3 Ricciardi analyses deeper resonances between Weil’s and Agamben’s philosophies, ultimately claiming that Agamben ‘seems to extend many of the implications and claims of Weil’s idea of force’,4 arguably spreading Weil’s influence into Agamben’s reflections on sovereign power and bare life.

scholarly journals (In)coherent subjects? The politics of conceptualising resistance in the UK asylum system

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442110338
Author(s):  
Sarah M Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Subject Formation ◽  
Grounding Resistance ◽  
Migration Control ◽  
The Uk

Many accounts of resistance within systems of migration control pivot upon a coherent migrant subject, one that is imbued with political agency and posited as oppositional to particular forms of sovereign power. Drawing upon ethnographic research into the role of creativity within the UK asylum system, I argue that grounding resistance with a stable, coherent and agentic subject, aligns with oppositional narratives (of power vs resistance), and thereby risks negating the entangled politics of the (in)coherence of subject formation, and how this can contain the potential to disrupt, disturb or interrupt the practices and premise of the UK asylum system. I suggest that charity groups and subjects should not be written out of narratives of resistance apriori because they engage with ‘the state’: firstly, because to argue that there is a particular form that resistance should take is to place limits around what counts as the political; and secondly, because to ‘remain oppositional’ is at odds with an (in)coherent subject. I show how accounts which highlight a messy and ambiguous subjectivity, could be bought into understandings of resistance. This is important because as academics, we too participate in the delineation of the political and what counts as resistance. In predetermining what subjects, and forms of political action count as resistance we risk denying recognition to those within this system.

Post-Mass-Media and Participation

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Felix Guattari ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Participation ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
New Generation

Three decades after Félix Guattari introduced the concept of "post-mass-media" as a necessary condition of media participation, it is by no means self-evident that his reaction to events leading up to 1989 would still attract a new generation of scholars today. Yet, the concept continually reappears to address the role of technology in democratic participation and the relation between the aesthetic and the political. Originating in discussions of the DFG research group Media and Participation, this issu

Borders, Ideology, Geography and Maps – The Case of Israel

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Perlman
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Geographic Education ◽  
The Past ◽  
Israeli Government ◽  
Political Boundaries ◽  
Mental Mapping ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Education Support

Although there are dozens of countries with present day border disputes, few have received such unrelenting international focus as Israel. Maps, cartography and geographic education support the developing doctrine of national boundaries that form collective national identity and ideology. Geographically, throughout the past century, the borders of Israel have become a melding of the phenomena of national identity with physical territory – also referred to as territorial socialization. My paper argues that Israel’s use of geographic description of borders specifically through cartography over time is an example of how boundaries are a powerful tool in the naturalization of ideology of Jewish Israelis. This argument is analyzed by examining historical and biblical cartography, territorial evolution, geography curriculum and textbooks, the Atlas of Israel and mental mapping by citizens. Varying portrayals of Israel’s historical, biblical, natural and political boundaries creates an ambiguous definition of Israel’s borders for citizens. In turn, this importantly shapes the present day religious and seculargeographies of the population of Israel as well as the political behaviours by the democratically representative Israeli government.

The impact of Political Parties Law no. 36 of 2015 on requlatinq political parties pluralism in Iraq

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurdistan Saeed
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
The Law ◽  
Lack Of Commitment ◽  
The Impact

This study deals with the political parties’ pluralism in Iraq under the Parties Law No. 36 of 2015. The importance of the study lies in the fact that it looks at a topic that is at the heart of democracy and it is necessary for the success of any democratic processes. The study focuses on parties’ pluralism in Iraq since the establishment of the Iraqi state in 1921 until the end of the Baath Party regime in 2003, it also covers the period after 2003 and pays particular attention to the Parties Law No. 36 of 2015. It focuses on the legal framework of political parties after the adoption of the Political Parties Law and studies the impact of this law on parties’ pluralism in Iraq after its approval in 2015. The study concludes that Law No. 36 of 2015 is incapable of regulating parties’ pluralism for reasons including: the lack of commitment by the political parties to the provisions of the law, the inability of the Parties Affairs Department to take measures against parties that violate the law the absence of a strong political opposition that enhances the role of political parties, the association of most Iraqi parties with foreign agendas belonging to neighboring countries, and the fact that the majority of Iraqi parties express ethnic or sectarian orientations at the expense of national identity.

The Sovereign’s Beatitude

2021 ◽  
pp. 009059172110420
Author(s):  
Zoltan Balazs
Keyword(s):  
Image Of God ◽  
The Political ◽  
Short Treatment ◽  
Divine Sovereignty ◽  
Conceptual Coherence ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
Human Happiness ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Image Of God

Though it may sound awkward to ask whether the political sovereign is happy or unhappy, the question is relevant to political theory, especially within a political theological perspective. Because man was created in the image of God, human happiness needs to be a reflection of divine beatitude, and as divine sovereignty is, at least analogically, related to political sovereignty, the conceptual coherence is secured. The main argument is, however, that the analogy does not hold. I shall show how St Thomas Aquinas’s short treatment of God’s beatitude may mislead us about power, fame, riches, and dignity being essential to happiness, based on an analysis of Franz Kafka’s major novel, The Castle, and a few other writings by him. I shall argue that our tradition of political thinking and behavior remains ambivalent on this issue. The political sovereign is born out of our unhappy condition, yet its power, fame, riches, and glory suggests to us that it has appropriated our happiness. But for this very reason it cannot be happy, and it therefore suggests a false analogy between the divine and the political sovereign. It is fundamentally at variance with our happiness, which incites us to abandon, reject, and eventually, kill it.

scholarly journals Out of Bounds: Confronting War Crimes and the Breakdown of Justice with Contemporary Art

2021 ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Catherine Bernard
Keyword(s):  
Aesthetic Experience ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Embodied Experience ◽  
International Conflicts ◽  
Administration Of Justice ◽  
Collective Remembering ◽  
The Spectator ◽  
Marc Quinn ◽  
The Aesthetic

Recent art has turned to judiciary and extra-judiciary practices, specifically in the context of international conflicts, in order to assert art’s political accountability and relevance to our capacity to historicise the present. The war in Iraq inspired works that directly address issues of representation and remediation, such as Marc Quinn’s Mirage (2008), in which the aesthetic experience opens onto an ambiguous experience of the breakdown of justice. Other works have chosen to turn carceral space itself into the site of a collective remembering that harnesses affect to a critical reflection on the administration of justice, on assent and dissent. This article will turn to key works by Marc Quinn and Trevor Paglen that confront extra-judiciary malpractices, but also to recent collective art projects involving an interdisciplinary take on the experience of imprisonment, such as Inside. Artists and Writers in Reading Prison (2016), in which artists of all backgrounds responded to Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis on the very premises of Wilde’s incarceration, as well as the work of 2019 Turner Prize co-recipient: Jordanian sound artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan whose recent works rely on testimonies from Syrian detainees and probe the political pragmatics of aural art. All these works have turned to the document—literary, visual, aural—to reflect on the process of experiential mediation. How does the experience of imprisonment, or extra-judiciary malpractices, come to the spectator? How are they read, heard, interpreted, remediated? The article ponders the remediation and displacement of aesthetic experience itself and the “response-ability”—following Donna Haraway’s coinage—of such a repoliticised embodied experience. It will assess the way by which such interdisciplinary works rethink the poetics of the documentary for an embodied intellection of justice—and injustice—in the present.

scholarly journals On Two Factors of National Identity: Orientation and Social Structure of Society

wisdom ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (7) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Ashot VOSKANIAN
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
The Political ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Self Reliance ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Identity Orientation

Given peculiarity of Armenian history, the Armenian political thought for centuries debated around geopolitical orientation between neighboring great powers. In post-Soviet reflections, however, the emphasis has been moved towards self-reliance, and the very principle of political orientation was questioned. The attitude towards Israel Ori, whose name was viewed as a symbol of the principle of orientation, became the locums for determining the political-ideological disposition of debater, as well as understanding their approaches towards different concepts of national identity. A brief comparison between the conceptual paradigms of two renowned historians Ashot Hovhannisyan (1887-1972) and Leo (Arakel Babakhanyan, 1860-1932) in relation to their attitude towards Israel Ori aims to demonstrate that questioning of the very principle of orientation has much deeper roots in Armenian historical studies than commonly is believed. It also illuminates the complex relationship between principle of orientation and desired model of social structure of society, which these two classics have revealed in rather different ways.

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