Subversive Affirmation

Name: Subversive Affirmation
Price: 49.95 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9783035808100

Critique of Critique Revisited

Sylvia Sasse, Brian Alkire

$49.95

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

Diaphanes AG
06 April 2026

Theory of art; History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -

Series: Think Art

An analysis of the concept of subversive affirmation, a radical alternative to saying ""no"" as a form of resistance.

Since the 1960s, theory, the arts, and political activism have increasingly rejected the notion of resistance through negation, raising such arguments as: Doesn't a critique based on negation make itself dependent on the very system it wants to overcome? Does it not remain trapped in a thinking of oppositions? Although coming from radically different angles, the formulation of concepts like subversive affirmation, hyperaffirmation, overidentification, paradoxical intervention, revolution of the yes, and affirmative sabotage all reflect the emergence of an affirmative critique that overcomes this negation while also making us aware of the difference between conscious consent and conformity, capitulation, indifference, or pragmatism. In her new book, Sylvia Sasse explores and analyzes subversive affirmation as a critical practice in different political systems. She examines the effectiveness of such criticism and its relevance at a time when various political actors have begun appropriating subversive affirmation and are no longer using it as a method of criticism.

By: Sylvia Sasse
Translated by: Brian Alkire
Imprint: Diaphanes AG
Country of Publication: Switzerland
Dimensions: Height: 190mm, Width: 120mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9783035808100
ISBN 10: 3035808104
Series: Think Art
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 06 April 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Sylvia Sasse is professor of Slavic studies at the University of Zurich and cofounder of the ZKK (Center for Arts and Cultural Theory), a member of ZGW (Center ""History of Knowledge""). Brian Alkire is part of the Department of German at New York University.