Description
Book Synopsis Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) first argued that there were continuities between the age of European imperialism and the age of fascism in Europe in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). She claimed that theories of race, notions of racial and cultural superiority, and the right of ‘superior races’ to expand territorially were themes that connected the white settler colonies, the other imperial possessions, and the fascist ideologies of post-Great War Europe. These claims have rarely been taken up by historians. Only in recent years has the work of scholars such as Jürgen Zimmerer and A. Dirk Moses begun to show in some detail that Arendt was correct.
This collection does not seek merely to expound Arendt’s opinions on these subjects; rather, it seeks to use her insights as the jumping-off point for further investigations – including ones critical of Arendt – into the ways in which race, imperialism, slavery and genocide are linked, and the ways in which these terms have affected the United States, Europe, and the colonised world.
Trade Review “Singling out particular contributions to this excellent collection is bound to come across as invidious.” · Patterns of Prejudice
“Although the contributors touch on a wide variety of themes in Arendt’s work, the volume focuses primarily on her accounts of modern imperialism and racism, attempting to situate Arendt’s analyses in relation to contemporary discussions of these issues. That focus is welcome, for this part of Arendt’s work is indeed of interest, even apart from the somewhat ambiguous place these phenomena occupy in her account of the antecedents to totalitarianism.” · European History Quarterly
“…an exceptional collection of essays…a thought-provoking and courageous volume.” · Journal of Genocide Research
“…a very important contribution to Arendt studies. Especially in the post-totalitarian world that is marked with genocides in Srebrenica and Rwanda, this collection offers a brilliant illustration of the richness of Arendt's thinking and its relevance to our present political world. …All in all, this collection is a must read for everyone who is interested in Arendt's thought, especially in her views on such issues as totalitarianism, nationalism, genocide, and race.” · H-Ideas
“Each essay prompted me to reread and rethink Arendt, and the collection is a notable addition to Arendt Studies.” · German Studies Review
“This book’s authors examine the perplexities in Arendt’s thesis from all angles...Richard King’s refined, synoptic essay ties together the book’s themes in an elegant reflection on Arendt’s definition of ‘the right to have rights’… Achieving breadth and keeping focus at the same time, the editors prove that we will not have leave of Arendt’s work for some time to come.” · Journal of American Studies
“Hannah Arendt and the Uses of History is a long overdue study of Arendt’s much cited but little understood writings on imperialism and genocide, race and nation. Too frequently treated as political philosopher alone, her historical work is subject here to sympathetic but critical appraisal, revealing at once its brilliant insights and its troubling blind spots. Elegant and erudite, this collection is a major contribution to Arendt scholarship.” · A. Dirk Moses
Table of Contents Introduction
Richard H. King and Dan Stone
PART I: IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM
Chapter 1. Race Power, Freedom, and the Democracy of Terror in German Racialist Thought
Elisa von Joeden-Forgey
Chapter 2. Race Thinking and Racism in Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism
Kathryn T. Gines
Chapter 3. When the Real Crime Began: Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism and the Dignity of the Western Philosophical Tradition
Robert Bernasconi
Chapter 4. Race and Bureaucracy Revisited: Hannah Arendt’s Recent Re-Emergence in African Studies
Christopher J. Lee
Chapter 5. On Pain of Extinction: Laws of Nature and History in Darwin, Marx, and Arendt
Tony Barta
PART II: NATION AND RACE
Chapter 6. The Refractory Legacy of Decolonization: Revisiting Arendt on Violence
Ned Curthoys
Chapter 7. Anti-Semitism, the Bourgeoisie, and the Self-Destruction of the Nation-State
Marcel Stoetzler
Chapter 8. Eichmann’s Mentality and Post-totalitarian Predicaments
Vlasta Jalušiè
PART III: INTELLECTUAL GENEALOGIES AND LEGACIES
Chapter 9. Hannah Arendt on Totalitarianism: Moral Equivalence and Degrees of Evil in Modern Political Violence
Richard Shorten
Chapter 10. Hannah Arendt, Biopolitics, and the Problem of Violence
Andre Duarte
Chapter 11. The ‘Subterranean Stream of Western History
Robert Eaglestone
Chapter 12. Hannah Arendt and the Old ‘New Science’
Steven Douglas Maloney
Chapter 13. The Holocaust and ‘the Human’
Dan Stone
Conclusion: Arendt between Past and Future
Richard H. King
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
