Edited collection on Revolutionary Hope in a Time of Crisis out now
I co-edited the collection with Alex Zamalin. It is based on a series of deliberative laboratories I organised at the Universities of Edinburgh and Vienna—a big thank you to all the contributors for their insightful contributions!
Revolutionary Hope in a Time of Crisis takes up the question of how to theorize and revive revolutionary hope in the present era of political disillusion. The collection consists of new cutting-edge research essays written by an interdisciplinary mix of established and emerging scholars, bringing together a wide range of intellectual traditions and perspectives. The contributors confront the challenge of relearning hope by exploring the politically transformative potential of past disappointments and defeats. They encourage us to acknowledge, come to terms with and learn from the complexities, failures, and losses entailed in resistance, and to consider them as an occasion for rethinking the established patterns of revolutionary thought. Specifically, the essays question how engagement with past disappointments, losses, and defeats can help us creatively respond to the difficulties and failures of resistance—and inspire our imagination of revolutionary possibilities in the present.
The collection is now out with Routledge. You can order the book here. 20% Discount Available if enter the code AFLY01 at checkout.
Take a look at some of the critics' reviews below:
"Confronting the catastrophes of the 21st century, Revolutionary Hope in a Time of Crisis brilliantly illuminates how past defeats can stoke the imagination of emancipatory futures. Maša Mrovlje and Alex Zamalin’s powerful essay collection explores the work of artists, activists, and intellectuals who have refused to accept injustice as fated. This is political thinking at its most vital."
Lawrie Balfour, James Hart Professor of Politics, University of Virginia, author of Imagining Freedom: Toni Morrison and the Work of Words
"Despair and anxiety seem to be the presiding affects of our time, and for good reasons too. And yet, revolutionary love and hope have been the vectors of all great social changes. This collection of uniformly excellent essays revisits the meaning of political hope in our dark democratic times. Starting with the realisation that hope presents paradoxical possibilities - of spurring revolutionary action, as well as being politically counterproductive - the contributors to this volume theorise hope in capacious and challenging ways. Through an exploration of political traditions that question the hegemony of western political thought - be they Afromodern, queer, Latinx, or feminist - the volume equally contributes to current decolonial imperatives to resignify key political theoretical concepts."
Srila Roy, Professor of Sociology, the University of the Witwatersrand, author of Remembering Revolution: Gender, Violence, and Subjectivity in India's Naxalbari Movement
"This thought-provoking collection of essays offers help on one of the most fundamental issues of our age. Essential reading for all those wanting to rethink hope and its importance."
Ann Rigney, Professor of Comparative Literature, Utrecht University, co-editor of The Visual Memory of Protest
"Rejecting simple narratives of either progress or decline, this exciting volume brings a multitude of voices to bear on the question of hope today. From a kaleidoscopic array of perspectives – including Marxist, Black, postcolonial, feminist, queer, and activist orientations – its contributors examine how past failure and present disappointment may be mined for a brighter future of emancipatory politics. At once erudite, challenging, and invigorating, the essays in Revolutionary Hope in a Time of Crisis illuminate both the complexity and the ever-present actuality of utopian vision in the ongoing struggle for a more just and equitable world."
Loren Goldman, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania, author of The Principle of Political Hope