Precarious life : the powers of mourning and violence

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Title:

Author:

Butler, Judith, 1956-

ISBN:

9781844670055

9781844675449

Personal Author:

Butler, Judith, 1956-

Publication Information:

London ; New York : Verso, 2004.

Physical Description:

xxi, 168 p. ; 20 cm.

Contents:

1. Explanation and exoneration, or what we can hear -- 2. Violence, mourning, politics -- 3. Indefinite detention -- 4. The charge of anti-Semitism : Jews, Israel and the risks of public critique -- 5. Precarious life.

Abstract:

"In this profound appraisal of post-September 11, 2001 America, Judith Butler considers the conditions of heightened vulnerability and aggression that followed from the attack, and the US government's decision to retaliate. She critiques the use of violence that has emerged as a response to loss, and argues that the dislocation of first-world privilege offers instead a chance to imagine a world in which that violence might be minimized, and in which interdependency becomes acknowledged as the basis for a global political community."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject Term:

War on Terrorism, 2001- -- Moral and ethical aspects.

Violence -- Political aspects -- United States.

Nationalism -- United States.

Mass media and public opinion -- United States.

Geographic Term:

United States -- Foreign relations -- 21st century.

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168023670793	303.6 B985P 2004	1	Searching... Unknown
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025521192	303.6 B985P 2004	2	Searching... Unknown
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025771052	303.6 B985P 2004	3	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Written after September 11, 2001, in response to the conditions of heightened vulnerability and aggression that have prevailed since then, Judith Butler critiques the use of violence and argues for a response in which violence might be minimized, and interdependency becomes acknowledged as the basis for global political community. Following the expressions of public mourning post-September 11, Butler asks why it's acceptable, even necessary to grieve some lives, while others are not valued or are even incomprehensible as lives at all. Questions of sovereignty, patriotism and censorship are all examined, especially in light of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Finally she investigates the way in which any criticism of the Israeli state is automatically labelled anti-semitic, thus rendering all criticism of Israel a political taboo in the US and the UK. She counters that we have a responsibility to speak out against both Israeli injustices and anti-semitism, and argues against the rhetorical use of the charge of anti-semitism to quell public debate.