RETURN TO FREE UNIVERSITY HOME PAGE

RETURN TO IMMATERIAL LABOUR CONFERENCE HOME PAGE

 

 

 

VASSILIS TSIANOS

DIMITRIS PAPADOPOULOS

 

 

Imperceptible politics: The spectres of sociability in the age of postliberal sovereignty

 

by Vassilis Tsianos and Dimitris Papadopoulos

 

Summary:

 

The core imperative of present-day social struggles remains the organisation of their visibility and their representation in between existing political arrangements. Nevertheless, there is an evolving configuration of everyday struggles and practices which challenge any form of organized citizenship, defy visibility, and create forms of sociability beyond representation. These spectres of sociability constitute the field of imperceptible politics. Neoliberal regulation responds to this exodus by transforming itself into a new system of global governance: postliberal sovereignty. Starting from a description of this situation, this paper will question prevalent understandings of the political today and discuss how the spectres of sociability become flesh and matter.

 

 

CVs:

 

Vassilis Tsianos teaches theoretical sociology and migration studies at the University of Hamburg. Previously, he was a research fellow with the project "Transit Migration" (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt) investigating the border regimes in southeast Europe. His research interests and publications include contemporary political theory, labour studies, and the concept of the autonomy of migration. He is co-editor of a book on "Empire and the biopolitical turn".

 

Email: tsianos@niatu.net

 

 

Dimitris Papadopoulos teaches social science studies, social and cultural theory, and critical psychology at Cardiff University and at the Free University of Berlin.

 

Email: papadopoulosd@cardiff.ac.uk