Description
Book SynopsisInvestigating insecurity as the predominant logic of life in the present moment
Challenging several key concepts of the twenty-first century, including precarity, securitization, and resilience, this collection explores the concept of insecurity as a predominant logic governing recent cultural, economic, political, and social life in the West. The essays illuminate how attempts to make human and nonhuman systems secure and resilient end up having the opposite effect, making insecurity the default state of life today.
Unique in its wide disciplinary breadth and variety of topics and methodological approaches—from intellectual history and cultural critique to case studies, qualitative ethnography, and personal narrative—Insecurity is written predominantly from the viewpoint of the United States. The contributors’ analyses include the securitization of nongovernmental aid to Palestine, Bangladeshi climate refugees, and the privatization of U.S. military forces; the history of the concept of insecurity and the securitization of finance; racialized urban development in Augusta, Georgia; Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and the consequences of the Marie Kondo method; and the intricate politics of sexual harassment in the U.S. academy.
Contributors: Neel Ahuja, U of California, Santa Cruz; Aneesh Aneesh, U of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Lisa Bhungalia, Kent State U; Jennifer Doyle, U of California, Riverside; Annie McClanahan, U of California, Irvine; Andrea Miller, Florida Atlantic U; Mark Neocleous, Brunel U London; A. Naomi Paik, U of Illinois, Chicago; Maureen Ryan, U of South Carolina; Saskia Sassen, Columbia U.
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Richard Grusin
1. Securitati Perpetuae: Death, Fear, and the History of Insecurity
Mark Neocleous
2. Microwork, Automation, and the Insecurity of Contemporary Labor
Annie McClanahan
3. Deadly Entanglements: U.S. Imperialism and Perils of Privatizing Security
A. Naomi Paik
4. Governing Suspects: Race, Preemption, and Economies of Threat in American Warfare
Lisa Bhungalia
5. Figuring the Climate Refugee: From Insecurity to Adaptation in Representations of Bangladeshi Environmental Migration
Neel Ahuja
6. Cyber-Insecurities and Racialized Threat in the Embattled Urban Ecosystem
Andrea Miller
7. The Burnout Generation Tidies Up: On the Insecurity of Adulting
Maureen Ryan
8. Rogue Capabilities and Invisible Violence: A Conversation between Saskia Sassen and Aneesh Aneesh
Saskia Sassen and Aneesh Aneesh
9. Letting Go
Jennifer Doyle
Contributors
Index
