Author: Jorella Andrews File Type: pdf Drawing on art, media, and phenomenological sources, Showing Off! A Philosophy of Image challenges much recent thought by proposing a fundamentally positive relationship between visuality and the ethical. In philosophy, cultural studies and art, relationships between visuality and the ethical are usually theorized in negative terms, according to the dyadic logics of seeing on the one hand, and being seen, on the other. Here, agency and power are assumed to operate either on the side of those who see, or on the side of those who control the means by which people and things enter into visibility. To be seen, by contrast - when it occurs outside of those parameters of control- is to be at a disadvantage hence, for instance, contemporary theorist Peggy Phelans rejection of the idea, central to activist practices of the 1970s and 80s, that projects of political emancipation must be intertwined with, and are dependent on, processes of making oneself visible. Acknowledgment of the vulnerability of visibility also underlies the realities of life lived within increasingly pervasive systems of imposed and self-imposed surveillance, and apparently confident public performances of visual self display. Showing Off! A Philosophy of Image is written against the backdrop of these phenomena, positions and concerns, but asks what happens to our debates about visibility when a third term, that of self-showing, is brought into play. Indeed, it proposes a fundamentally positive relationship between visuality and the ethical, one primarily rooted not in acts of open and non-oppressive seeing or spectating, as might be expected, but rather in our capacity to inhabit both the risks and the possibilities of our own visible being. In other words, this book maintains that the proper site of generosity and agency within any visual encounter is located not on the side of sight, but on that of self-showing - or showing off! **Review Jorella Andrews makes a significant contribution to both visual culture and phenomenological ethics, arguing lucidly against an overwhelming oculocentrism that does not do justice to human engagement in the visual world. Drawing on examples from the breadth of visual culture she brings Maurice Merleau-Pontys phenomenological insights to life, rigorously arguing for the ethical import of what she calls the agency of self-showing. She convincingly claims there is a human drive to express ourselves visually in terms of display and grounded in the reversibility of seeing and being seen. Helen Fielding, Associate Professor, Dept. of Womens Studies and Feminist Research, Western University, London, ON, Canada In the era of the selfie, Jorella Andrews takes the idea of self-showing as a serious way of reinvigorating the cultural debate around the power of the visual. Against the anti-ocular and iconoclastic theories of visuality that denigrate vision as a mastering sense that dominates and objectifies, she offers a vivacious account of vision where we, as self-showing beings, are drawn into and become part of a lively cast of characters-both human and non-human-who inhabit this world. We are quite simply, self-showing characters existing within a self-showing world. Andrews takes Merleau Pontys invocation that, to see is to enter a universe of beings which display themselves as a starting point for how we might see differently. For Andrews, self-showing is not the solipsistic activity of the selfie, but rather a reciprocal and ethical relation where we inhabit both the risks and the possibilities of our own visible being. If we are prepared to accept this invitation (and how can we not since we are part of it), she prompts us to take our relations seriously but with a lightness of touch, a fleetness of foot and fearlessness that she finds in the artists and artworks that inhabit this book. Her solicitation to engage with the visual with interest and energy offers a refreshing and affirming perspective on the visual field. Barbara Bolt, The Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, Australia. About the Author Jorella Andrews is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.

Author: David Harvey File Type: pdf The radical geographer guides us through the classic text of political economy.My aim is to get you to read a book by Karl Marx called Capital, Volume 1, and to read it on Marxs own terms The biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression has generated a surge of interest in Marxs work in the effort to understand the origins of our current predicament. For nearly forty years, David Harvey has written and lectured on Capital, becoming one of the worlds most foremost Marx scholars. Based on his recent lectures, this current volume aims to bring this depth of learning to a broader audience, guiding first-time readers through a fascinating and deeply rewarding text. A Companion to Marxs Capital offers fresh, original and sometimes critical interpretations of a book that changed the course of history and, as Harvey intimates, may do so again.ReviewHarvey is a scholarly radical his writing is free of journalistic cliches, full of facts and carefully thought-through ideas. (Richard Sennett ) About the AuthorDavid Harvey teaches at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and is the author of many books, including Social Justice and the City, The Condition of Postmodernity, The Limits to Capital, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Spaces of Global Capitalism, A Companion to Marxs Capital, and Rebel Cities. The biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression shows no sign of coming to a close and Marxs work remains key in understanding the cycles that lead to recession. For nearly forty years, David Harvey has written and lectured on Capital, becoming one of the worlds most foremost Marx scholars.Based on his recent lectures, and following the success of his companion to the first volume of Capital, Harvey turns his attention to Volume 2, aiming to bring his depth of learning to a broader audience, guiding first-time readers through a fascinating and hitherto neglected text. Whereas Volume 1 focuses on production, Volume 2 looks at how the circuits of capital, the buying and selling of goods, realize value.This is a must-read for everyone concerned to acquire a fuller understanding of Marxs political economy.** My aim is to get you to read a book by Karl Marx called Capital, Volume 1, and to read it on Marxs own terms...The biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression has generated a surge of interest in Marxs work in the effort to understand the origins of our current predicament. For nearly forty years, David Harvey has written and lectured on Capital, becoming one of the worlds most foremost Marx scholars.Based on his recent lectures, this current volume aims to bring this depth of learning to a broader audience, guiding first-time readers through a fascinating and deeply rewarding text. A Companion to Marxs Capital offers fresh, original and sometimes critical interpretations of a book that changed the course of history and, as Harvey intimates, may do so again. The biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression shows no sign of coming to a close and Marxs work remains key in understanding the cycles that lead to recession. For nearly forty years, David Harvey has written and lectured on Capital, becoming one of the worlds most foremost Marx scholars.Based on his recent lectures, and following the success of his companion to the first volume of Capital, Harvey turns his attention to Volume 2, aiming to bring his depth of learning to a broader audience, guiding first-time readers through a fascinating and hitherto neglected text. Whereas Volume 1 focuses on production, Volume 2 looks at how the circuits of capital, the buying and selling of goods, realize value.This is a must-read for everyone concerned to acquire a fuller understanding of Marxs political economy.

Author: William Clare Roberts File Type: pdf Marxs Inferno reconstructs the major arguments of Karl Marxs Capital and inaugurates a completely new reading of a seminal classic. Rather than simply a critique of classical political economy, William Roberts argues that Capital was primarily a careful engagement with the motives and aims of the workers movement. Understood in this light, Capital emerges as a profound work of political theory. Placing Marx against the background of nineteenth-century socialism, Roberts shows how Capital was ingeniously modeled on Dantes Inferno, and how Marx, playing the role of Virgil for the proletariat, introduced partisans of workers emancipation to the secret depths of the modern social Hell. In this manner, Marx revised republican ideas of freedom in response to the rise of capitalism. Combining research on Marxs interlocutors, textual scholarship, and forays into recent debates, Roberts traces the continuities linking Marxs theory of capitalism to the tradition of republican political thought. He immerses the reader in socialist debates about the nature of commerce, the experience of labor, the power of bosses and managers, and the possibilities of political organization. Roberts rescues those debates from the past, and shows how they speak to ever-renewed concerns about political life in todays world. **

Author: Shankaranarayana Jois File Type: epub A guide to personal discipline and social ethics from a classical Sanskrit scholar, designed for the modern yoga practitioner. Students of yoga are introduced to the ancient teachings of classical Indian literature in abundant workshops and teacher trainings. But amidst this abundance there is a hunger for more insight into how practitioners can integrate this wisdom into their modern lives. In todays complex world, how is it possible to truly live as a yogi? Drawing from his deep insight into ancient Sanskrit texts, Dr. Shankaranarayana Jois connects yogic philosophy to how we approach food, work, education, relationships, and much more to support our deepest longings for true peace and happiness. The Yoga Journey focuses on the yamas and the niyamas,the personal disciplines (or restraints) and social ethics that represent the first two limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. Rather than offering a set of esoteric practices and disciplines, Dr. Jois offers clear and practical guidance to help us both understand and experience for ourselves why yogic practices are meaningful. Dr. Joiss central message underscores the benefits we can gain from adopting a yogic way of life in the modern world. His unique teachings show us the ultimate goal of yoga, and he clearly directs us toward the tools available to us for reaching that goal. Rather than suggesting that we blindly follow some prescription from the past, Jois challenges us to use our analytical mind to assess their usefulness and benefit in our daily lives. His teachings honor ancient traditions, going beyond the information and teachings being offered (and recycled) by many Western teachers--