ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Elaine Stavro turns to Beauvoir’s theory of the individual as free and situated in relationships with others to argue for an account of political action that involves reflection and organization. Criticizing vital materialists such as Rosi Braidotti, Jodi Dean, and Stefan Jonsson for their focus on indeterminacy and fugitivity, Stavro suggests that their turn to things, amorphous affects, and human and non-human assemblages have diminished the significance of human ingenuity, organization, and strategy. The latter, according to Stavro, are required for radical democratic projects and coalitions. Extending Beauvoir’s thinking around sensation and perception, and drawing on her activism—such as her engagement in the defense of Algerian war rape victim Djamila Boupacha—Stavro focuses on embodied and situated affect rather than autonomous affect, which is a central concept of the vital materialists.
