Bioviolence

William Watkin is Professor of Contemporary Philosophy and Literature at Brunel University, London. He is the author of numerous books including In the Process of Poetry: The New York School and the Avant-Garde, On Mourning, The Literary Agamben and Agamben and Indifference. His most recent work Badiou and Indifferent Being is the first of two volumes looking at Badiou’s Being and Event project. The second, Badiou and Communicable Worlds, came out in 2020. He is currently working on a study of a philosophy of indifference called, simply, Indifference, and a follow-up to Bioviolence called Anti-Social Media: How Big Tech Makes Us Do What It Wants.

• Preface Introduction: Michel Foucault, Biopolitics and the Abolition of Violence Part One: Regulatory Bioviolence Chapter 1 – Aylan Kurdi and the Index of Responsibility Chapter 2 – The Construction of Life: Specie-fication, Race War and Immunitas Chapter 3 – Rise of the Paedophobes! Or the Coercive Power of Norms, Regulation, Population and Massification in the Case of Migrant Children Chapter 4 – Death on the Beaches: Bioviolence Defined Part Two: Humanimals and Bare life Chapter 5 – #Harambe and the Construction of Life Chapter 6 – Humanimals and the Abolition of Life Part Three: Decapitation and the Digital Caliphate Chapter 7 – ISIS and the Art of Decapitation Chapter 8 – Biohistory: The Human, The Head, The Tool, The Cut and The Tribe Part Four: The Global Camp Chapter 9 – Days of Raqqa and the Bethnal Green Girls Chapter 10 – Shamima Begum, our Femina Sacra Chapter 11 – Reading Guantanamo or Camp as Coercion Part Five: 2020, I can’t breathe Chapter 12 – George Floyd and #BlackLivesMatter: Thoughts Chapter 13 – Herd Immunity: COVID and Coercion Conclusion: Apologia for a Theory of Political Acéphalism

"A gripping read that kept me enthralled with its jaw-dropping details about the realities of our contemporary society. This is an essential book made enjoyable with its wide range of references and its persistent wit!"Daljit Nagra, Award-winning poet and Chair of the Royal Society of Literature."This is the book the planet needs. Intelligent, opinionated, but crafted in a way that does not ignore the common sense of the reader. It’s serious stuff, but it has humour, depth, and compassion. Watkin writes with rhythm and precision. His watchful eyes observe subjects with a focused, logical gaze, and his passion is genuine. I get it, and now that I’ve got it, the way I see the world has changed forever." Benjamin Zephaniah