Tragedies of Politics in the Anthropocene: War, Violence, and Species Extinction

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

War, ethnic cleansing, massive human rights violations, species extinction, exile, homelessness, homesickness: all are profound and persistent problems that defy easy and available solutions in the Anthropocene. One of the more perverse obstacles to addressing them successfully is recognition of the tendency for decisive political action to not only fail but also backfire, thus making matters worse. Resignation in the face of inevitable limits to intervention, however, is not an option. This is a difficult in-between conceptual and practical space to occupy. Drawing on the theoretical insights provided by, among other sources, Greek tragedy, Vico, and Arendt, these essays aspire to put us in a better position to think what we are doing in the face of multiple (and multiplying) tragedies and develop, inter alia, political-affective sensibilities that better “fit” a contemporary condition beset by an array of tumultuous, contingent forces, flows, and upheavals both human, non-human.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 2: Foundations of Political Theory

Individual Presentations

• Arendtian Lessons for Affects of the Anthropocene - Jack L. Amoureux, Wake Forest University

• Tragedy in War and Peace: Poetic Encounters in International Relations - John R Emery, University of California, Irvine

• Re-covering (the Use of) Tragedy in (International) Politics - Steven Johnston, University of Utah

Chair

• Alison McQueen Stanford University

Discussant

• Laurie E. Naranch Siena College