Jacques Rancière: history, politics, aesthetics

The French philosopher Jacques Ranciere has influenced disciplines from history and philosophy to literature, art history, and film studies. His research into nineteenth-century workers´ archives, his reflections on political equality, his critique of the traditional division between intellectual and manual labour, and his analysis of the place of literature, film, and art in modern society have all constituted major contributions to contemporary thought. In this collection, leading scholars in the fields of philosophy, literary theory, and cultural criticism engage with Ranciere´s work, illuminating the originality, breadth, and rigor of his thought, as well as its relevance to current debates. They also clarify and explore the relationships between Ranciere and the various authors and artists he has analyzed, ranging from Plato and Aristotle to nineteenth-century literature, contemporary film, and the work of theorists such as Erich Auerbach, Pierre Bourdieu, and Gilles Deleuze. The contributors to this collection do not simply elucidate Ranciere´s project; they also critically respond to it from their own perspectives. They consider the theorist´s engagement with the writing of history, with institutional and narrative constructions of time, and with the ways that individuals and communities can disrupt what he has called the ´distribution of the sensible´. They examine his conception of politics as that which happens when the hierarchies, the divisions, and the partitions of the social order are disrupted. The contributors take up topics such as the relationship between art and politics in Ranciere´s thought and his distinctive contribution to film studies as they explore the novel and powerful account of aesthetics that he has developed since the late 1990s. In the collection´s final essay, Ranciere addresses some of the questions of method and style raised by the other contributors. The contributors include: Alain Badiou; Etienne Balibar; Bruno Bosteels; Yves Citton; Tom Conley; Solange Guenoun; Peter Hallward; Todd May; Eric Mechoulan; Giuseppina Mecchia; Jean-Luc Nancy; Andrew Parker; Jacques Ranciere; Gabriel Rockhill; Kristin Ross; James Swenson; Rajeshwari Vallury; and, Philip Watts.