Author Meets Critics: "Democracy and Event: The Promise and Perils of Catastrophe"

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

Democracy and Event: The Promise and Perils of Catastrophe
Author Elaine Stavro
Routledge 2024,
New York& Oxon

Catastrophes unsettle our safe places with the world. As such they provide an interesting site to analyze the intersection of our affective and political lives.
Bringing radical democratic thinking, affect theory, and psychoanalysis to bear on contemporary catastrophic events, Democracy and Event presents a fresh perspective on the study of affect and its impact on democratic sensibilities and practices. Situated in different countries with differing institutional histories and cultures— the SARS epidemic in Toronto (2003); the Grenfell Tower fire in London, England (2017); the Parkland shooting in Florida (2017); the early days of COVID crisis and the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA (2020)- Elaine Stavro interprets the rhetoric, discourse and affective communication of politicians and passionate protestors. She examines their linkages to well-established organizations informed by democratic ideals, as well as the context in which they arise, which have a bearing on their ability to challenge neoliberal and authoritarian practices.
Inspired by the need to bring theory back to politics and politics back to theory, she demonstrates how theory might inform our attitudes to contemporary events while recognizing that political action and events cannot be captured in their complexity by theory. Her skilful engagement with various theoretical approaches, read through the lens of catastrophic events, will speak to a wide-ranging scholarly readership in numerous academic fields.




ISBN:978-1-032-28159-9 (hbk)
ISBN:978-1-032-281598-2 (pbk)
ISBN:978-1-003-29551-8 (ebk)

Sub Unit

• Division 2: Foundations of Political Theory

Chair

• Elaine Stavro Trent University

Presenters

• Laurie E. Naranch Siena College

• Davide Panagia UCLA

• Janice Feng Trent University