The Construction of the Other: (Re)producing Bare Life

Authors

  • Sebastjan Leban

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i14.200

Keywords:

Bare life, Bios, Zoē, Master/slave dialectic, Master/slave relation, Other, Homo Sacer

Abstract

This paper proposes a critical reading of the formation of the Other within capitalism and coloniality. Through an analysis of the master/slave relation, the master/slave dialectic and bare life/sovereignty, the research intends to prove that the construction of the Other is essential for the construction of Western hegemony. In the first part, we are presented with the construction of the Other within Aristotle’s master/slave relation that is in the second part related to the master/slave dialectic and racial classification. The paper concludes with a critical reflection on Agamben's term homo sacer and gives a short overview of its possible reinvention. The analysis provides an understanding of the construction of the Other in the current state of exception and seems to be crucial in a time where processes of oppression, dispossession and segregation executed upon the Other are increasing.

Author Biography

Sebastjan Leban

Academy of Visual Arts, Ljubljana
Slovenia

Sebastjan Leban (1976), Ph.D., is associate professor at the Academy of Visual Arts (AVA) in Ljubljana. He completed his PhD in 2014 on the topic of capital, biopower and art under the supervision of Marina Gržinić at the University of Nova Gorica (inside a postgraduate program conceived by SRC SASA Ljubljana, Slovenia). He works in the field of theory covering the research fields of political economy, decolonial and postcolonial studies, and cultural and visual studies. With Gržinić, Staš Kleindienst and Tanja Passoni, he was a co-founder and co-editor of the journal Reartikulacija (2007–2011).

References

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Published

15.10.2017

How to Cite

Leban, S. (2017). The Construction of the Other: (Re)producing Bare Life. AM Journal of Art and Media Studies, (14), 69–79. https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i14.200