Dramatizing the Political: Deleuze and Guattari

Dramatizing the Political: Deleuze and Guattari

Also by Iain MacKenzie POLITICS: Key Concepts in Philosophy THE IDEA OF PURE CRITIQUE THE EDINBURGH COMPANION TO POSTSTRUCTURALISM (co-edited with Robert Porter and Benoît Dillet, forthcoming) Also by Robert Porter IDEOLOGY: Contemporary Social, Political and Cultural Theory DELEUZE AND GUATTARI: Aesthetics and Politics THE EDINBURGH COMPANION TO POSTSTRUCTURALISM (co-edited with Iain Mackenzie and Benoît Dillet, forthcoming)

Dramatizing the Political: Deleuze and Guattari Iain MacKenzie University of Kent, UK and Robert Porter University of Ulster, UK

Iain MacKenzie and Robert Porter 2011 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-58071-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-36863-1 DOI 10.1057/9780230353244 ISBN 978-0-230-35324-4 (ebook) This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mackenzie, Iain M. Dramatizing the political : Deleuze and Guattari / Iain MacKenzie, Robert Porter. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Deleuze, Gilles, 1925 1995 Political and social views. 2. Guattari, Félix, 1930 1992 Political and social views. 3. Political science Philosophy. 4. Aesthetics Political aspects. I. Porter, Robert, 1972 II. Title. JC261.D39M33 2011 320.01 dc23 2011030615 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11

Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 Part I 1 Deleuze and Guattari and Political Theory 13 Montage-effect: Deleuze and Guattari as political theorists 16 Drama and political thought 20 Dramatic conditions 23 The aesthetics of political theory: or, reading the drama 28 2 Dramatization as Critical Method 33 From method to critical methods 34 Dramatization in Deleuze and Guattari 37 3 Dramatization: The Ontological Claims 52 From concepts to ideas... 53... and back again 59 The politics of dramatization 66 Part II 4 Language and the Method of Dramatization 73 Humour 75 From humour to slogans 79 Belfast is a post-conflict city! 84 5 Cinema and the Method of Dramatization 93 The modernist problem 94 Can cinema think? 98 Cliché and Money 102 Cinema: the Philosopher s Plaything? 110 6 Events and the Method of Dramatization 113 The problem with dramatic events 115 Deleuze: what happened? 119 v

vi Contents Badiou: getting to the truth of what happened 123 Some thing is happening 127 Passing over into sensation or abstraction? 130 Conclusion 135 Bibliography 144 Index 149

Acknowledgements We are grateful to editors and publishers for permission to use revised versions of the following material: Dramatization as Method in Political Theory, Contemporary Political Theory (forthcoming); The Problem with Dramatic Events, MonoKL (forthcoming). We are also grateful to have had a number of opportunities to present our developing ideas at conferences and symposia such as: The Political Studies Association Annual Conference, 2009; Schizoanalysis and Visual Culture, June 2010; Dramatizing the Political, September 2009 and 2010. Thanks in particular to Ben Arditi and Ian Buchanan for their kind invitations, and, more generally, to all those who engaged so productively with us at these events. In a collaborative work of this kind many debts are accrued. We would like to thank everyone who has engaged us in conversation about this project or otherwise helped us bring it to fruition, including Benoît Dillet, George Sotiropoulos, Susan Fitzpatrick, Blaise Verrier, Lewis Kerfane, Anaïs Lasvigne, Daniel Jewesbury, Steve Baker, Ciara Chambers, Martin McLoone, Maire Messenger-Davies and Phil Ramsey. We would especially like to thank Benoît Dillet for his close reading of the text and for his sterling work in compiling the index. Robert would also like to express his gratitude to University of Ulster for invaluable and timely study leave in Autumn/Winter 2010/11. Without the love and support of our families this book would not have been possible and it is dedicated to them: Kerry-Ann, Jessica, Anna, Kathryn, Sam and Anna. vii