Deconstructing the Death Penalty : : Derrida's Seminars and the New Abolitionism / / ed. by Kelly Oliver, Stephanie Straub.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Fordham University Press Complete eBook-Package 2018
• MitwirkendeR: Anderson, Nicole,; Chenoweth, Katie,; Guenther, Lisa,; Howells, Christina,; Kamuf, Peggy,; Kuiken, Kir,; Marder, Elissa,; Naas, Michael,; Oliver, Kelly,; Rottenberg, Elizabeth,; Saghafi, Kas,; Straub, Stephanie M.,; Thurschwell, Adam,; Tyson, Sarah,
• TeilnehmendeR: Anderson, Nicole.; Chenoweth, Katie.; Guenther, Lisa.; Howells, Christina.; Kamuf, Peggy.; Kuiken, Kir.; Marder, Elissa.; Naas, Michael.; Oliver, Kelly.; Rottenberg, Elizabeth.; Saghafi, Kas.; Thurschwell, Adam.; Tyson, Sarah.
• HerausgeberIn: Oliver, Kelly,; Straub, Stephanie,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Fordham University Press, , [2018]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (296 p.)

This volume represents the first collection of essays devoted exclusively to Jacques Derrida's Death Penalty Seminars, conducted from 1999 to 2001. The volume includes essays from a range of scholars working in philosophy, law, Francophone studies, and comparative literature, including established Derridians, activist scholars, and emerging scholars. These essays attempt to elucidate and expand upon Derrida's deconstruction of the theologico-political logic of the death penalty in order to construct a new form of abolitionism, one not rooted in the problematic logics of sovereign power. These essays provide remarkable insight into Derrida's ethical and political projects; this volume will not only explore the implications of Derrida's thought on capital punishment and mass incarceration, but will also help to further elucidate the philosophical groundwork for his later deconstructions of sovereign power and the human/animal divide. Because Derrida is deconstructing the logic of the death penalty, rather than the death penalty itself, his seminars will prove useful to scholars and activists opposing all forms of state sanctioned killing. In compiling this volume, our goals were twofold: first, to make a case for Derrida's continuing importance in debates on capital punishment, mass incarceration, and police brutality, and second, to construct a new, versatile abolitionism, one capable of confronting all forms the death penalty might take.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- contents -- introduction. From Capital Punishment to Abolitionism: Deconstructing the Death Penalty -- part I. Reading Derrida's Death Penalty Seminars -- chapter 1. Beginning with Literature -- chapter 2. A New Primal Scene: Derrida and the Scene of Execution -- chapter 3. Always the Other Who Decides -- chapter 4. The Death Penalty and Its Exceptions -- part II. Derrida and His Interlocutors -- chapter 5. Derrida at Montaigne -- chapter 6. "Bidding Up" on the Question of Sovereignty -- chapter 7. Calculus -- part III. Extending Derrida's Analysis -- chapter 8. A Proper Death -- chapter 9. Figures of Interest -- chapter 10. Opening the Blinds on Botched Executions -- part IV. Derrida and Capital Punishment in the United States -- chapter 11. Furman and Finitude -- chapter 12. The Heart of the Other? -- chapter 13. An Abolitionism Worthy of the Name -- contributors -- index