The Normativity of the Governed. A Postcolonial Sketch
This essay articulates two heterodox approaches to the political realm: (I) normativity and (II) governmentality, and it applies this theoretical framework to postcolonial societies. Through a close reading of the work of some well-known postcolonial scholars, such as Partha Chatterjee and Ranabir S...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Bologna
2017-12-01
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| Series: | Scienza & Politica |
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| Online Access: | https://scienzaepolitica.unibo.it/article/view/7563 |
| Summary: | This essay articulates two heterodox approaches to the political realm: (I) normativity and (II) governmentality, and it applies this theoretical framework to postcolonial societies. Through a close reading of the work of some well-known postcolonial scholars, such as Partha Chatterjee and Ranabir Samaddar, the essay offers a sketch of what it proposes to call the «normativity of the governed». The ethnographic description of both public authorities and social actors in postcolonial contexts sheds light on a peculiar dimension of political negotiation. One that is forged by the “governed” through a strategic use of those very same discourses and practices, mainly legal, that governmental powers use in order to rule. In the end, the coupling of anthropology and normativity allows for a fresh and more comprehensive critique of the political itself. |
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| ISSN: | 1590-4946 1825-9618 |