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Visual images are a powerful force in international relations, and in
Sensible Politics, William A. Callahan presents a unique analytical framework and a diverse range of sources to understand what visuals mean, and also how they can viscerally move and connect us in "affective communities of sense." It explores the visual geopolitics of war, peace, migration, and empire through an analysis of photographs, films, and art. It then expands the critical gaze to consider how "visual artifacts" -maps, veils, walls, gardens, and cyberspace-are sensory spaces where international politics comes alive in the politics of everyday life.
List of contents
- Preface
- Introduction: Visualizing International Relations
- Part I: Visibility/Visuality: A Framework for Analysis
- 1. Visibility: The Social Construction of the Visual
- 2. Visuality: The Visual Performance of the International
- 3. Dynamic Dyads: Visibility/Visuality and East/West
- Part II: Visual Images
- 4. Methods, Ethics, and Filmmaking
- 5. Visualizing Security, Order, and War
- 6. Visual Art, Ethical Witnessing, and Resistance
- Part III: Visual Artifacts and Sensory Spaces
- 7. Maps, Space, and Power
- 8. The Sartorial Engineering of Race, Gender, and Faith
- 9. Walls as Barriers, Gateways, and the Sublime
- 10. Gardens in Diplomacy, War, and Peace
- 11. Visibility, Visuality, and Mass (Self)Surveillance
- Conclusion: Sensible Politics
About the author
William A. Callahan is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His recent books include China Dreams: 20 Visions of the Future (OUP, 2015) and China: The Pessoptimist Nation (OUP: 2010). Callahan also makes documentary films: "China Dreams" was broadcast on KCET (Los Angeles) in 2015, "Toilet Adventures" (2015) was shortlisted for a major award by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and "Great Walls" (2019) juxtaposes Trump's wall with the Great Wall of China.
Summary
Visual images are everywhere in international politics. But how are we to understand them? In Sensible Politics, William A. Callahan uses his expertise in theory and filmmaking to explore not only what visuals mean, but also how visuals can viscerally move and connect us in "affective communities of sense." The book's rich analysis of visual images (photographs, film, art) and visual artifacts (maps, veils, walls, gardens, cyberspace) shows how critical scholarship needs to push beyond issues of identity and security to appreciate the creative politics of social-ordering and world-ordering. Here "sensible politics" isn't just sensory, but looks beyond icons and ideology to the affective politics of everyday life. It challenges our Eurocentric understanding of international politics by exploring the meaning and impact of visuals from Asia and the Middle East. Sensible Politics offers a unique approach to politics that allows us to not only think visually, but also feel visually-and creatively act visually for a multisensory appreciation of politics.
Additional text
William A. Callahan offers an impressive and genuinely interdisciplinary tour-de-force of visual global politics. Reaching beyond the Western cannon and beyond a conventional focus on images and icons, he compellingly shows how the visual can-and should-be seen as a much broader phenomena that fundamentally shapes how we view and conduct global politics." -Roland Bleiker, Professor of International Relations, University of Queensland
