The Time of Catastrophe: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Age of Catastrophe (Law, Justice and Power) - Hardcover

Dole, Christopher; Hayashi, Robert; Poe, Andrew; Sarat, Austin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1472468368 ISBN 13: 9781472468369

Publisher: Routledge, 2015

Synopsis

If catastrophes are, by definition, exceptional events of such magnitude that worlds and lives are dramatically overturned, the question of timing would pose a seemingly straightforward, if not redundant question. The Time of Catastrophe demonstrates the analytic productiveness of this question, arguing that there is much to be gained by interrogating the temporal conceits of conventional understandings of catastrophe and the catastrophic. Bringing together a distinguished, interdisciplinary group of scholars, the book develops a critical language for examining 'catastrophic time', recognizing the central importance of, and offering a set of frameworks for, examining the alluring and elusive qualities of catastrophe. Framed around the ideas of Agamben, Kant and Benjamin, and drawing on philosophy, history, law, political science, anthropology and the arts, this volume seeks to demonstrate how the question of 'catastrophic time' is in fact a question about something much more than the frequency of disasters in our so-called 'Age of Catastrophe'.

About this title

About the Author:

Christopher Dole is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Amherst College, USA. Robert Hayashi is Associate Professor American Studies at Amherst College, USA. Andrew Poe is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Amherst College, USA. Austin Sarat is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science and Associate Dean of the Faculty at Amherst College, USA. Boris Wolfson is Associate Professor of Russian at Amherst College, USA.

Review:

'Pervasive reporting of events has brought us back to the catastrophe as central to governing. This imaginative collection refuses to define catastrophe as exceptional, or by its limits in time and space. The chapters pose the times of catastrophe as multiple, integrating catastrophic events with the everyday and with how we envision futures. The authors creatively cross critical theory with historical and cultural analyses, generating a rich research agenda and teaching us all why we ought to turn to disaster to understand governing.' --Susan Sterett, Virginia Tech, USA

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1472468368
• ISBN 13: 9781472468369
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160