General Introduction. Part I. Expanding the realm of the political 1. Politics, the political and the public sphere 2. Politics, the political and the public sphere 3. The civic community expanding the boundaries of the public realm 4. The political of Anthropocene and sustainable development Part II. Post-anthropocentric politics 5. Posthumanism, post-anthropocentrism, new materialism. Redefinition of political categories 6. Subjectivity and political agency 7. Relationality and responsibility 8. Representation and solidarity Part III. The political dimension of the natural world 9. The political dimension of plants 10. The political dimension of animals 11. The political dimension of natural areas 12. The political dimension of mushrooms, bacterias and viruses Part IV. The political dimension of the world of technology 13. The political dimension of machines 14. The political dimension of robots 15. The political dimension of cyborgs 16. The political dimension of digital beings. Conclusion. The political of post-anthropocentrism
Biography
Edyta B. Pietrzak is an anthropologist and political scientist, a professor at the Institute of Marketing and Sustainable Development at Lodz University of Technology, lecturer at the Erasmus Mundus Master's Degree in Women's and Gender Studies GEMMA, and guest lecturer at European universities. She is ECIU & TUL Citizen Science Research Field Coordinator, Faculty’s Gender Equality Officer, Editor-in-chief of the journal Civitas Hominibus. She is an author of 12 books and many scientific publications. Her research interests include theories of civil society, politics of diversity, and socio-political contexts of sustainable development. Her current research focuses on post-anthropocentrism.
This ambitious and timely volume advances our understanding of political agency by extending it beyond its anthropocentric boundaries. Drawing on post-anthropocentric, posthumanist and new materialist theories, Pietrzak offers a rigorous yet accessible conceptual framework that rethinks subjectivity, power, and representation in relation to nonhuman beings – from animals and ecosystems to robots and AI. An essential read for scholars of political theory and beyond.
Magdalena Musiał-Karg, President of the Polish Political Sciecnce Association, Vice-President of International Political Science Association, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Written with rare lucidity, this theoretically rigorous inquiry engaging with Social Sciences offers a fresh and current analysis of the ontological, epistemological, and ethical challenges of political agency in an entangled more-than-human world. Timely in argument and deeply thought-provoking, it is a work that truly inspires the reader.
Pınar Melis Yelsalı Parmaksız, Professor of Sociology, Bahçeşehir University
