From: Jerry Levy (Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Wed May 23 2007 - 17:01:50 EDT
> Constituent Imagination: Militant Investigations, Collective > Theorization > <http://www.constituentimagination.net> > Edited by Stevphen Shukaitis + David Graeber with Erika Biddle > > From the ivory tower to the barricades! > Radical intellectuals explore the relationship between research and > resistance. > > What is the relationship of radical theory to movements for social > change? In a world where more and more global struggles are refusing > vanguard parties and authoritarian practices, does the idea of the > detached intellectual, observing events from on high, make sense > anymore? In this powerful and unabashedly militant collection, over > two dozen academic authors and engaged intellectuals-including > Antonio Negri and Colectivo Situaciones-provide some challenging > answers. In the process, they redefine the nature of intellectual > practice itself. > > The book opens with the editors' provocative history of the academy's > inherent limitations and possibilities. The essays that follow cover > a broad range: embedded intellectuals in increasingly corporatized > universities, research projects in which factory workers and > academics work side by side, revolutionary ethnographies of the > global justice movement, meditations on technology from the branches > of a Scottish tree-sit. What links them all is a collective and > expansive reimagining of engaged intellectual work in the service of > social change. In a cultural climate in where right-wing watchdog > groups seem to have radical academics on the run, this unapologetic > anthology is a breath of fresh air. > > "These essays present a series of inspiring examples of how to > conduct research for radical politics both inside and outside the > university." - Michael Hardt, author (with Antonio Negri) of Empire > and The Labor of Dionysus > > "This book is one of a kind. This book answers the question of what > anarchist social studies, as opposed to conventional marxism or > liberalism might look like. It combines a searching discussion of > methods of research with substantive issues such as "who is the > researcher?" Arguing that research is engaged or it is nothing, that > "academics" who have no commitment to fundamental social change > generally cannot produce work that illuminates the world and sparks > the radical imagination, the various authors represented in this > volume have collectively made a critical contribution to knowledge. > The introduction is itself a major contribution to our understanding > of the significance of what the editors call '68 thought', the > reference being not only to the famous May events in France but to > the Italian hot autumn of the following year." - Stanley Aronowitz, > author of False Promises and The Knowledge Factory > > Includes materials from Brian Holmes * Ben Holtzman // Craig > Hughes // Kevin Van Meter * Antonio Negri * Colectivo Situaciones * > Gavin Grindon * Maribel Casas-Cortes + Sebastian Cobarrubias * Angela > Mitropolous * Jack Bratich * Harry Halpin * Jeff Juris * Gaye Chan + > Nandita Sharma * Ben Shepard * Kirsty Robertson * Bre * Anita Lacey * > Michal Osterweil + Graeme Chesters * Dave Eden * Uri Gordon * Ashar > Latif + Sandra Jeppesen * CrimethInc Ex-Workers Collective > > Available now from AK Press: <http://www.akpress.org>
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