ABSTRACT

This edited collection of essays on the conceptual, political and philosophical importance of stillness is positioned within a world that has increasingly come to be understood through the theoretical and conceptual lens of movement.

With contributions from leading scholars in the field, the diversity of this collection illuminates the multiplicity of ontological and epistemological registers through which stillness moves: from human geography to media studies, cultural theory to fine arts. With the help of luminaries such as Deleuze, Bergson, Barthes and Beckett, this book interweaves cutting-edge theoretical insight with empirical illustrations which examine and traverse a multitude of practices, spaces and events. In an era where stasis, slowness and passivity are often held to be detrimental, this collection puts forward a new set of political and ethical concerns which help us to come to terms with, understand, and account for (im)mobile life.

Stillness in a Mobile World in an essential source of reference for both undergraduate and post-graduate students working within disciplines such as cultural studies, sociology, mobility studies, and human geography.

chapter 1|17 pages

Stillness unbound

part 1|50 pages

Technics

chapter 2|17 pages

Shadow's forces/force's shadows

chapter 3|13 pages

Airportals

The functional significance of stillness in the Junkspace of airports

chapter 4|18 pages

Still waiting, still moving

On labour, logistics and maritime industries

part 2|56 pages

Communities

chapter 5|16 pages

The orchestration of feeling

Stillness, spirituality and places of retreat

chapter 6|20 pages

Performing stillness

Community in waiting

chapter 7|18 pages

The productivity of stillness

Composure and the scholarly habitus

part 3|47 pages

Materialities

chapter 8|12 pages

The private life of an air raid

Mobility, stillness, affect

chapter 9|16 pages

Moving encounters

The affective mobilities of photography

chapter 10|17 pages

Stillness re-animated

Experiencing Body Worlds and the work of art

part 4|56 pages

Suspensions

chapter 11|17 pages

The singularity of the ‘still'

‘Never suspend the question'

chapter 12|17 pages

Turbulent stillness

The politics of uncertainty and the undocumented migrant

chapter 13|20 pages

The broken thread

On being still