Description
Book SynopsisStreet protests are one side of a worldwide citizens' movement. Another side is the increasing use of boycotts, one of the most powerful weapons in the organizer’s arsenal: it is an effective and moral lever for civil rights, most notably today in its adoption by the BDS movement.
Since the days of the 19th century Irish land wars, when Irish tenant farmers defied the actions of Captain Charles Boycott and English landlords, “boycott” has been a method that’s had an impact time and again. In the 20th century, it notably played central roles in the liberation of India and South Africa and the struggle for civil rights in the U.S.: the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott is generally seen as a turning point in the movement against segregation.
Assuming Boycott is the essential reader for today’s creative leaders and cultural practitioners, including original contributions by artists, scholars, activists, critics, curators and writers who examine the historical precedent of South Africa; the current cultural boycott of Israel; freedom of speech and self-censorship; and long-distance activism. It is about consequences and causes of cultural boycott. Far from withdrawal or cynicism, boycott emerges as a productive tool of creative and productive engagement.
Trade ReviewPraise for Assuming Boycott "Artistic resistance has seldom proven so socially useful, or as complicated. This intellectually engaging study targets the paradoxes, limitations, and media spectacle of organized cultural boycotts and state-sponsored censorship from South African apartheid in the 1980s, to present day Israel-Palestine, Cuba, the Gulf States, the United Kingdom, and the United States among other geopolitical zones of conflict." —Gregory Sholette, artist and author of
Delirium and Resistance: Activist Art and the Crisis of Capitalism "
Assuming Boycott defiantly holds the best arguments regarding boycott. It shows that boycott is not only a form of sanctions but also an invitation to dialogue. This collection of essays offers a historical perspective with comparative case studies, making it the ultimate resource to help decide where to draw the ethical line." —Galit Eilat, writer and curator, co-curator of 31st São Paulo Biennial
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Assuming Boycott is an essential contribution to an ongoing, urgent conversation about how artists, writers, and thinkers have time and again created subtle, meaningful, powerful, and vibrant ways to engage the political sphere. This book is a valuable guide to cultural boycotts from South Africa to Palestine." —Walid Raad, artist, professor, Cooper Union
"The brilliant writers and debaters assembled here come at the issue from different angles, all from the central belief that art is never not political." —Holland Cotter, co-chief art critic,
The New York Times "An essential guide to the terrain of cultural politics today. With colleagues and comrades like these, one feels not only bolstered but downright emboldened." —Hal Foster, Professor of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University
Table of ContentsIntroduction by Kareem Estefan I. The Cultural Boycott of Apartheid South Africa Sean Jacobs, The Legacy of the Cultural Boycott Against South Africa John Peffer, Art, Resistance, and Community in 1980s South Africa Hlonipha Mokoena, Kwaito: The Revolution Was Not Televised; It Announced Itself in Song Frank B. Wilderson III, Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid (excerpt) II. BDS and the Cultural Boycott of Israel Ariella Azoulay, “We,” Palestinians and Jewish Israelis: The Right Not to Be a Perpetrator Noura Erakat, The Case for BDS and the Path to Co-Resistance Eyal Weizman and Kareem Estefan, Extending Co-Resistance Nasser Abourahme, Boycott, Decolonization, Return: BDS and the Limits of Political Solidarity Joshua Simon, Neoliberal Politics, Protective Edge, and BDS Yazan Khalili, The Utopian Conflict III. Who Speaks? Who Is Silenced? Tania Bruguera, The Shifting Grounds of Censorship and Freedom of Expression, from Cuba to Israel Naeem Mohaiemen, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Campaign Svetlana Mintcheva, Structures of Power and the Ethical Limits of Speech Ann Laura Stoler, By Colonial Design: Or, Why We Say We Don’t Know Enough IV. Dis/engagement From Afar Chelsea Haines, The Distant Image Mariam Ghani with Haig Aivazian, 52 Weeks, and Engaging by Disengaging Nathan Gray and Ahmet Öğüt, Not Walking Away: Participation and Withdrawal in the 2014 Sydney Biennial Radhika Subramaniam, Loose Connection
