Agamben and Colonialism Paperback - 2012

This excellent collection mobilizes Agamben's provocative account of biopolitics to reckon with the history and present of colonial subjectivation, as well as the possibilities for postcolonial transformation. It is an important addition to contemporary political analysis of the centrality of colonialism in the formation of the modern Western state.

Catherine Mills, University of Sydney

The first collection of essays to evaluate Agamben's work from a postcolonial perspective

Svirsky and Bignall assemble leading figures to explore rich philosophical linkages between the political concerns investigated by Agamben and by postcolonial theory.

The 12 essays deal with colonial and postcolonial issues in Russia, Israel and Palestine, Africa, the Americas and Australia. This wide geographical spread is grounded in examples of external and settler colonialism, providing specific case studies combined with philosophical analysis. The essays extend and appraise Agamben's concepts by locating them in colonial contexts, at the same time as providing new possibilities for postcolonial thinking.

Tackled from an interdisciplinary perspective, this book offers new insights into contemporary debates on colonial exclusion, racism and postcolonial society. It will appeal to students of Agamben's work and researchers in political and postcolonial studies, critical theory, social and political philosophy.

Marcelo Svirsky is a Lecturer and Marie-Curie Researcher at the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory, Cardiff University. Simone Bignall is an adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of History and Philosophy at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.