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CSSS organises a talk by Maan Barua

CSSS organises a talk by Maan Barua

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CSSS organises a talk by Maan Barua
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Centre for the Study of Social Systems

School of Social Sciences

 

Invites you to CSSS Colloquium

 

on

Affective economies and the atmospheric politics of lively capital

 

by

Maan Barua

Department of Geography, University of Cambridge

 

September 26, 2019 (Thursday), 11am

CSSS Committee Room (No: 13), SSS-II

 

Abstract: This paper is concerned with  the  affective  economies of  lively  capital.   Its central argument is that nonhuman life  itself  has become  a locus  of accumulation,  marked by  an atmospheric  politics  of  capital: the incorporation  of  entire  lifeworlds into regimes of  generating  value  and an intensification  of  relations between life  and  productivity. Focusing on  the Giant panda  – a  spectacular "charismatic"  icon  raising millions  of  dollars globally  –  the paper first examines  junctures at  which  their  alluring  affects  emerge and are manipulated  to produce value.   Turning to  panda  lifeworlds  in zoos, it then  shows  how such  value  production  is contingent  upon affective  labours nonhumans perform in  captivity. Nonhuman labour, as a  component of atmospheric politics, enables  understanding how lively capital is produced  and  reproduced, a  theme  interrogated through  a critical  analysis  of  the  commercial global circulation of  pandas.   The paper develops the  concept  of  atmospheric politics  – an intervention  in an  animal’s milieu and its  affective  intensities  – as a  means for analyzing the  dynamics of  lively  capital.   Atmospheric politics  retrieves a  critical political economy  obscured by  the  concept of  nonhuman  charisma,  and restages  biopower  as  an  apparatus  and  political technology  of  capital.   

 

Bio : Maan is a cultural and environmental geographer whose work focuses on the spaces, economies and politics of the living and material world. Conceptually, this work brings posthumanist thought into conversation with strands of critical political economy to interrogate questions about nature, culture and capital. Themes of research include urban ecology, more-than-human geographies, biodiversity conservation and the politics of lively capital.  Maan joined the University of Cambridge as a University Lecturer in Human Geography in 2018. Prior to that he was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oxford, where he also read for a DPhil in Geography.  Maan is currently working on capital and metabolic life, as part of his wider European Research Council Horizon 2020 Starting Grant on Urban Ecologies.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.