Call For Papers

Session for RGS-IBG 2005

Research Groups: Social and Cultural Geography and Political Geography

Post-Rationalist Politics
Ben Anderson, Louisa Cadman and Jason Lim

Over the past few years social and cultural theory has witnessed an
increased attunement to the affective and emotional dimensions of life and
thought. Based, in part, on a similar set of literatures, contemporary
political theory has also begun to take seriously the more-than-rational
through, for example, the imbuement of passion into literature on radical
democracy, emotional economies in feminist work, and the importance of the
somatic or affective register in non-representational thought about the
political. These literatures raise questions of how to (re)imagine 'the
political' and the practice of 'politics' since each requires us to
question politics conceived of in terms of rationalistic action or moral
deliberation. With this in mind, the proposed sessions have two main aims.
First, to outline some of the implications various ways of thinking
through the more-than-rational have for understanding the space(s) of
politics and for understanding the political, more broadly. Second, to
think through the more-than-rational in order to understand the
spatialities and temporalities of the contemporary political moment: this
may include why certain things emerge as political and/or the politics of
these events and conditions.

We imagine that papers will address one or more of the following themes:

1: Post-Rationalist Conceptions of 'the Political'.

How do the diverse traditions that attune to affect and emotion
conceptualise 'the political' and the space(s) of 'politics'? Political
traditions here may include, but are not limited to: understanding the
role of passion in political antagonism through work on radical democracy;
feminist understandings of emotion as an organising principle in the
emergence of forms of political subjectivity; and non-representational
work on affect. Here, we aim to discuss various contemporary formulations
of the political which, albeit different, share an attempt to engage with
the more-than-rational and therefore move beyond a politics that can only
operate through moralising or rational argumentation. In addition, we aim
to think through (in)distinctions between the rational and non-rational in
understanding the space(s) of the political, and in this vein we are
thinking of a broad tradition ranging from Derrida, Nancy, Agamben through
to various feminist analysis such as Ahmed, Berlant, and Braidotti.

2: Post-Rationalist Practices and being Political

Can, or should, an affirmative politics be based on the more-than-
rational? This theme is concerned with what it means to think and act
politically through post-rationalist thought. Once it is accepted that the
best arguments do not always change people's minds - that political
arguments are seldom able to be won through rational argumentation -
different practices may be required. Here, we aim to think through new
political imaginaries which are developing and redefining political
practices and spaces. These might include: re-imaginings of cultural and
body politics; understanding politics through encounter rather than 'civil
society'; the development of an ethic of care or love; experiments with
existing modes of critical thought; new styles of utopianism; and
Deleuzian diagramming. They also could include explorations of the need to
combine political thought and action with new modes of ethical practice,
such as: developing an ethics of the political through the drive or
through desire in psychoanalytical work; Connolly's (1991) cultivation of
care for the contingency of things; or Massumi's (2002) idea of 'tending
to belonging as such'.

3: Contemporary Politics and Post-Rationalist Thought

The final theme addresses how understanding affect and emotion impacts on
our conceptualisations of the contemporary political moment, including,
but not limited to, substantive topics such as terrorism, war in Iraq,
immigration, racism and heterosexism. Here we would also like to include
empirical work on the politics of various emotions/affects as a means of
understanding contemporary political events. Topics could include:
security, fear and hate; pain, suffering, injury and justice; compassion
and care; hope and optimism.

Cross-cutting these three themes is an exploration of how differences
between conceptions of the more-than-rational feed into differences in
conceptualisations of the political, the practice of politics and
understandings of the contemporary political moment. We therefore welcome
papers from any theoretical tradition concerned with affect and emotion
e.g. feminism, non-representational theories (broadly conceived), Lacanian
psychoanalysis, Western Marxism, phenomenology etc. Please note that the
three themes above are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive and we
especially welcome papers that cut across them.

Please send abstracts (250 words) to all three of us by Monday January 10th

Contact Details:

Dr Ben Anderson University of Durham
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Louisa Cadman University of Sheffield
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Dr Jason Lim UCL
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