ABSTRACT

Disobedience has been practiced and considered since time immemorial. The aim of this edited collection is to explore the concept and practice of disobedience through the prism of contemporary ideas and events. Past writings on disobedience represented it as a largely political practice that revealed the limits of government or law. It was not, for example, thought of as a subjective exigency and its discussion in relation to law and politics was tied to an unduly narrow conception of these terms. Disobedience: Concept and Practice reveals the multivalent, multidisciplinary and poly-local nature of disobedience. The essays in this volume demonstrate how disobedience operates in various terrains, and may be articulated in relation to textuality, aesthetics and subjectivity, as well as politics and law. A rich and useful guide to current legal, political and social possibilities, this book provides a fresh perspective on a subject that is of both historical importance and contemporary relevance.

chapter |16 pages

Hermeneutics and the art of disobedience

A critical reading of Ricoeur and Derrida

chapter |12 pages

Insubordinate voices

Contestation and the right to politics

chapter |23 pages

Sacropolitics

How to disobey sacred scripture (on Ambedkar's Bhagavadgītā)

chapter |10 pages

Disobedient objects

Benjamin, Kafka, Poe and the revolt of the fetish

chapter |9 pages

What I believe