The Politics of Art, Death and Refuge : The Turning Tide

This book deals in different ways with the politics of death, with art and politics and with the politics of refuge and asylum. Cutting across these fields brings to the fore the fluid quality of social life under late capitalism. The elements of time, space and emotion are part of the overall approach adopted. The individual chapters illustrate themes of despair, striving and the politics of hope, and bring out the fluid and unpredictable qualities of social life. The guiding metaphor is fluidity, or what Urry refers to as “waves; continuous flow; pulsing; fluidity and viscosity” characteristic of life, death, refuge and art under the contemporary global system. Between the worlds of culture, political violence and art, the interconnected themes in this study illuminate conditions of 'liminality', or in-betweenness. The study presents a politics of hope under late capitalism, and cuts through more usual boundaries between art and science, harm and help, death and the politics of bare life. Each chapter grapples with issues that help illustrate wider trends in Global Development and International Relations scholarship and teaching. Amidst growing cynicism about human or even humanitarian values, the volume appeals for a politics of hope and social justice, based on the fluid contours of borderless and amorphous processes of self-organising and radical anarchy. Preface References Contents About the Author List of Images Part I: The Politics of Art: All at Sea Chapter 1: Introduction: Diving In Introduction Liquefied Life The ‘Narrative Turn’ and the Arts in Social Science ‘Thanatopolitics’: Death and Courage at the Edges Collaging Evidence: Fluid Methods Introducing the Chapters Conclusion References Chapter 2: Two Artists and the Tides Introduction Artistic Tides and Tribes Malevich Rothko Chiasmic Parallels and Turning Points Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea The Freedom to Starve? Conclusion References Chapter 3: Decolonising Contemporary Art? Collage+ Introduction From Collage to Collage+ Four Contemporary Artists Steve Bandoma: Futuristic Bodies Maurice Mbikayi: Techno Suffering and Beauty Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo: Metamorphosis and Homecoming Wangechi Mutu: Acid Pleasure and Pain Four Questions for Four Artists Common Themes: The ‘West’ and the ‘Rest’ Common Themes: Future Sexual Conclusion References Part II: Drowning and Waving Chapter 4: Fluidity, Death, Denial: The Rwanda Genocide Introduction The Genocide as Liquid Death Researching Genocide Denial Waves of Genocide Denial Other Forms of Denial Challenging Organised Denial Conclusions References Chapter 5: Death and the Mediterranean Introduction The State of Things Steerage, the Global Precariat and Deterrence Proxy War at Sea Hard to Stomach: Narratives of Suffering and Death Organised Hypocrisy’s Rearrangements Conclusion References Chapter 6: Undocumented People’s Self-Advocacy: Between Drowning and Dreaming Introduction Advocacy, Self-Advocacy and the Politics of Hope Stories of Hope Glasgow Girls Challenge Child Detention Iraqi Men Struggle for the Right to Remain Self-Advocacy by Cleaners Concluding Thoughts References Part III: Back to Sea: Imperial Sunsets Chapter 7: Fear of Flooding: Convivial Racism in The Netherlands Introduction Frequent Flooding Convivial Racism Seeing like a Wilders Convivial Anti-Racism: Challenging ‘Zwarte Piet’ A Lesser Fear of Flooding? Conclusion References Chapter 8: HMS UK Hits the Rocks Introduction Questions Around Three Crises The Dream Never Apologise: Covering up the Cover-Up Never Explain: Brexit on the Rocks Never Complain: Thrown Overboard to COVID-19 Britain Hits Rock-Bottom Conclusion References Chapter 9: Concluding Notes: Flotsam and Jetsam Opening: Sea Foam Dream Towards a Second Century of Genocide Art, Refuge and Nomadism: Travelling to Survive Refuge: Marooned, Yet Hopeful With a Pinch of Salt: Dutch Politics and Brexit Conclusion References Correction to: The Politics of Art, Death and Refuge Correction to: Index