Katharina E. Piechocki, Cartographic Humanism: The Making of Early Modern Europe – University of Chicago Press, November 2019

9780226641188Katharina E. Piechocki, Cartographic Humanism: The Making of Early Modern Europe – University of Chicago Press, November 2019

Somehow I missed this when it was published late last year, but looks fascinating:

What is “Europe,” and when did it come to be? In the Renaissance, the term “Europe” circulated widely. But as Katharina N. Piechocki argues in this compelling book, the continent itself was only in the making in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Cartographic Humanism sheds new light on how humanists negotiated and defined Europe’s boundaries at a momentous shift in the continent’s formation: when a new imagining of Europe was driven by the rise of cartography. As Piechocki shows, this tool of geography, philosophy, and philology was used not only to represent but, more importantly, also to shape and promote an image of Europe quite unparalleled in previous centuries. Engaging with poets, historians, and mapmakers, Piechocki resists an easy categorization of the continent, scrutinizing Europe as an unexamined category that demands a much more careful and nuanced investigation than scholars of early modernity have hitherto undertaken. Unprecedented in its geographic scope, Cartographic Humanism is the first book to chart new itineraries across Europe as it brings France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Portugal into a lively, interdisciplinary dialogue.

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Terrains and Territories – Stuart Elden and Nico Buitendag discussion at Undisciplined

Terrains and Territories – Stuart Elden and Nico Buitendag discussion at Undisciplined

Many thanks to Nico for this invitation, and for a wide-ranging discussion that touches on nearly everything I’ve worked on. This is part of a series of discussions on this podcast, with geographers and theorists.

I am honoured to speak to Prof. Stuart Elden about his ground-breaking work in political geography. We talk about the concept of territory, about new ways of reading Shakespeare, and his archival work on Michel Foucault. Here is the link to Prof. Elden’s awesome blog: progressivegeographies.com/ In Undisciplined we speak to experts from all fields whose research is exciting and novel. The tone of conversation is relaxed, and is intended to stimulate and intrigue anyone who is interested in learning more about cutting-edge developments, and looking at the world in new ways.

The intro track is from my talented friend, Graeda. Check it his page too! https://soundcloud.com/graedamusic 

Feel free to visit our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/undisciplinedpod

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Posted in Boundaries, Carl Schmitt, Daniel Defert, Edward Soja, Foucault's Last Decade, Foucault: The Birth of Power, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gaston Gordillo, Henri Lefebvre, Mapping the Present, Martin Heidegger, Matthew Hannah, Michel Foucault, Politics, Shakespearean Territories, Slavoj Zizek, Speaking Against Number, terrain, Territory, Terror and Territory, The Archaeology of Foucault, The Birth of Territory, The Early Foucault, Theory, Uncategorized, Understanding Henri Lefebvre, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment

Jacques Derrida, Clang – a new translation of Glas by David Wills and Geoffrey Bennington, University of Minnesota Press, December 2020

imageJacques Derrida, Clang – a new translation of Glas by David Wills and Geoffrey Bennington, University of Minnesota Press, December 2020

A new translation of Derrida’s groundbreaking juxtaposition of Hegel and Genet, forcing two incompatible discourses into dialogue with each other.

Jacques Derrida’s famously challenging book Glas puts the practice of philosophy and the very acts of writing and reading to the test. Presented here in an entirely new translation as Clang—its title resonating like the sound of an alarm or death knell—this book brilliantly juxtaposes Hegel’s totalizing, hierarchical system of thought with Genet’s autobiographical, carceral erotics.

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Intolerable: Writings from Michel Foucault and the Prisons Information Group (1970–1980), edited by Kevin Thompson and Perry Zurn, University of Minnesota Press, April 2021

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Intolerable: Writings from Michel Foucault and the Prisons Information Group (1970–1980), edited by Kevin Thompson and Perry Zurn, University of Minnesota Press, December 2020 [updated: April 2021]

Founded by Michel Foucault and others in 1970–71, the Prisons Information Group (GIP) circulated information about the inhumane conditions within the French prison system. Intolerable makes available for the first time in English a fully annotated compilation of materials produced by the GIP during its brief but influential existence, including an exclusive new interview with GIP member Hélène Cixous and writings by Gilles Deleuze and Jean Genet.

These archival documents—public announcements, manifestos, reports, pamphlets, interventions, press conference statements, interviews, and round table discussions—trace the GIP’s establishment in post-1968 political turmoil, the new models of social activism it pioneered, the prison revolts it supported across France, and the retrospective assessments that followed its denouement. At the same time, Intolerable offers a rich, concrete exploration of Foucault’s concept of resistance, providing a new understanding of the arc of his intellectual development and the genesis of his most influential book, Discipline and Punish. Presenting the account of France’s most vibrant prison resistance movement in its own words and on its own terms, this significant and relevant collection also connects the approach and activities of the GIP to radical prison resistance movements today.

he Prisons Information Group was a crucial part of Foucault’s political trajectory, but it was an intensely collaborative project between intellectuals, prisoners, and their families. Expertly translated and introduced, this is the definitive collection of the group’s writings. Although the focus is France, the texts also illuminate other European countries, while the Algerian war opens up questions of colonialism, and the group’s links to the Black Panthers make it important for an understanding of the politics of race. A significant book that is both long overdue and a timely intervention in contemporary debates about police and prison abolition and reform.

Stuart Elden, author of The Early Foucault

Intolerable contributes to incarceration studies by highlighting the contributions (and pointing to the contradictions) of the Prisons Information Group (GIP). By emphasizing the activism of the GIP, it demonstrates how the author and theorist as an academic activist was influenced by the militancy of political actors and revolutionaries who took great risks, especially as incarcerated intellectuals and rebels, to challenge repression structured by racial/colonial capitalism and captivity.

Joy James, author of Seeking the Beloved Community: A Feminist Race Reader

Posted in Michel Foucault, Politics, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Georges Bataille’s Oeuvres complètes and English translations – list updated to include all volumes

BatailleI’ve done some further updating to the list of works in Georges Bataille’s Oeuvres complètes and other French collections and the English translations.

The main addition is that I’ve now listed the articles in Volumes XI and XII of the Oeuvres complètes, along with their translations.

There was some other work over the last week, including filling in details of pieces in The Cradle of Humanitydetails of the dossiers at the end of Vol X, and listing the short pieces included in “The Place of Violence: Selected Writings”, translated by Bruce Belay, Parallax 6 (2), 2010, 81-91.

I think this listing is now complete, and that it includes all the short pieces in English books by Bataille, as well as the longer works. But I am sure there are pieces translated in edited collections or in journals which I’ve missed, so as before I’d certainly welcome additions, corrections or comments.

This page is part of the Resources part of this site, which also includes lots of resources on Foucault (links, some images, translations, a bibliography of his collaborative projects, audio and video links, etc.), reading guides to Lefebvre and Sloterdijk, a German-French-English bibliography of Ludwig Binswanger, literature on Boko Haram, Ebola and Covid-19, links and comments on writing and publishing, and lists of my favourite academic books of each year.

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Posted in Georges Bataille, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Where to start with reading Peter Sloterdijk? – reading guide updated with recent translations

Where to start with reading Peter Sloterdijk? – my reading guide has been updated with recent translations from Polity.

I’d still suggest beginning with either You Must Change Your Life or In the World Interior of Capital, depending on whether you are most interested in philosophy of the self or philosophy of the world. I’ve not kept up on his more recent works, but I’ve tried to add in links to all the translations – let me know if I’ve missed any.

 

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10 years of Progressive Geographies – thanks for reading

I launched this site 10 years ago – both as a blog, but also as a place to share publications, some research resources and other things. I never imagined I’d still be running it a decade later. My focus has changed quite a lot in this time – when I started it I was in the Geography department at Durham, about half-way through a research fellowship working on territory, and for the past seven years I’ve been in Warwick’s Politics and International Studies department. I’ve moved through interests in Foucault, Canguilhem, Shakespeare. terrain and other things in this time. Many thanks for reading.

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PAIS to Launch Global Insights Panel Series reflecting on COVID-19 in collaboration with international partners in Canada, the US, Germany and Ethiopia

Politics and International Studies at Warwick, along with partner institutions, is launching a Global Insights Panel Series reflecting on COVID-19 in collaboration with international partners in Canada, the US, Germany and Ethiopia. Registration required, but free and open to all, with the recording to follow on YouTube.

In collaboration with four of our international partners, PAIS is pleased to present “Global Insights” – a weekly live-streamed moderated panel series which will provide different national and regional perspectives on big questions currently facing researchers, policymakers and planners worldwide in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The first of the weekly Global Insights series will be held on Thursday, 30 April at 4pm-5pm:

COVID-19: Stress-test for the Global Economy

Hosted by Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, Balsillie School of International Affairs,

University of Waterloo

featuring

John Ravenhill (Balsillie School, University of Waterloo)

Stephen Silvia (School of International Service, American University)

Lena Rethel (PAIS, University of Warwick – Director of CSGR)

Gerald Schneider (University of Konstanz)

Tewodros Mekonnen (Instutute for Strategic Affairs, Addis Ababa)

Please sign up for free at Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/global-insights-covid-19-stress-test-for-the-global-economy-tickets-103250916270

The edited recording will be posted to the Balsillie School You Tube channel by May 6th https://www.youtube.com/user/BalsillieSchool

Future sessions will include themes such as The Changing Global Balance of Power; A New Concept of Security; The Future of Democracy; Federalism; Climate Change; Public Health; Technology Innovation; Data, Digitalisation & Governance; Migration and Mobility; Multilateralism and International Cooperation…and more.

Look for more details of the second panel discussion – May 7, 2020: COVID-19 and the Global South.

My updated list of links to pieces by geographers, sociologists, philosophers and others is here.

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“Foucault Was Always Much More Circumspect”: Stuart Elden on Foucault’s Politics and the Rediscovery of His Early Years – 2nd part of Journal of the History of Ideas interview

Elden-10The second part of my interview with Jonas Knatz and Anne Schult for the Journal of History of Ideas blog is now available – “Foucault Was Always Much More Circumspect”: Stuart Elden on Foucault’s Politics and the Rediscovery of His Early Years

In this part I discuss Foucault’s political activism, the relation of lecture courses and notes to his publications, his collaborative research projects, working with archives and how I use this blog. The final chapter discusses the research for The Early Foucault. Part 1 of the interview is here.

Posted in Foucault's Last Decade, Foucault: The Birth of Power, Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Foucault, The Early Foucault, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Where to find British Library maps online

Tom Harper has a list of where to find British Library maps online at the British Library Maps and Views blog.

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