Politics of Withdrawal : Media, Arts, Theory

This book considers the significance of practices and theories of withdrawal (exodus, desertion, retreat) for radical thinking with contributions from major theorists in the fields of contemporary political philosophy, cultural studies and media studies (including Bernard Stiegler, Isabel Lorey, Sara Sharma, Claire Birchall and more).

Politics of Withdrawal considers the significance of practices and theories of withdrawal for radical thinking today. With contributions of major theorists in the fields of contemporary political philosophy, cultural studies and media studies, the chapters investigate the multiple contexts, possibilities and impasses of political withdrawal – from the radical to the seemingly mundane – and reflect a range of case studies varying from the political thinking of Debord, the Invisible Committee, Moten and Harney, feminist notions of ‘strike’ and ‘exit’, and indigenous forms of sabotage, to the individual retreat as means of reconfiguring political subjectivity. It looks at technological failure as disconnection from surveillance, and from alternative financial futures to contemporary ‘pharmako-politics.’

The volume provides a vital grip on a key notion in contemporary radical politics, in all its complexity, contradictions and tribulations.