Am Johal, "Ecological Metapolitics: Badiou and the Anthropocene" (Atropos Press, 2015)

Summary

The French philosopher Alain Badiou is not best known for his engagement with ecological matters per se. Badiou's insights regarding being, truth, and political militancy are, however, highly relevant for the consideration of "the ecological question." Based on a doctoral thesis written under Badiou's supervision, Am Johal's new book, Ecological Metapolitics: Badiou and the Anthropocene(Atropos Press, 2015) is a thinking through and with Badiou's work while addressing some of the most pressing concerns of our time: the relationship between human beings, technology, and nature; the meaning of change; and the possibilities of democratic politics and resistance. This, during an era that many now refer to as the "Anthropocene," a period in which the impact of human beings on geological conditions and change has become unmistakable. Ecological Metapolitics is a work of engaged philosophy that will illuminate readers' understanding of Badiou's oeuvre. The book also makes an important contribution to our understanding of the past, present, and future of a modernity troubled on scales local and global. In dialogue with one of the most significant French thinkers of the postwar period, the book engages in ideas and debates that reach well beyond the boundaries of national spaces, cultures, and politics.

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Roxanne Panchasi

Roxanne Panchasi is an Associate Professor of History at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada who specializes in twentieth and twenty-first century France and empire. She is the founding host of New Books in French Studies, a channel launched in 2013.

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