°Community, immunity
community is, as the etymology shows, the exact opposite of any institution of immunity, in the sense of a protection of propriety and belonging that might think it could indefinitely assure itself against the risks of difference and conflict, and thus death, by pushing them back beyond its borders (even by establishing borders to protect itself against them, and ipso facto creating points where conflict and death accummulate under the sign of ‘difference’)
- Roberto Esposito, Immunitas. Protezione e Negazione della Vita
Someone dropped that quote from Roberto Esposito in the comments, and it’s worth an elevation to a post.
Cited in Balibar’s We, The People of Europe (and you can find Jason Read’s review of that book here), Roberto Esposito’s Immunitas is one of those books that certainly needs to be translated into English to give a broader view to an anglophone readership of discussions around biopolitics, borders and security, as well as Esposito’s additional contributions to a discussion of the impolitical and immunity - that is, broader than Agamben, Balibar and so on.
I heard that Bios: Filosofia e biopolitica, which is the third book in the series from Esposito, preceded by Communitas and Immunitas, is being translated into English.
I am just finishing reading an earlier book by Esposito, Categorie dell’ impolitico, and will try to post some rough notes on that when I find the time. There is a nice chapter in this text on Hermann Broch and Elias Cannetti. The chapter on Simone Weil is interesting for thinking through the notion of ‘passive politics’ or action-without-agency. And the opening chapter on Schmitt’s book on Catholicism and his debates with German theologians like Guardini and Petersen, I think, is essential reading for anyone interested in connecting the poitical theological tradition with the intellectual heritage of a figure like Ratzinger.
bmn [March 12, 2006 @ 8:23 pm]
Strangely, or it always seems strange to me when I’m reminded, Simone Weil is someone whose work I’ve never read. Note to self …
s0metim3s [March 12, 2006 @ 10:21 pm]
I wanted to note a couple of things. First, Bios should be out by Spring 2007 from Minnesota. I’m translating it right now as well as finishing up the introduction. Second, I’m editing a special issue of Diacritics dedicated exclusively to Esposito’s thought. We’ll have an interview I recently conducted with him as well as an extended excerpt from the important chapter in Bios on the immunization paradigm. Finally Roberto recently told me that Stanford has had the rights to Comunitas for three years but has been sitting on it. I contacted the editor and he confirmed it; in fact they have no plans to bring it out anytime soon if ever. Maybe with Bios finally appearing in English they’ll see fit to publish what is a stunning book. As for the Weil connection, Esposito has written another brilliant piece on it called “L’origine della politica,” in which reads Arendt and Weil together through the category of the (im)political.//Tim Campbell
Tim Campbell [April 13, 2006 @ 1:31 am]
Tim, many thanks for this. I look forward to seeing Bios out in English, my Italian being somewhat awful. And the Diacritics edition too. That’s really good to hear.
Also, yes, hopefully Stanford could be persuaded. It seems absurd to keep it in hiding.
s0metim3s [April 13, 2006 @ 1:46 am]
I am very glad to read that Esposito is finally receiving the attention he deserves in the United States. I am originally from Argentina but I am a student of political theory at Northwestern. Esposito’s work has been widely read and discussed in South America for, at least, the last three years. Actually, the Spanish translation of Communitas is from 2003 and Immunitas was translated in 2005.
I believe that a critical cross examination of Esposito and Agamben is still pending. Agamben’s grasp on the logic of exception owes its inspiration to Carl Schmitt, whereas Esposito seems to be developing further Derrida’s somehow preliminar notion of autoimmunity.
Finally, I hope the editors at Stanford would realize what they have in the archives!
Diego Rossello [August 12, 2006 @ 3:32 am]
Thanks Diego. Agreed.
I’m wondering whether the edition of Diacritics is out - I’ve not checked.
s0metim3s [August 12, 2006 @ 10:37 pm]
Thanks to all of you for your interest in the translation of Bios and the Diacritics issue dedicated to Esposito. The volme should be out in December, while the translation most likely will be appearing in Fall 2007. Re Diego’s excellent point, I would add only that Esposito directly addresses the connection to Derrida’a autoimmunity in the interview that will be appearing in Diacritics (as I myself do in the accompanying introduction). Basically RE argues there what he sets in longer fashion in Immunitas, namely that immunity is always autoimmunity for Derrida and hence negatively inflected: the result is that immunity inevitably declines into an autoimmunity crises for Derrida. Although he doesn’t say so explicitly, RE is suggesting I think that Derrida, by failing to inscribe immunity in a biopolitical horizon, cannot discern how immunity might in fact not alwasy lead negatively to crises or implosion, but might be augmented in such a way as to fortify community. The example he gives in Immunitas is precisely of the fetus and the mother; in Bios he turns to individuation, birth, and Deleuze’s immanence for his positive inflection of biopolitics. I would also add that Esposito has little truck with Derrida’s reading of friendship either, which for him fails to mark the munus or gift that unites communitas and immunitas. The crucial figure for RE continues to be Bataille, which has been the case pretty much since Categorie dell’impolitico.
Lastly, RE will be in Buenos Aires in late September for a conference dedicated to him. I don’t have the details but I can certainly find out if anyone is interested.//Tim
Tim Campbell [August 31, 2006 @ 2:13 am]
That’s interesting about the biopolitical inflection - and I’m now wondering about the sense of reproduction, and of gender and sexuality here, and more. I’ll wait patiently for the translations and the rest to appear …
And thanks for keeping us updated, Tim. Other updates, such as conferences and so on, also appreciated.
s0metim3s [August 31, 2006 @ 2:32 am]
A web site is up with all the details of Roberto Esposito’s visit to Buenos Aires. It’s at http://www.espositoenargentina.com.ar/visita.htm.
Timothy Campbell [September 7, 2006 @ 2:14 am]