Showing papers on "Emancipation published in 2009"

The Emancipated Spectator

Abstract: In this title, the foremost philosopher of art argues for a new politics of seeing. The role of the viewer in art and film theory revolves around a theatrical concept of the spectacle. The masses subjected to the society of spectacle have traditionally been seen as aesthetically and politically passive - in response, both artists and thinkers have sought to transform the spectator into an active agent and the spectacle into a performance. In this follow-up to the acclaimed "The Future of the Image", Ranciere takes a radically different approach to this attempted emancipation. Beginning by asking exactly what we mean by political art or the politics of art, he goes on to look at what the tradition of critical art, and the desire to insert art into life, has achieved. Has the militant critique of the consumption of images and commodities become, instead, a melancholic affirmation of their omnipotence?

Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation

Abstract: Following on from Roy Bhaskar's first two books, A Realist Theory of Science and The Possibility of Naturalism, Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation, establishes the conception of social science as explanatory-and thence emancipatory-critique. Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation starts from an assessment of the impasse of contemporary accounts of science as stemming from an incomplete critique of positivism. It then proceeds to a systematic exposition of scientific realism in the form of transcendental realism, highlighting a conception of science as explanatory of a structured, differentiated and changing world. Turning to the social domain, the book argues for a view of the social order as conditioned by, and emergent from, nature. Advocating a critical naturalism, the author shows how the transformational model of social activity together with the conception of social science as explanatory critique which it entails, resolves the divisions and dualisms besetting orthodox social and normative theory: between society and the individual, structure and agency, meaning and behavior, mind and body, reason and cause, fact and value, and theory and practice. The book then goes on to discuss the emancipatory implications of social science and sketches the nature of the depth investigation characteristically entailed. In the highly innovative third part of the book Roy Bhaskar completes his critique of positivism by developing a theory of philosophical discourse and ideology, on the basis of the transcendental realism and critical naturalism already developed, showing how positivism functions as a restrictive ideology of and for science and other social practices.

Entrepreneuring as Emancipation

Abstract: We define "entrepreneuring" as efforts to bring about new economic, social, institutional, and cultural environments through the actions of an individual or group of individuals. Thus, we view entr ...

Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History

Abstract: In this path-breaking work, Susan Buck-Morss draws new connections between history, inequality, social conflict, and human emancipation. "Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History" offers a fundamental reinterpretation of Hegel's master-slave dialectic and points to a way forward to free critical theoretical practice from the prison-house of its own debates.Historicizing the thought of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and the actions taken in the Haitian Revolution, Buck-Morss examines the startling connections between the two and challenges us to widen the boundaries of our historical imagination. She finds that it is in the discontinuities of historical flow, the edges of human experience, and the unexpected linkages between cultures that the possibility to transcend limits is discovered. It is these flashes of clarity that open the potential for understanding in spite of cultural differences. What Buck-Morss proposes amounts to a "new humanism," one that goes beyond the usual ideological implications of such a phrase. She asks us to embrace a radical neutrality that insists on the permeability of the space between opposing sides and reaches for a common humanity.

In defense of lost causes

Abstract: Is global emancipation a lost cause? Are universal values outdated relics of an earlier age? In this combative major new work, philosophical sharpshooter Slavoj A iA ek takes on the reigning ideology with a plea that we should reappropriate several lost causes, and looks for the kernel of truth in the totalitarian politics of the past. Examining Heidegger's seduction by fascism and Foucault's flirtation with the Iranian Revolution, he suggests that these were the right steps in the wrong direction. Highlighting the revolutionary terror of Robespierre, Mao and the Bolsheviks, A iA ek argues that while these struggles ended in historic failure and monstrosity, this is not the entire story. There was, in fact, a redemptive moment that gets lost in the outright liberal-democratic rejection of revolutionary authoritarianism and the valorization of soft, consensual, decentralized politics. A iA ek claims that, particularly in the light of the forthcoming ecological crisis, we should reinvent revolutionary terror and the dictatorship of the proletariat in the struggle for universal emancipation. We need to courageously accept the return to this cause - even if we court the risk of a catastrophic disaster. In the words of Samuel Beckett: Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

Terror in the Heart of Freedom: Citizenship, Sexual Violence, and the Meaning of Race in the Postemancipation South

Abstract: Gender and sexuality are at the center of the story of ReconstructionThe meaning of race in the antebellum southern United States was anchored in the racial exclusivity of slavery (coded as black) and full citizenship (coded as white as well as male) These traditional definitions of race were radically disrupted after emancipation, when citizenship was granted to all persons born in the United States and suffrage was extended to all men Hannah Rosen persuasively argues that in this critical moment of Reconstruction, contests over the future meaning of race were often fought on the terrain of genderSexual violence - specifically, white-on-black rape - emerged as a critical arena in postemancipation struggles over African American citizenship Analyzing the testimony of rape survivors, Rosen finds that white men often staged elaborate attacks meant to enact prior racial hierarchy Through their testimony, black women defiantly rejected such hierarchy and claimed their new and equal rightsRosen explains how heated debates over interracial marriage were also attempts by whites to undermine African American men's demands for suffrage and a voice in public affairs By connecting histories of rape and discourses of 'social equality' with struggles over citizenship, Rosen shows how gendered violence and gendered rhetorics of race together produced a climate of terror for black men and women seeking to exercise their new rights as citizens Linking political events at the city, state, and regional levels, Rosen places gender and sexual violence at the heart of understanding the reconsolidation of race and racism in the postemancipation United States

Reflexivity, critical qualitative research and emancipation: a Foucauldian perspective.

Abstract: Title. Reflexivity, critical qualitative research and emancipation: a Foucauldian perspective. Aim. In this paper, we consider reflexivity, not only as a concept of qualitative validity, but also as a tool used during the research process to achieve the goals of emancipation that are intrinsic to qualitative research conducted within a critical paradigm. Background. Research conducted from a critical perspective poses two challenges to researchers: validity of the research must be ensured and the emancipatory aims of the research need to be realized and communicated. The traditional view of reflexivity as a means of ensuring validity in qualitative research limits its potential to inform the research process. Data sources. The Medline and CINAHL data bases were searched (1998–2008 inclusive) using keywords such as reflexivity, validity, subjectivity, bias, emancipation, empowerment and disability. In addition, the work of Michel Foucault was examined. Discussion. Using the work of the late French philosopher Michel Foucault, we explore how Foucault’s ‘technologies of the self’ can be employed during critical qualitative research to achieve emancipatory changes. Using research conducted with marginalized populations as an example (specifically, individuals with disabilities), we demonstrate the potential for using reflexivity, in a Foucauldian sense, during the research process. Conclusion. Shifting the traditional view of reflexivity allows researchers to focus on the subtle changes that comprise emancipation (in a Foucauldian sense). As a result, researchers are better able to see, understand and analyse this process in both the participants and themselves.

The Caste Question: Dalits and the Politics of Modern India

Abstract: List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Author's Note Introduction Part One. Emancipation 1. Caste Radicalism and the Making of a New Political Subject 2. The Problem of Caste Property 3. Dalits as a Political Minority Part Two. The Paradox of Emancipation 4. Legislating Caste Atrocity 5. New Directions in Dalit Politics: Symbologies of Violence, Maharashtra, 1960--1979 6. The Sexual Politics of Caste: Violence and the Ritual-Archaic 7. Death of a Kotwal: The Violence of Recognition Epilogue: Dalit Futures List of Abbreviations Notes Index

Emancipation, equality and education: Rancière's critique of Bourdieu and the question of performativity

Abstract: Jacques Ranciere’s work has had significant impact in philosophy and literary theory, but remains largely undiscussed in the field of education. This article is a review of the relevance of Ranciere’s work to education research. Ranciere’s argument about education emerges from his critique of Bourdieu, which states that Bourdieu reinforces inequality by presuming it as the starting point of his analysis. What is at stake is the question of performativity, and the means by which discourse has effects. This debate has implications for considering the basis of claims to truth in literary and social science discourse. Parallels are drawn between Judith Butler’s and Ranciere’s portrayal of the relationship between discourse and subjection, as well as their attention to discursive ‘imitation’ in making inequality representable. The article concludes with a discussion of the problematic which Ranciere’s work suggests for education research. Amended

Emancipation and critical terrorism studies

Abstract: Drawing on the insights of critical security studies, this article argues that an understanding of emancipation as a process of freeing up space for dialogue and deliberation enables a focus on crucial questions, experiences and practices neglected in most orthodox accounts of security and terrorism. In particular, emancipation has the potential to serve as a philosophical anchorage for a nascent critical terrorism studies research agenda. The paper goes on to outline what a critical terrorism studies informed by a concern with emancipation might look like, focusing on a series of key questions that such an approach might encourage in the context of the post-2001 ‘war on terror’.

Reconstructing Development Theory: International Inequality, Institutional Reform and Social Emancipation

Abstract: The book provides a systematic assessment of the evolution of development theory, its relationship to orthodox social science analysis and the liberal pluralistic orthodoxy that now dominates the mainstream approach to international development, showing how we can transcend its failure to address some key problems of late and uneven development

Feminism: The Quest for an African Variant

Abstract: The Origin of Gender Discourse Feminism has its origin in the struggle for women's rights It began in the late eighteenth century The growth of feminism began in Europe and America when women became conscious of their oppression and took steps to redress this oppression At present, feminism has spread all over the globe although in many countries it has become tagged with different labels Feminist ideas are now part of everyday thinking, and is historically a diverse and culturally varied international movement with has been variously defined and described by many people As such, it becomes difficult to have a concise universal definition of the term While recognizing the implications of a sweeping definition, the following definitions throw light on the concept of feminism According to Barrow and Millburn (1990:128), feminism is "a label for a commitment or movement to achieve equality for women"; JA Cuddon (1991:338) defines it as "an attempt to describe and interpret (or reinterpret) women's experiences as depicted in various kinds of literature", and sociologically, Maggie Humm (1992:1) says "the word feminism can stand for a belief in sexual equality combined with a commitment to transform society" Ruth Sheila (1980:4) in her work rightly observes that feminists do not agree among themselves on one all-inclusive and universally acceptable definition of the term and thus says that what feminism means to various people depends on one's political or sociological observations and goals, one's understanding or interpretation of the word 'woman' and several other factors Feminism, she emphasizes, may be 'a perspective, a world-view, a political theory, or a kind of activism" Conversantly, feminism originates from the Latin word 'femina' which describes women's issues Hence, it is clear from the above definitions that whatever feminism means to different people, it revolves primarily around the female experience Feminism is concerned with females not just as a biological category, but the female gender as a social category, and therefore feminists share the view that women's oppression is tied to their sexuality This is so because women and men's biological differences are reflected in the organization of society, and based on these differences, women are treated as inferior to men Whether as a theory, a social movement or a political movement, feminism specifically focuses on women's experiences and highlights various forms of oppression which the female gender is subjected to in the society Since feminists are of the view that male domination is found in virtually all important aspects of life, this male domination is seen as the source of social inequalities and injustice which affect the life of women Feminists therefore seek to remove all the barriers to equal social, political and economic opportunities for women and object to the notion that a women's worth is determined principally by her gender and that women are inherently inferior, subservient or less intelligent than men Thus, feminist scholarship is aimed at 'deconstructing' the established predominant male paradigms and 'constructing' a female perspective which foregrounds the female experience Womanism--The African American Variant Although feminism claimed as its goal the emancipation of all women from sexist oppression, it failed to take into consideration the peculiarities of Black females and men of colour In practice, feminism concentrated on the needs of middle class white women in Britain and America while posing as the movement for the emancipation of women globally Patricia Collins (1990:7) contends: Even though Black women intellectuals have long expressed a unique feminist consciousness about the intersection of race and class in structuring gender, historically we have not been full participants in white feminist organizations bell hooks (1998:1,844) also accuses feminism of excluding Blacks from participating fully in the movement, thus she criticizes Betty Freidan's The Feminine Mystique (1963) because though it is heralded as paving the way for contemporary feminist movement, it is written as if the Black/lower class women did not exist …

Emancipation's Diaspora: Race and Reconstruction in the Upper Midwest

Abstract: This book addresses reconstruction-era struggles for civil rights and citizenship. Most studies of emancipation's consequences have focused on the South. Moving the discussion to the North, Leslie Schwalm enriches our understanding of the national impact of the transition from slavery to freedom. "Emancipation's Diaspora" follows the lives and experiences of thousands of men and women who liberated themselves from slavery, made their way to overwhelmingly white communities in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and worked to live in dignity as free women and men and as citizens.Schwalm explores the hotly contested politics of black enfranchisement as well as collisions over segregation, civil rights, and the more informal politics of race - including how slavery and emancipation would be remembered and commemorated. She examines how gender shaped the politics of race, and how gender relations were contested and negotiated within the black community. Based on extensive archival research, "Emancipation's Diaspora" shows how in churches and schools, in voting booths and Masonic temples, in bustling cities and rural crossroads, black and white Midwesterners - women and men - shaped the local and national consequences of emancipation.

In the Name of Freedom: Slave Trade Abolition, the Law and the Brazilian Branch of the African Emigration Scheme (Brazil–British West Indies, 1830s–1850s)

Abstract: Throwing new light on British abolitionism after slave emancipation, this paper addresses the Brazilian branch of the African Emigration scheme, a flow of approximately 2,550 recaptives and other recruits taken to the British West Indies between the late 1830s and the 1850s. Based on the British Foreign Office correspondence on the slave trade (FO 84), on Brazilian Ministerial Reports, Parliamentary Debates and other sources, it shows that the scheme resulted from the coordination between sectors of the British government, and served two main objectives: providing indentured labourers to the post-emancipation British West Indian colonies and undermining Brazilian slavery. Individual recruitment cases illustrate how the British expanded the meaning of “liberated African” over time to extend their protection to all those brought to Brazil after 1830, that is, a great portion of those held in slavery in the country.

Islam and Social Change in French West Africa: History of an Emancipatory Community

Abstract: Part I. 'The Suffering of our Father': Story and Context: 1. Sufism and status in the Western Sudan 2. Making a revival: Yacouba Sylla and his followers 3. Making a community: the 'Yacoubists' from 1930 to 2001 Part II. 'I Will Prove to You that What I Say Is True': Knowledge and Colonial Rule: 4. Ghosts and the grain of the archives 5. History in the Zawiya: redemptive traditions Part III. 'What Did He Give You?': Interpretation: 6. Lost origins: women and spiritual equality 7. The spiritual economy of emancipation 8. The gift of work: devotion, hierarchy, and labor 9. 'To never shed blood': Yocouba, Houphouet, and Cote d'Ivoire.

Educational leadership and social activism: a call for action

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to argue for a social activist stance in educational leadership that fundamentally addresses social change and human emancipation. This call for social activism is framed within neoliberal, neoconservative, and authoritarian populist discourses in the USA, which to social justice educators and leaders had devastating effects on education. Empirical data from an activist high school principal, activist university professor, and activist priest reflects their development of political clarity, political capacity, political collaboration, and an ethic of risk. It is suggested that the work of socially active educational leaders needs to be broadened to include such things as public policy advocacy, networking, organising, community development, and scholarship. Finally, the article concludes with a variety of ways educational leaders can demonstrate their social, moral, and political activism as they challenge the status quo, fight for social justice, and come to understand the ...

Toussaint Louverture and the American Civil War: The Promise and Peril of a Second Haitian Revolution

Abstract: Introduction Chapter 1. "The insurrection of the Blacks in St. Domingo": Remembering Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution PART I. OPENING THE CIVIL WAR OF WORDS Chapter 2. "He patterned his life after the San Domingan": John Brown, Toussaint Louverture, and the Triumph of Violent Abolitionism Chapter 3. "Contemplate, I beseech you, fellow-citizens, the example of St. Domingo": Abolitionist Dreams, Confederate Nightmares, and the Counterrevolution of Secession PART II. A SECOND HAITIAN REVOLUTION? Chapter 4. "Liberty on the Battle-field": Haiti and the Movement to Arm Black Soldiers Chapter 5. "Emancipation or Insurrection": Haiti and the End of Slavery in America PART III. NATIONS WITHIN A NATION Chapter 6. "Many a Touissant L'Overture amongst us": Black Identity Chapter 7. "A Repetition of San Domingo?": Southern White Identity Chapter 8. "Do we want another San Domingo to be repeated in the South?" Northern White Identity Conclusion Notes Index Acknowledgments

Reconfiguring Slavery: West African Trajectories

Abstract: Contents List of Figures Notes on Contributors Preface A note on Language 1. Introduction: Rethinking Slavery in West Africa - Benedetta Rossi 2. Slave descent and Social Status in Sahara and Sudan - Martin A. Klein 3. African American psychologists, the atlantic Slave trade and Ghana: a History of the present - Tom McCaskie 4. After abolition: Metaphors of Slavery in the political History of the Gambia - Alice Bellagamba 5. Islamic patronage and republican emancipation: The Slaves of the Almaami in the Senegal river valley - Jean Schmitz 6. Curse and Blessing: on post-slavery Modes of perception and agency in Benin - Christine Hardung 7. Contemporary trajectories of Slavery in Haalpulaar Society (Mauritania) - Olivier Leservoisier 8. Slavery and politics: Stigma, decentralisation and political representation in Niger and Benin - Eric Komlavi Hahonou 9. Slavery and Migration: Social and physical Mobility in ader (Niger) - Benedetta Rossi 10. Discourses on Slavery: reflections on forty years of research - Philip Burnham Glossary of Foreign Words Index

Men and the Making of Modern British Feminism

Abstract: Men and the Making of Modern British Feminism calls fresh attention to the forgotten but foundational contributions of men to the creation of modern British feminism. Focusing on the revolutionary 1790s, the book introduces several dozen male reformers who insisted that women's emancipation would be key to the establishment of a truly just and rational society. These men proposed educational reforms, assisted women writers into print, and used their training in religion, medicine, history, and the law to challenge common assumptions about women's legal and political entitlements. This book uses men's engagement with women's rights as a platform to reconsider understandings of gender in eighteenth-century Britain, the meaning and legacy of feminism, and feminism's relationship more generally to traditions of radical reform and enlightenment.

Rekindling the Sacred: Toward a Decolonizing Pedagogy in Higher Education

Abstract: Introduction Spirituality has been a contentious topic in education, much like a flame that gets blown in different directions. Within the academy it has sometimes been repressed to an extent where the flame is nearly invisible, yet still burns steadfastly. As Dillard, Abdur-Rashid, and Tyson (2000) contend, the silence around the topic of spirituality in the academy "is increasingly being drowned out by the emphatic chorus of those whose underlying versions of truth cry out 'We are a spiritual people!'" (p. 448). This steadfast burning flame is also apparent with the recent resurgence of spirituality discourse in the education literature. When addressed, most literature on spirituality and schooling has focused on the issues of incorporating spirituality in primary and secondary education or the issues surrounding the integration of spirituality into teacher training (see for examples Elton-Chalcraft, 2002; Holzer, 2002; Miller, 1996). Recently, issues of spirituality in the context of higher education have emerged in the literature (see Astin & Astin, 1999; Hoppe & Speck, 2005; Love, 2001; Manning, 2001; Rendon, 2005; Tisdell, 2003). However, scant literature addresses how spirituality may be integrated into teaching for anti-oppression in the context of higher education (some exceptions include: Denton & Ashton, 2004; Dillard et al., 2000; Graveline, 1998; hooks, 2003; Orr, 2002; Shahjahan, 2004; Tisdell, 2003; Wane & Waterfall, 2005). As Tisdell (2007) argues, "there has been a paucity of attention to the explicit connection of spirituality ... to dealing with diversity issues in higher education" (p. 532). This article will contribute to this latter body of literature, in an effort to further explore how we may teach about equity and social justice issues within an anti-oppression framework. We also believe that the discussion around spirituality in the academy is central to a politics/act of decolonization. (1) Hence, our goal in this article is to explore the following questions: (1) what are the challenges or tensions of evoking spirituality as an academic discourse and practice? and (2) what strategies may be useful in integrating spirituality into teaching in higher education? Rather than conforming to traditional academic practices, we have chosen to present our theorizing in the form of an interactive dialogue, to explicate the process through which our thinking has developed. We intend this to be "part of the countercurrent of resistance to dominant hegemonic forces in the world" (Graveline, 1998, p. 35). We have deliberately chosen to actively resist the traditional Eurocentric format of an essay for this article. Instead, we have chosen to display our theorization "outside hegemonic norms for reporting, gesturing toward an alternative that is itself embedded in a spiritual worldview" (Dillard et al., 2000, p. 452). To this end, we offer our dialogue as Graveline (1998) has suggested, as "a narrative of emancipation and enlightenment. In its strongest form, it is a narrative of integration, not separation" (p. 35). Furthermore, this dialogue format provides us with an opportunity "to borrow voices from each other" (Mayuzumi, Motobyashi, Nagayama & Takeuchi, 2007, p. 584) To begin, however, we offer a working definition of what we mean by the term 'spirituality.' For our discussion, we borrow a broad conceptualization of spirituality from Tisdell (2007) who states: [S]pirituality ... is about: (1) a connection to what is discussed as the Life-force, God, a higher power or purpose, Great Mystery; (2) ultimate meaning-making and a sense of wholeness, healing, and the interconnectedness of all things; (3) the ongoing development of one's identity (including one's cultural identity) moving toward ... greater "authenticity;" (4) how people construct knowledge through largely unconscious and symbolic processes ..., manifested in image, symbol, music, and other expressions of creativity which are often cultural; (5) in addition, spirituality is not the same as religion, though for some people who are religious, there are elements in spirituality that overlap with religion; (6) spirituality is always present though often unacknowledged in the learning environment. …

Liberalism and empire in a nineteenth-century algerian mirror *

Abstract: Le Miroir, published in Paris in 1833 by Hamdan ben Othman Khodja (c.1773–1842), was the first Algerian contribution to French public deliberation about France's emerging empire in North Africa. A work of a self-consciously liberal cosmopolitan, and modernizing, perspective, the Miroir was almost alone in French debates in making a principled argument for a complete French withdrawal from Algeria—what Khodja called a “liberal emancipation” of the country. The Miroir argued for an independent Algeria that might take its place in a nineteenth-century Europe of emerging nations, and that might engage with European states as a diplomatic equal. The work illustrates the constraints on those who sought to preserve some independence, discursive as well as political, in the face of European expansion, as well as the critical possibilities of liberal discourse at a moment when it was being marshaled in France and Britain in the service of empire.

The correspondence of William Wilberforce

Abstract: William Wilberforce (1759–1833) was a politician, philanthropist and evangelical Christian, now best known for his work to end the slave trade Elected to Parliament in 1780, he campaigned unsuccessfully for penal and electoral reform In 1787, at the encouragement of his friend William Pitt, he took up the cause of abolition at Westminster, while Thomas Clarkson and others collected evidence and mobilised popular opinion Wilberforce also lobbied tirelessly for the cause, but humanitarian and ethical arguments were slow to overcome the economic interests of those who had made fortunes from the slave trade or the use of slave labour It was not until 1807 that the Abolition Bill was finally passed Wilberforce continued his work for the emancipation of slaves, and also campaigned for religious liberty This work, edited by two of his sons and published in 1840, includes their reply to criticisms by Thomas Clarkson of their earlier biography

Metaphors in Hugo Chávez's Political Discourse: Conceptualizing Nation, Revolution, and Opposition

Abstract: This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of metaphors used by Hugo Chavez in his efforts to construct and legitimize his Bolivarian Revolution. It focuses on metaphors drawn from three of his most frequent target domains: the nation, his revolution, and the opposition. The author argues that behind an official discourse of inclusion, Chavez's choice of metaphors contributes to the construction of a polarizing discourse of exclusion in which his political opponents are represented as enemies of the nation. Chavez constructs this polarizing discourse of exclusion by combining metaphors that conceptualize: (a) the nation as a person who has been resurrected by his government, as a person ready to fight for his revolution, or as Chavez himself; (b) the revolution as war; and (c) members of the opposition as war combatants or criminals. At the same time, by making explicit references in his discourse about the revolution as the continuation of Simon Bolivar's wars of independence, Chavez contributes to represent opponents as enemies of the nation, given that in the Venezuelan collective imaginary Bolivar is the symbol of the nation's emancipation.

Paths to Freedom: Manumission in the Atlantic World

Abstract: This book presents an international comparative study of a mode of emancipation that worked to reinforce the institution of slavery. Manumission - the act of freeing a slave while the institution of slavery continues - has received relatively little scholarly attention as compared to other aspects of slavery and emancipation. To address this gap, editors Rosemary Brana-Shute and Randy J. Sparks present a volume of essays that comprise the first-ever comparative study of manumission as it affected slave systems on both sides of the Atlantic. In this landmark volume, an international group of scholars consider the history and implications of manumission from the medieval period to the late nineteenth century as the phenomenon manifested itself in the Old World and the New. The contributors demonstrate that although the means of manumission varied greatly across the Atlantic world, in every instance the act served to reinforce the sovereign power structures inherent in the institution of slavery. In some societies only a master had the authority to manumit slaves, while in others the state might grant freedom or it might be purchased. Regardless of the source of manumission, the result was viewed by its society as a benevolent act intended to bind the freed slave to his or her former master through gratitude if no longer through direct ownership. The possibility of manumission worked to inspire faithful servitude among slaves while simultaneously solidifying the legitimacy of their ownership. The essayists compare the legacy of manumission in medieval Europe; the Jewish communities of Levant, Europe, and the New World; the Dutch, French, and British colonies; and the antebellum United States, while exploring wider patterns that extended beyond a single location or era. They also document the fates of manumitted slaves, some of whom were accepted into freed segments of their societies; while others were expected to vacate their former communities entirely. The contributors investigate the cultural consequences of manumission as well as the changing economic conditions that limited the practice by the eighteenth century to understand better the social implications of this multifaceted aspect of the system of slavery.

Marriage and Emancipation in the Age of the Pill

Abstract: Women’s economic emancipation arguably took off in the late 1960s and early 1970s. While ubiquitous, its origins are not well understood. In an influential paper, Goldin and Katz [2002] pointed to the role of unmarried women’s access to the oral contraceptive (the Pill), ushered in by the extension of legal rights to "mature minors" in the late 1960s early 1970s. However, the Pill was FDA approved already in 1960, and many states allowed a minor to marry, thereby emancipating her with respect to medical treatment, including the Pill. By the mid-1970s, the minimum marriage age had been lowered to 18 in almost all states. Exploiting changes in the legal rights of young adults by state, we find evidence that the Pill made early marriage more attractive and facilitated women’s educational and occupational attainments. Marriage combined with the Pill, we speculate, may have provided women with the means to pursue higher education at a time of limited student aid and ability to borrow against future earnings.

Between Emancipation and Domination: Habermasian Reflections on the Empowerment and Disempowerment of the Human Subject

Abstract: Habermas’s ‘linguistic turn’ can be regarded as a systematic attempt to locate the normative foundations of critical theory in the rational foundations of language. This endeavour is motivated by the insight that any theoretical framework that is committed to the emancipation of the human condition needs to identify the normative grounds on which both its critique of social domination and its pursuit of social liberation can be justified. Just as Habermas’s firm belief in the possibility of human emancipation manifests itself in the concept of the ‘ideal speech situation’, his radical critique of human domination cannot be separated from the concept of ‘systematically distorted communication’. Although the significance of these two concepts for Habermas’s communication-theoretic approach to the social has been widely recognised and extensively debated in the literature, their overall importance for a critical theory of human empowerment and disempowerment has hardly been explored in a satisfying manner. Drawing upon Habermas’s communication-theoretic conception of human coexistence, this paper makes a case for the view that a comprehensive critical theory of society needs to account for both the emancipatory and the repressive potentials of language if it seeks to do justice to both the empowering and the disempowering potentials of the subject.

Radical Ground: Israeli and Palestinian Activists and Joint Protest Against the Wall

Abstract: This paper will seek to address a new and vibrant development within the field of Israeli–Palestinian socio-politics and social movement studies. By interrogating the received wisdom surrounding social movements as agents bearing collective claims as expressed by Charles Tilly (2004), this paper will suggest that the joint activism around the building of the Wall sees Israeli and Palestinian activists move beyond the traditional liberal/Marxist paradigm of counter-hegemonic action (Gramsci, 1971). Instead, understanding the activism of these activists belongs more within the field of post-structuralism where power is contested from all angles and its networks, extensions and connections identified (Foucault, 1980, p. 145). The activists' actions and motives revitalise the theories of protest-anarchism (Braidotti, 2002) with their insistence on creating change through direct action. They do not act to be granted emancipation by their oppressors (Day, 2005, p. 89), but their actions seek to bring about thei...

The improper event: on Jacques Rancière's mannerism

Abstract: In this essay I examine certain conceptual resources available in the work of Jacques Ranciere for those interested in attending to the aesthetic and political complexities of democratic citizenship. I argue that the best way to broach these resources is to consider Ranciere's manner of impropriety regarding the forces of unity and disunity that comprise democracy's insurgence, as well as his account of the phenomenality of democratic life and the conditions that make political subjects visible, audible and perceptual. This involves a sustained critique of the proper and the sensible as criteria for political inclusion. Democracy is thus not an institutional form of government but an event of appearance that arises out of the dissonant blur of the everyday. Ranciere's insights into the insensibility of democracy's emergence, I conclude, complicate the constitutionalist solution to citizenship by raising the question of equality and emancipation as a question of how to relate to the impropriety of democrat...