The Politics of the Wretched
Race, Reason, and Ressentiment
1st Edition
Published on 5. September 2024
280 pages
978-1-350-42286-5 (ISBN)
Description
The Politics of the Wretched argues for ressentiment's generative negativity, prompting a shift from ressentiment as a personal expression of frustration to ressentiment as a collective "No". Inspired by Kant and Nietzsche's philosophy, Zalloua identifies two modes of deploying ressentiment - private and public use - by substituting ressentiment for reason. This reinterpretation argues for a public use of ressentiment, for the wretched to universalize their grievances, to see their antagonism as cutting across societies, and to turn personal trauma into a common cause.
A public use of ressentiment rails against the ideology of identity and victimhood and insists on ressentiment's generative negativity, its own rationality, prompting a shift from ressentiment as a personal expression of frustration to ressentiment as a collective "No". Reframing ressentiment as a tool to oppose the evils of capitalism, anti-Blackness, and neocolonialism, it both alarms the liberal gatekeepers of the status quo and promises to energize the anti-racist Left in its ongoing struggles for universal justice and emancipation.
A public use of ressentiment rails against the ideology of identity and victimhood and insists on ressentiment's generative negativity, its own rationality, prompting a shift from ressentiment as a personal expression of frustration to ressentiment as a collective "No". Reframing ressentiment as a tool to oppose the evils of capitalism, anti-Blackness, and neocolonialism, it both alarms the liberal gatekeepers of the status quo and promises to energize the anti-racist Left in its ongoing struggles for universal justice and emancipation.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
10 bw illus
ISBN-13
978-1-350-42286-5 (9781350422865)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 03/2026
Bloomsbury Academic
€45.20
Not yet published
Book
09/2024
Bloomsbury Academic
€117.90
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Zahi Zalloua is the Cushing Eells Professor of Philosophy and Literature at Whitman College, USA. He is the co-author of Universal Politics, and the author of Solidarity and the Palestinian Cause: Indigeneity, Blackness, and the Promise of Universality, and Being Posthuman: Ontologies of the Future.
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Public Use of Ressentiment, or the Reason of the Wretched
1. Exiting the Zone of Nonbeing: The Death Drive and the Inexorable Demand for More
2. Reckoning with Disavowal, Or the Position of the Colonial Unthought
3. Racial Ressentiment or Economic Anxiety? On The Politics of Material Interests
4. Zionist Ressentiment, the Left, and the Palestinian Question
Conclusion: Living with Ressentiment
Bibliography
Notes
Index
Introduction: The Public Use of Ressentiment, or the Reason of the Wretched
1. Exiting the Zone of Nonbeing: The Death Drive and the Inexorable Demand for More
2. Reckoning with Disavowal, Or the Position of the Colonial Unthought
3. Racial Ressentiment or Economic Anxiety? On The Politics of Material Interests
4. Zionist Ressentiment, the Left, and the Palestinian Question
Conclusion: Living with Ressentiment
Bibliography
Notes
Index
