What Political Science Can Learn from the Humanities: Blurring Genres - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3030516962 ISBN 13: 9783030516963

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021

Synopsis

This book asks, ‘what are the implications of blurring genres for the discipline of Political Science, and for Area Studies?’ It argues novelists and playwrights provide a better guide for political scientists than the work of physicists. It restates the intrinsic value of the Humanities and Social Sciences and builds bridges between the two territories. The phrase blurring genres covers both genres of thought and of presentation. Genres of thought refers to such theoretical approaches as post structuralism, cultural studies, and especially interpretive thought. Part 1 explores genres of thought, focusing on the use of narratives. Specific examples include the narratives of post-truth political cultures; narratives in Canadian general elections; autoethnography as a new research tool; and novels as a way of understanding economic development. Part 2 emphasises genres of presentation and focuses on the visual arts. The chapters cover: photography in British political history, the architecture of American statehouses and city halls, design, comics, and using the creative arts to improve policy practice. This book is interdisciplinary and should have an appeal beyond political science to area studies specialists and others in the humanities. It is an advanced text, so it is aimed primarily at academics and postgraduates.

About this title

About the Author

R. A. W. Rhodes is Professor of Government (Research) at the University of Southampton, UK, and Director of the Centre for Political Ethnography. He is the author or editor of 40 books including, most recently, The Art and Craft of Comparison (with J. Boswell and J. Corbett, Cambridge University Press 2019).

Susan Hodgett is the founding Professor of Area Studies at the University of East Anglia, UK. Her most recent book is Necessary Travel. New Area Studies and Canada in Comparative Perspective (edited with Patrick James, Lexington Books, 2018).

From the Back Cover

This book asks, ‘what are the implications of blurring genres for the discipline of Political Science, and for Area Studies?’ It argues novelists and playwrights provide a better guide for political scientists than the work of physicists. It restates the intrinsic value of the Humanities and Social Sciences and builds bridges between the two territories. The phrase blurring genres covers both genres of thought and of presentation. Genres of thought refers to such theoretical approaches as post structuralism, cultural studies, and especially interpretive thought. Part 1 explores genres of thought, focusing on the use of narratives. Specific examples include the narratives of post-truth political cultures; narratives in Canadian general elections; autoethnography as a new research tool; and novels as a way of understanding economic development. Part 2 emphasises genres of presentation and focuses on the visual arts. The chapters cover: photography in British political history, the architecture of American statehouses and city halls, design, comics, and using the creative arts to improve policy practice. This book is interdisciplinary and should have an appeal beyond political science to area studies specialists and others in the humanities. It is an advanced text, so it is aimed primarily at academics and postgraduates.

R. A. W. Rhodes is Professor of Government (Research) at the University of Southampton, UK, and Director of the Centre for Political Ethnography.

Susan Hodgett is the founding Professor of Area Studies at the University of East Anglia, UK.

Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3030516962
• ISBN 13: 9783030516963
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 360
• Editor: Rhodes R.A.W., Hodgett Susan