کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
---|---|---|---|---|
1061976 | 1485599 | 2013 | 10 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |
![عکس صفحه اول مقاله: Political geographies of the object Political geographies of the object](/preview/png/1061976.png)
This paper examines the role of objects in the constitution and exercise of state power, drawing on a close reading of the acclaimed HBO television series The Wire, an unconventional crime drama set and shot in Baltimore, Maryland. While political geography increasingly recognizes the prosaic and intimate practices of stateness, we argue that objects themselves are central to the production, organization, and performance of state power. Specifically, we analyze how three prominent objects on The Wire – wiretaps, cameras, and standardized tests – arrange and produce the conditions we understand as ‘stateness’. Drawing on object-oriented philosophy, we offer a methodology of power that suggests it is generalized force relations rather than specifically social relations that police a population – without, of course, ever being able to fully capture it. We conclude by suggesting The Wire itself is an object of force, and explore the implications of an object-oriented approach for understanding the nature of power, and for political geography more broadly.
► Argues for an object-oriented approach to state power.
► Draws on a close reading of acclaimed television series The Wire.
► Examines wiretaps, surveillance cameras, and standardized tests on The Wire.
► Finds that objects enable, disable, and transform state power.
► Suggests that force relations rather than social relations police a population.
Journal: Political Geography - Volume 33, March 2013, Pages 1–10