Economies of Abandonment

Social Belonging and Endurance in Late Liberalism

Elizabeth A. Povinelli

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English

Duke University Press
11 November 2011

Social theory; Liberalism & centre democratic ideologies; Economic theory & philosophy

In Economies of Abandonment, Elizabeth A. Povinelli explores how late liberal imaginaries of tense, eventfulness, and ethical substance make the global distribution of life and death, hope and harm, and endurance and exhaustion not merely sensible but also just. She presents new ways of conceptualizing formations of power in late liberalism-the shape that liberal governmentality has taken as it has responded to a series of legitimacy crises in the wake of anticolonial and new social movements and, more recently, the ""clash of civilizations"" after September 11. Based on longstanding ethnographic work in Australia and the United States, as well as critical readings of legal, academic, and activist texts, Povinelli examines how alternative social worlds and projects generate new possibilities of life in the context of ordinary and extraordinary acts of neglect and surveillance. She focuses particularly on social projects that have not yet achieved a concrete existence but persist at the threshold of possible existence. By addressing the question of the endurance, let alone the survival, of alternative forms of life, Povinelli opens new ethical and political questions.

By: Elizabeth A. Povinelli
Imprint: Duke University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 386g
ISBN: 9780822350842
ISBN 10: 082235084X
Pages: 277
Publication Date: 11 November 2011
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction. The Child in the Broom Closet 1 1. The Part That Has No Part 47 2. The Brackets of Recognition 75 3. Road Kill: Ethical Substance, Exhaustion, Endurance 101 4. Events of Abandonment 131 5. After Good and Evil, Whither Sacrificial Love? 163 Conclusion. Negative Critique, Positive Sociographies 187 Notes 193 Bibliography 211 Index 225

Elizabeth A. Povinelli is Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies at Columbia University. She is the author of The Empire of Love: Toward a Theory of Intimacy, Genealogy, and Carnality and The Cunning of Recognition: Indigenous Alterities and the Making of Australian Multiculturalism, both also published by Duke University Press, as well as Labor’s Lot: The Power, History, and Culture of Aboriginal Action.

Reviews for Economies of Abandonment: Social Belonging and Endurance in Late Liberalism

Economies of Abandonment is an erudite book that unravels crucial linkages between the transformed character of liberal policies in our present and the shattered lives of those who live under its ever-expanding shadow. It will be widely read and appreciated for its thoughtful and provocative arguments. Saba Mahmood, University of California, Berkeley Elizabeth A. Povinelli's book is ambitious and original. It reflects her extraordinary ability to move from high theoretical discussions of philosophical concepts, to broad perspectives on late liberalism, to precise accounts of political and legal controversies, as well as public conversations on sex, drugs, religion, ecology, and other matters. Her argument in Economies of Abandonment is impressive in its breadth and depth. The book will provide an important contribution to future critical discussions, not only in anthropology but much more broadly. Eric Fassin, Ecole Normale Superieure