1st Edition
Alternative Accountabilities in Global Politics The Scars of Violence
Introduction 1. The Account of the Scar: Theory and Methods 2. Towards a Politics of Exteriority 3. The Body's Resistance: Anthrobiological Scars 4. The Spaces Around Us: Architectural and Landscape Scars Conclusion
Biography
Brent J. Steele is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Kansas, USA.
Brent J. Steele’s Alternative Accountability in Global Politics: The Scars of Violence pushes out the frontier of scholarship on the body and international relations, drawing insights that enrich our understanding of violence in our world, violence that cannot be escaped. Steele opens up an account of how violence is brought to account through the evidentiary scars on our bodies, on our cities, and on our hearts and souls. Yet Steele is able to navigate a scholarly project that is morally compelling (How can we not be enraged?) while avoiding superficial polemics. His deep understanding of political theory and careful attention to interpretation of the micro-instance of scars tells of humanity, contingency, and fragility – analyses that we, as scholars and students and as humans, need to hear.
Renée Marlin-Bennett, Johns Hopkins University
Steele’s book is a poignant account of how international politics operates at the level of the human body, leaving telling, disturbing, and often gruesome marks—or indeed scars—that demand to be seen, acknowledged, and theorized. The scars of international violence, Steele argues, have powerful, even if destabilizing, stories to tell us about politics, justice, and life. Gripping, critically challenging, emotionally charged, and meticulously composed, Steele’s The Scars of Violence draws our eye to the wounds of international politics and to their stories that, too often, are silenced by dominant policies, strategies, and theories. This text is a "must read" for students and scholars of politics, law, and society who are interested in alternative ways of apprehending violence and its representation.
François Debrix—Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
