Description
Book SynopsisRethinking Political Thinkers explores a uniquely diverse set of political thinkers, from traditionally canonical theorists such as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Mill, to marginalized women and thinkers of colour, such as hooks, Du Bois, Butler, Fanon, Firestone, Said, and Goldman. Placing traditional thinkers alongside and in conversation with neglected and unheard voices opens up important debates, and presents political thought in a new light. Each thinker is examined within the contexts of patriarchy, white supremacy, and imperialism, and the relations and structures of race, gender, and class which different theories have reflected, defended, or challenged. The text is organized thematically, rather than simply chronologically, in order to explore central ideas such as social contract theory and its critics, freedom and revolution, the liberal self and black consciousness, colonial domination, and the environment. In each chapter students are encouraged to thin
Trade ReviewThis well-conceived and well-executed book offers accessible and thoughtful chapters on theorists (including Gandhi, C.L.R. James, DuBois and Fanon) and themes (including black consciousness and colonial domination) that do not usually find a place in political theory textbooks, and yet have been central to political thinking in modern times. It will be welcomed by teachers and students who want to avoid the seemingly incorrigible Eurocentrism of their discipline. * Sanjay Seth, Professor and Director of the Centre for Postcolonial Theory, Goldsmiths, and author of Beyond Reason: Postcolonial Theory and the Social Sciences (OUP 2020). *
The book provides a refreshing overview of key political thinkers, bringing to the fore ideas and authors which have long been unjustly neglected in the discipline and thus offering a richer and more inclusive introduction to the defining questions and debates in political theory. * Dr Davide Schmid, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK *
Rethinking Political Thinkers answers a long-felt need of students and faculty alike. Through obviously careful planning, Ramgotra and Choat have pulled together a superb resource to restructure political theory curricula so as to bring critical engagement with questions of race, gender, sexuality, and colonialism into university coursespositioning such questions as integral rather than supplemental to understanding the history, present, and future of political theory. Rethinking political Thinkers will very quickly become an essential text for undergraduate courses. * Dr Samantha Frost, Professor, University of Illinois, USA *
This is the dream textbook we have been looking for. It offers a way to rethink the teaching of political theory that does not abandon the canon, but instead expands and interrogates it, situating the thinkers within contemporary concerns. * Dr David Moon, Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Bath, UK *
An excellent volume which can be used to widen the curriculum of political theory to include more diverse authors and cover important subjects such as colonialism, imperialism, slavery, non-Western philosophy, feminism and poststructuralism critiques. Accessible for students, and a clear resource for lecturers keen to vary their teaching, it is a welcome addition to the field. * Dr Charles Devellennes, Senior Lecturer in Political and Social Thought, University of Kent, UK *
This is a ground-breaking introduction to political thought. It offers an indispensable tool for students and teachers and shows how political theory can be taught in a way that respects diversity and shows the radical potential of political thought. * Dr Alasia Nuti, Senior Lecturer, University of York, UK *
This timely volume highlights positive possibilities for the future of political theory and philosophy. By refocusing our attentions on many of those intellectual voices who have usually held them the least, the volume's chapters refuse-in theme and method- to narrowly conform to the accepted modes of the discipline. Indeed, the volume excels in making clear that, should it wish to, political theory and philosophy are eminently capable of allowing for innovations in thought and method drawn from as full an epistemic range as the historical and contemporary world offers. As the editors emphasise, the benefit will be to the discipline and, also, to the intellectual understandings of our societies. Certainly, this volume will inspire new and diverse entrants into political thought- who will, as a result, be unafraid to break and cultivate ever more original ground. * Dr Eniola Anuoluwapo Soyemi, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, UK *
Table of ContentsI. Boundaries of the Political 1: Simon Choat and Manjeet Ramgotra: Introduction 2: Patrizia Longo: Plato, Socrates and Sojourner Truth 3: Manjeet Ramgotra: Aristotle and bell hooks 4: Deepshikha Shahi: Kautilya II. Social Contract Theory and its Critics 5: Signy Gutnick-Allen: Thomas Hobbes 6: Caroline Williams: Baruch de Spinoza 7: Hagar Kotef: John Locke 8: Allauren Forbes: Mary Astell 9: Peter Hallward: Jean-Jacques Rousseau 10: Terrell Carver: Carole Pateman and Charles Mills III. Liberal Modernity and Colonial Domination 11: Manjeet Ramgotra: Charles-Louis de Secondat Montesquieu 12: Inder S. Marwah: John Stuart Mill 13: Simon Choat: Karl Marx 14: Willow Verkerk: Friedrich Nietzsche 15: Ayesha Omar: Sayyid Qutb 16: Edward W. Said, Rahul Rao IV. Freedom and Revolution 17: Alan Coffee: Catharine Macaulay and Edmund Burke 18: Robbie Shilliam: C. L. R. James 19: Kei Hiruta: Hannah Arendt 20: Viren Murthy: Zhang Taiyan V. Inclusion and Equality 21: Ashley Dodsworth: Mary Wollstonecraft 22: Neus Torbisco-Casals: Iris Marion Young 23: Varun Uberoi: Bhikhu Parekh 24: Nikita Dhawan: Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak VI. Violence, Power, and Resistance 25: Yves Winter: Niccolo Machiavelli 26: Ruth Kinna: Emma Goldman 27: James Casas Klausen: Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi 28: Keally McBride: Frantz Fanon VII. The Liberal Self and Black Consciousness 29: Stella Sandford: Immanuel Kant 30: Kiara Gilbert and Karen Salt: Frederick Douglass 31: Elvira Basevich: W. E. B. Dubois 32: Maeve McKeown: John Rawls VIII. Sex and Sexuality 33: Paul Patton: Michel Foucault 34: Victoria Margree: Shulamith Firestone 35: Manjeet Ramgotra: Angela Davis 36: Clare Woodford: Judith Butler IX. The Environment, Human, and Non-Human 37: Eva-Maria Nag: Dipesh Chakrabarty 38: Claire Colebrook: Donna Haraway 39: Esme G. Murdock: Indigenous ecologies
