scholarly journals Beyond Agamben: Sovereignty, policing and ‘permissive space’ in South Africa, and beyond

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah-Jane Cooper-Knock
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Homo Sacer

The work of Giorgio Agamben has been widely used by criminologists and others to explore policing and sovereignty across the globe. In this article, I explore Agamben’s conceptual framework, focusing on the commonly deployed ideas of ‘state of exception’ and ‘ homo sacer’. I highlight the limitations of Agamben’s legalistic theories, and argue that they leave us with an impoverished understanding of how sovereignty is negotiated in everyday life. As I demonstrate, scholars who have attempted to adapt Agamben’s ideas have failed to overcome these limitations in his analysis. I conclude that we must look for new ways forward and introduce the concept of ‘permissive space’ as an alternative to Agamben’s theoretical framework: an idea that allows a more nuanced and comprehensive analysis. Drawing on 10 months of fieldwork in Durban, South Africa, I illustrate the utility of this terminology for our analysis of policing.

Undocumented Migrants As Homo Sacer: Cases From Botswana and South Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 002190962094634
Author(s):  
France Maphosa ◽  
Christopher Ntau
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
The State ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Undocumented Migrants ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Law

The concept of homo sacer originates from ancient Roman law under which an individual who committed a certain kind of crime was excluded from society and all his/her rights as a citizen were revoked. This paper uses a few selected cases reported in the media of Botswana and South Africa to demonstrate why undocumented migrants in the two countries fit Agamben’s description of homo sacer. While migrants in general, whether documented or undocumented, are targets of violence, exploitation and discrimination in these countries, undocumented migrants are particularly vulnerable because of their ‘illegal’ status. Although violence against undocumented migrants is not formally endorsed by the state, their description as a problem or a threat to society places them in a state of exception which is virtually outside the protection of the law.

What Happens in Vegas: Hunter S. Thompson's Political Philosophy

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-170
Author(s):  
JASON VREDENBURG
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Las Vegas ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
Hardt And Negri ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Antonio Negri ◽  
The Relationship

In the forty years since its publication, Hunter S. Thompson's most famous work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, has received relatively little attention from scholars, in spite of its continuing popularity and acknowledged influence. Because the narrative is so thoroughly rooted in what Thompson called “this foul year of Our Lord, 1971,” the novel is generally approached (when it is discussed at all) as a historical artifact, a gonzo first draft of history, with its fortunes rising and falling with the counterculture of the 1960s. This article argues that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, far from being merely an epitaph for the 1960s, actually anticipates the more recent work of political theorists Giorgio Agamben, Michael Hardt, and Antonio Negri. Thompson's work, like Agamben's, concerns the emergence of the state of exception and the homo sacer as new paradigms for the relationship between citizen and state; and, like Hardt and Negri, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas attempts to formulate a response to the emergence of global empire.

SAYYIDA ZAYNAB IN THE STATE OF EXCEPTION: SHIʿI SAINTHOOD AS “QUALIFIED LIFE” IN CONTEMPORARY SYRIA

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Szanto
Keyword(s):  
Refugee Camp ◽  
The State ◽  
Concentration Camp ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Ritual Practice ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Nazi Concentration Camp ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
The Law

AbstractAccording to Giorgio Agamben, a “state of exception” is established by the sovereign's decision to suspend the law, and the archetypical state of exception is the Nazi concentration camp. At the same time, Agamben notes that boundaries have become blurred since then, such that even spaces like refugee camps can be thought of as states of exception because they are both inside and outside the law. This article draws on the notion of the state of exception in order to examine the Syrian refugee campcumshrine town of Sayyida Zaynab as well as to analyze questions of religious authority, ritual practice, and pious devotion to Sayyida Zaynab. Though Sayyida Zaynab and many of her Twelver Shiʿi devotees resemble Agamben's figure ofhomo sacer, who marked the origin of the state of exception, they also defy Agamben's theory that humans necessarily become animal-like, leading nothing more than “bare lives” (orzoē) in states of exception.

scholarly journals Estado de exceção como regra: a vida nua sob o “eclipse político” em Giorgio Agamben / State of exception as a rule: the bare life under the "political eclipse" in Giorgio Agamben

Profanações ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 269
Author(s):  
Maria Do Socorro Catarina de Sousa Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Bare Life ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
The Social ◽  
Legal Security ◽  
Original Objective

Um dos temas de maior relevância abordado por Giorgio Agamben diz respeito ao estado de exceção como paradigma político, ou seja, o estado de exceção não se restringe aos Estados totalitários, mas a uma prática governamental que vem se propagando rapidamente, inclusive nas sociedades democráticas. Assim, o presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar, a partir de duas obras que compõem o Projeto Homo Sacer, a saber, Homo Sacer: o poder soberano e a vida nua I (2002), e Estado de Exceção: homo sacer II (2004), os principais elementos que formatam a teoria agambeniana do estado de exceção como paradigma de governo e como o delineamento de suas teses nos permite falar em “eclipse político”, o qual está concretizado na impotência do cidadão diante do poder soberano, a figura híbrida que tem a sua disposição não apenas a máquina governamental, mas o próprio ordenamento jurídico desvirtuado de seu objetivo original de proteção e segurança jurídica para um complexo e malicioso mecanismo de manutenção da “ordem social”. AbstractOne of the most relevant topics addressed by Giorgio Agamben is the state of exception as a political paradigm, that is, the state of exception is not restricted to totalitarian states, but to a government practice that is spreading rapidly, even in democratic societies. Thus, this article aims to analyze, from two works that make up the Homo Sacer Project, namely Homo Sacer: sovereign power and naked life I (2002), and State of Exception: homo sacer II (2004) ), the main elements that form the agambenian theory of the state of exception as a paradigm of government and how the delineation of its theses allows us to speak in "political eclipse", which is concretized in the impotence of the citizen before the sovereign power, the hybrid figure which has at its disposal not only the governmental machine, but the legal system itself distorted from its original objective of protection and legal security for a complex and malicious mechanism of maintenance of the "social order".

scholarly journals Exceção e vida nua: diálogos entre a literatura de Nassar e a de Sófocles / Exception and life nua: dialogues between the literature of Nassar and of Sophocles

Profanações ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
Elijames Moraes dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Bare Life ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Este artigo propõe analisar como as categorias do estado de exceção e da vida nua são dramatizados nos textos Antígona, de Sófocles, e Lavoura Arcaica, de Raduan Nassar. Para alcançar o objetivo estabelecido, consideramos os estudos sobre esses conceitos propostos no projeto Homo Sacer, de Giorgio Agamben (2007; 2014), entre outras fontes que respaldam este estudo. Seguindo a proposta agambeniana, enfatizamos a relação de soberania com o estado de exceção, culminando, muitas vezes na eliminação do vivente. Aspecto este que fica evidente no desenrolar das ações presentes em ambas as narrativas em análise.AbstractThis article proposes to analyze how the categories of the state of exception and bare life are dramatized in the texts Antigone, by Sophocles, and Ancient tillage¸ by Raduan Nassar. To reach the established objective, we consider the studies on these concepts proposed in the project Homo Sacer, by Giorgio Agamben (2007, 2014), among other sources that support this study. Following the Agambenian proposal, we emphasize the relationship of sovereignty with the state of exception, culminating, often in the elimination of the living. This aspect is evident in the unfolding of the actions present in both narratives under analysis.

scholarly journals Exceção e estado de exceção no pensamento de Giorgio Agamben / Exception and state of exception in the thought of Giorgio Agamben

Profanações ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Ana Suelen Tossige Gomes
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Archaeological Method

Busca-se com o presente artigo discutir o método arqueológico desenvolvido por Giorgio Agamben em sua série Homo sacer, especialmente no tocante aos paradigmas, demonstrando como tal método se insere em seu projeto mais amplo de crítica à metafísica ocidental. Ainda, com base na noção de paradigma, pretende-se discutir os conceitos de exceção e de estado de exceção presentes na obra do filósofo italiano, abordando como estes se relacionam e como se diferenciam. Enquanto a exceção consiste em um dispositivo, isto é, um modus operandi mais amplo, o qual é capaz de articular duas realidades opostas, mas que inexistem sem essa articulação, o estado de exceção aparece, por sua vez, como um dos dispositivos, desvelados pela arqueologia agambeniana, cujo funcionamento se dá na forma da exceção: por meio da exclusão inclusiva da violência (e mais a fundo, da própria vida) no campo do direito.AbstractThis article aim to discuss the archaeological method developed by Giorgio Agamben in his Homo sacer series, especially with regard to paradigm concept, demonstrating how this method is part of his broader project of critical of Western metaphysics. Still, based on the notion of paradigm, it is intended to discuss the concepts of exception and state of exception present in the Agamben’s work, how these relate and differentiate themselves. While the exception consists of a dispositive, that is, a broader modus operandi, which is able to articulate two opposing realities, but which do not exist without this articulation, the state of exception appears, in its turn, as one of the dispositives unveiled by agambenian archeology, whose operation takes place in the form of the exception: by inclusive exclusion of violence (and, more deeply, of life itself) in the field of law.

scholarly journals Fórmula mágica da Paz(?): a exceção e as polícias comunitárias do Rio de Janeiro e Paraná / Magic formula of Peace(?): the exception and the community police of Rio de Janeiro and Paraná

Profanações ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Carlos Picanço Wambier ◽  
Karoline Coelho de Andrade e Souza ◽  
Pedro Henrique Rosica Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Community Policing ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
The Political ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Community Police ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
Police Programs ◽  
Definition Of

O artigo em questão utiliza como substrato teórico os conceitos da filosofia política de Giorgio Agamben, com o objetivo de realizar uma análise crítica dos programas de policiamento comunitário dos estados do Rio de Janeiro e Paraná – as Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora (UPPs) e as Unidades Paraná Seguro (UPSs). As realidades dos referidos locais são distintas, assim como as finalidades dos programas. No Paraná, objetiva-se o combate ao tráfico de drogas e redução dos índices de homicídio; enquanto no Rio de Janeiro a retomada do monopólio estatal da força nas comunidades. Porém, há um ponto de convergência: a filosofia do policiamento comunitário. O artigo aponta as contradições desse policiamento e os seus efeitos sobre a população das localidades ocupadas. Contradições e efeitos estes que foram possíveis relacionar a teoria em questão, tendo como norte a definição de estado de exceção, um vazio de direito, no qual a suspensão da norma torna-se a regra. A problematização se dirige para a hipótese de que as UPPs/UPSs formam um campo nas comunidades aonde a polícia circula entre violência e direito e a vida torna-se nua. Como resultado, o presente estudo pôde constatar que tanto as UPPs quanto as UPSs tendem a atualizar o campo agambeneano, formando zonas de exceção nas quais a vida dos moradores é correlata do homo sacer. Esses projetos, que se utilizam dos discursos da democracia e do policiamento comunitário, apresenta-se como técnicas biopolíticas de controle e governo da vida e da morte.AbstractThe article in question uses as a theoretical substrate the concepts of the political philosophy of Giorgio Agamben with the objective to realize a critical analysis of the community police programs of states of Rio de Janeiro and Paraná – the “Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora” (UPPs) and the “Unidades Paraná Seguro” (UPSs). The realities of this places are distinct, as well the express purposes of the programs. In Paraná, the main purpose is combat drug trafficking and reduce homicide rates; while in Rio de Janeiro, it is the reconquer of the state monopoly of the force in the communities. However, there is a point of convergence: the philosophy of community policing. The article points out the contradictions of such policing and its effects on the population of occupied localities. Contradictions and effects were possible to relate the theory in question, having as guide the definition of state of exception, an emptiness of law, in which the suspension of the norm becomes the rule. The problematization is directed at hypothesis that the UPPs and UPSs form a camp in the communities where the police circulate between violence and right, and the life becomes bare. As a result, the present research could verify that both UPPs and UPSs tend to actualize the agambenean camp, forming zones of exception in which the life is compared to homo sacer. These projects, which uses the discourses of democracy and community policing, are a biopolitical techniques of control and governance of life and death.

scholarly journals NALAR POLITIK KEDAULATAN NEGARA-BANGSA DALAM NOVEL LAYALY TURKISTAN KARYA NAJIB AL-KAILANI THE POLITICAL REASON OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE NATION STATE IN THE NOVEL "LAYELY TURKISTAN" BY NAJIB AL-KAILANI

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agus Sunarto
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Material Object ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Bare Life ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
Textual Data

Abstrak Penelitian ini mencoba untuk memahami politik kolonial yang dilakukan terhadap bangsa Turkistan dalam novel Nights in Turkistan karya Najib Al-Kailani melalui perspektif filsafat politik Giorgio Agamben. Lokus utama penelitian ini dengan perspektif tersebut mencoba menyibak proses normalisasi paradigma politik kolonial yang terdiri dari kekuasaan berdaulat, state of exception, bare life (ketelanjangan hidup), dan homo sacer. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif deskriptif. Metode ini digunakan karena sumber data dalam penelitian ini berupa data tekstual yang terdiri dari kata, kalimat, paragraf dari objek material penelitian. Praktik kolonial yang dijalankan oleh pihak Cina dan Rusia menjadikan bangsa Turkistan mengalami degradasi eksistensinya baik dari aspek sosial, politik, maupun budaya. Karena itu penelitian ini akan menyibak lebih dalam proses kolonial yang dilakukan oleh Cina dan Rusia dari kritik filsafat politik Giorgio Agamben. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa pertama, praktik kolonialisme membawai konsekuensi kekuasaan berdaulat yang mencari legalitas hukum sekaligus penangguhan hukum terhadap aksi koloni; kedua, bangsa Turkistan yang tereduksi dan terdegradasi eksistensinya rentan terhadap tindakan koersif kolonial sehingga mereka tidak memiliki aksesibilas yang sempurna. Kata kunci: State Of Exception, Homo Sacer dan Layaly Turkistan Abstract This paper examines to understand the colonial politics that was carried out against the Turkistan people in Najib Al-Kailani's novel Nights in Turkistan through the framework of Giorgio Agamben's political philosophy. The main focus of this research with this perspective is trying to uncover the process of normalizing the colonial political paradigm, which consists of sovereign power, state of exception, bare life, and homo sacer. This research uses the descriptive qualitative method. This method is used because the data of this research is textual data consisting of words, sentences, paragraphs by the material object. The colonial practices carried out by the Chinese and Russians made the Turkistan nation experience a degradation of its existence from both social, political, and cultural aspects. Thus, this research will reveal more deeply the colonial process carried out by China and Russia than Giorgio Agamben's critique of political philosophy. The results of this study indicate that first, the practice of colonialism carries the consequences of sovereign power seeking legality as well as legal suspension of colony actions; second, the Turkistan peoples who were reduced and degraded in existence were vulnerable to colonial coercive action so that they did not have perfect accessibility. Keyword: State Of Exception, Homo Sacer dan Layaly Turkistan

Sacrificing Homo Sacer: René Girard reads Giorgio Agamben

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-182
Author(s):  
Pierpaolo Antonello
Keyword(s):  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Structural Element ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Antinomic Structure ◽  
Theoretical Project ◽  
Critical Literature

Taking as its point of departure the existing critical literature on the intersections between René Girard’s and Giorgio Agamben’s anthropogenetic theories, this essay aims to add further considerations to the debate by discussing some of Agamben’s intuitions within a Girardian paradigmatic explanatory framework. I show how by regressing the archeological analysis to a pre-institutional and pre-legal moment, and by re-examining the antinomic structure of the sacred in its genetic organizing form (so briskly dismissed by Agamben in Homo Sacer), one can account more cogently for certain key issues relevant to Agamben’s theoretical project, such as the “paradox of sovereignty,” the nature of the “state of exception,” and the dissociation between culpa and individual responsibility in archaic law, as recently discussed in Karman. I also put forward arguments concerning the limitations of Agamben’s immanent ontology to account for the zoe/bios distinction as a key structural element of his particular take on biopolitics, viewing this specifically in the light

scholarly journals NEPAPRASTOJI PADĖTIS IR DIEVIŠKASIS SMURTAS: CARLO SCHMITTO IR WALTERIO BENJAMINO MINČIŲ KRYŽKELĖS

Problemos ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 107-120
Author(s):  
Kasparas Pocius
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
World Population ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
Divine Violence

Šiuolaikinės politinės filosofijos kontekste jau maždaug dvidešimt metų neatslūgsta domėjimasis biopolitinėmis teorijomis, kurių dėmesio centre atsiduria valdžios ir gyvybės santykis šiuolaikiniame pasaulyje, kairiųjų politinių filosofų vadinamame Imperija. Italų filosofo Giorgio Agambeno dėka biopolitikos instrumentai buvo panaudoti nepaprastosios padėties ir homo sacer sampratų tyrinėjimams. Šiame tekste, pasitelkiant nepaprastosios padėties bei su ja susijusias sampratas, bus gilinamasi į šiuolaikinės valdžios ir valdymo problemas. Aptarsime vokiečių teisės teoretiko Carlo Schmitto nepaprastosios padėties teoriją, kaip alternatyvą jai pateikdami Walterio Benjamino mesianistinę tyro dieviškojo smurto sampratą. Straipsnio tikslas – pagrįsti Benjamino idėją, kad dieviškasis smurtas gali įveikti galios taikomą prievartą. Kita vertus, keliama idėja, kad Schmitto suverenios galios samprata užmaskuoja biopolitinį galios institucijų prievartos mechanizmą, o Benjamino dieviškojo smurto samprata leidžia jį demaskuoti.State of Exception and Divine Violence: The Crossroads between the Thought of Carl Schmitt and Walter BenjaminKasparas Pocius SummaryAlready back in 1940 Walter Benjamin told us that “the ‘state of emergency’ in which we live is not the exception but the rule.” While invoking this claim, Giorgio Agamben enriches the contemporary biopolitical discourse with such concepts as ‘state of exception’ and ‘homo sacer’, which refer to bare lives of the majority of world population under contemporary capitalist and state rule. This paper, which seeks to analyse the work of Agamben, presents the notion of the state of exception by Carl Schmitt and counterposes it to the Benjaminian concept of divine violence. This counterposition allows to theoretically question the Schmittian politico-theological discourse which has been increasingly used by the conservative intellectuals and right-wing movements in the Eastern Europe, ‘the necessity of defending the nation and the state’ that they posit and to show the often concealed links between this discourse with biopower regimes. On the other hand, it is an attempt to point at a presence of multiple and radical constituent forces which, beyond liberal – constitutional and authoritarian – conservative frameworks of the State pose the threat to the political and economic order of late capitalism.

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