Northwestern Distributions of the Sensible: Rancière, Between Aesthetics and Politics

Jacques Rancière’s work is increasingly central to several debates across the humanities. Distributions of the Sensible confronts a question at the heart of his thought: How should we conceive the relationship between the “politics of aesthetics” and the “aesthetics of politics”? Specifically, the book explores the implications of Rancière’s rethinking of the relationship of aesthetic to political democracy from a wide range of critical perspectives. Distributions of the Sensible contains original essays by leading scholars on topics such as Rancière’s relation to political theory, critical theory, philosophical aesthetics, and film. The book concludes with a new essay by Rancière himself that reconsiders the practice of theory between aesthetics and politics. Review "What is the relationship between politics and aesthetics? This question serves as the starting point for Rancière's work. By his account, the issue of equality is at the heart of this question . . . This edited volume will prove useful to anyone who teaches or studies aesthetics, the philosophy of art, and/or sociopolitical philosophy (especially theories of equality and democracy)." --J. Liz, San Jose State University, CHOICE " Distributions of the Sensible promises to be the best collection of essays on the topic. Few works until now have engaged the simultaneity of aesthetics and politics crucial to Rancière." --Davide Panagia, author of Rancière's Sentiment About the Author Scott Durham is an associate professor of French and the director of graduate studies in French and francophone studies at Northwestern University. Dilip Gaonkar is a professor of rhetoric and public culture and the director of the Center for Global Culture and Communication at Northwestern University.