Insecurity

This collection investigates insecurity as the predominant logic of life in the present moment, challenging key concepts of the twenty-first century. It explores 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. The contributors analyze various topics such as the securitization of aid to Palestine, climate refugees, the privatization of military forces, racialized urban development, Amazon's Mechanical Turk, and the politics of sexual harassment in the U.S. academy.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 07 March 2022
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

Investigating insecurity as the predominant logic of life in the present moment, this collection challenges several key concepts of the twenty-first century, including precarity, securitization, and resilience. Exploring 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, University of California, Santa Cruz; Aneesh Aneesh, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Lisa Bhungalia, Kent State University; Jennifer Doyle, University of California, Riverside; Annie McClanahan, University of California, Irvine; Andrea Miller, Florida Atlantic University; Mark Neocleous, Brunel University London; A. Naomi Paik, University of Illinois, Chicago; Maureen Ryan, University of South Carolina; Saskia Sassen, Columbia University.

Dimension: 216 x 140 x 38 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781517913106