Life, Emergent: The Social in the Afterlives of Violence

(Paperback)

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Life, Emergent challenges conventional understandings of biopolitics, weaving a politics of life through the lens of life, not death. Arguing that the "letting die" element of biopolitics has been overemphasized, Yasmeen Arif zeroes in on "making live," highlighting the means and forms of life configured in the aftermathor afterlivesof violent events in contexts of law, justice, community, and identity.

Reviews

"In posing the relation of the social to the question of life, Yasmeen Arif compellingly lays out what a potential politics of life looks like in the aftermath of mass violence and trauma. This is a courageous and important work."Roberto Esposito, author of Bos: Biopolitics and Philosophy

"In this compassionate account of communities riven by biopower and violence, Yasmeen Arif powerfully responds to those who would find in our collective future only more violence, trauma, resentment, and vendetta. In this compelling and fearless account, she invites us, rather, to reimagine what comes after traumatized, bare life to change the way we understand and respond to contemporary violence."Timothy Campbell, Cornell University

"Life, Emergent is an impressive demonstration of the merits of the comparative method to show how the ordinary and the extraordinary are knitted together in situations of disaster. Arif writes with great compassion and attention to detail that is both world attentive and locally grounded. A splendid achievement!"Veena Das, Johns Hopkins University

Author Bio

Yasmeen Arif is associate professor of sociology at the University of Delhi, India.