ABSTRACT
What does it mean to live dangerously? This is not just a philosophical question or an ethical call
to reflect upon our own individual recklessness. It is a deeply political question being asked by
ideologues and policy makers who want us to abandon the dream of ever achieving security and
embrace danger as a condition of possibility for life in the future. No longer, we are told, should
we think in terms of evading the possibility of traumatic experiences. For catastrophic events are
not just inevitable but learning experiences fromwhich we have to grow and prosper, collectively
and individually. Vulnerability to threat, injury and loss has to be accepted as a reality of human
existence (Butler, 2009). The game of survival has to be played by learning how to expose oneself
to danger rather than believing in the possibility of ever achieving freedom from danger as such
(Reid, 2012).
