Enlightenment Biopolitics: A History of Race, Eugenics, and the Making of Citizens
By William Max Nelson
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Recommended by Luke Forrester Johnson
When scholars discuss the emergence of biopolitics, they often follow Foucault’s lead in focusing on “population statistics, mortality tables, and public health matters” (2). But in this compelling new work of intellectual history, William Max Nelson turns our attention to a different corner of eighteenth century French thought. Biopolitics, he argues, emerged from two twinned Enlightenment projects: exclusion and breeding. While the former “aimed to exclude groups of people from the collective body,” the latter sought to optimize the bodies of those within it (2). In refocusing our attention on these proposals and practices, Nelson demonstrates the extent to which Enlightenment ideals such as “liberty, equality, rights, and reason” (3) are inextricable from the movement’s violent and exclusionary dimensions: race science, selective breeding projects, surveillance tactics, etc. Rather than simply marking the limits of a failed universalism, this latter suite of ideas and practices sprang from the same conceptual foundations as their more illustrious counterparts.
The violent dimensions of the Enlightenment are nothing new for contemporary scholars. But Nelson’s nuanced re-telling of biopolitical history pushes beyond Manichean narratives of the Enlightenment as fundamentally “emancipatory or repressive” (223). Without forsaking Horkheimer and Adorno’s commitment to thinking Enlightenment dialectically, or Foucault’s insistence that power is inseparable from knowledge, Nelson leads us back into the weeds of what is arguably one of the most pivotal periods in the development of the modern world. Of particular interest to scholars of the Francophone world is Nelson’s careful attention to the dynamic circuits between métropole and colonies. “The traditional separation between the historiographies of France and its colonies,” he writes, “has obscured the fact that the development of ideas and practices in the two spaces were never truly separate, even while the places themselves were” (214). Indeed, statist denials of race in France often creep their way into academic conversations by way of the very historiographical siloing that Nelson refers to. Enlightenment Biopolitics is a crucial contribution to conversations in French Studies at a time when the field is witnessing an efflorescence of work on race and whiteness. Ultimately, the book will be of interest to any scholar working on bodily difference, modernity, or European intellectual history.
Your Little Matter
By Maria Grazia Calandrone (translation by Antonella Lettieri)
Publisher: Foundry Editions
Recommended by Brianna Beehler
In Your Little Matter, poet, author, and journalist Maria Grazia Calandrone reconstructs the brief life and tragic death of her mother, Lucia Galante. On June 24, 1965, Lucia and her lover Giuseppe Di Petro, abandoned the then eight-month-old Maria Grazia at the Villa Borghese in Rome; three days later, Lucia’s body, clad in a swimsuit and brown dress, was found floating in the Tiber. Calandrone’s writing and reimagining of Lucia’s life is an attempt to not only better understand her mother’s experiences, loves, and sufferings, but also, as she states in the opening of her first chapter, to “tear [her] mother’s smell from the earth” (19). In this opening declaration, Calandrone introduces her readers to two of the key emotional and linguistic registers that make up her memoir: the lyrical and the personal. However, as Calandrone’s translator, Antonella Lettieri, beautifully states in her “Translator’s Note,” the book has “two souls,” one of which is the poetry that Calandrone brings to her mother’s story and the other is the scientific precision that she methodically applies to the files and public facts concerning her biological mother and father’s tragedy. The interweaving of poetic phrasing and intentional line breaks with the scientific and journalistic detail of autopsies, newspaper records, and interviews leads to the book’s singular texture, one that variously pulls the reader into the mind and thought processes of Calandrone as well as of Lucia, both of whom prove to be meticulous thinkers. Readers will find not only a powerful voice in Your Little Matter, but also a harrowing story about the realities of life—and death—for women in southern Italy, and the people, social structures, and institutions that failed them.
Italian Forgers: The Art Market and the Weight of the Past in Modern Italy
By Carol Helstosky
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Recommended by Hélène B. Ducros
In Italian Forgers, historian Carol Helstosky explains how the relationships between forgers, copyists, dealers, antiquarians, collectors, and buyers of authentic art or replicas evolved in Italy and how these relationships rendered explicit different visions of the past in the newly unified political entity up to the rise of fascism, covering roughly the 1850-1930s period. Through the review of three major forgery scandals, Helstosky not only asks what forgery is but positions the question in a context of nation building, during a time in which the curating of national collections was in full expansion in Europe, as were mass tourism and tourists’ insatiable appetite for art pieces, especially those from Italy. At the same time, the omnipresence of journalists and the democratization of print culture facilitated the crafting of narratives about Italian identity and forgery that shaped the art and antiquities market against a backdrop of fascinating stories of smuggling, deception, mistrust, misattributions, and celebrity fakers. The cases of Giovanni Bastianini, Icilio Joni, and Alceo Dossena—three well-known Italian forgers—allow Helstosky to delve into the modernization of the art market and its key role in the development of Italy’s image and economy (and image economy), also highlighting how the nature of the market and the approach to forgery were the result of cross-border tensions and patriotic élan, especially in response to France’s and the United States’ increased weight in the market. Ultimately, and beyond the riveting stories of famous artist-forgers, the book contributes to debates about the source of cultural power in the art market and the processes by which value is attached to some works rather than others; it also leads to a reflection on the inability of Italy, as a “young” nation, to protect its artistic heritage and the role of museums across the world in the establishment of an uneven playing field in the sales and acquisitions of Italian art works. As collectors and museal institutions everywhere today face scrutiny about art objects with unclear provenance, this book opens the field in considering the character of the forger in the art market power struggles. This well-researched book is more than an investigation into the captivating minds and souls of Bastianini, Joni, and Dossena; it draws attention to the cultural, economic, and political interplay in the construction of demand and supply in the market for art.
Deals mit Diktaturen: Eine andere Geschichte der Bundesrepublik
By Frank Bösch
Publisher: C.H. Beck Verlag
Recommended by Nicholas Ostrum
Historians’ attention has recently turned to the Federal Republic of Germany in its capacity as an international power. The country’s strategies and objectives may have been constrained by its embedment in transatlantic and western European blocs. Germany nevertheless exercised considerable clout in pursuing key foreign political and economic goals. In Deals mit Diktaturen: Eine andere Geschichte der Bundesrepublik (Deals with Dictatorships: Another History of the Federal Republic), Frank Bösch takes this recent historiographical trend in a new direction, examining how this West German push to dialog and trade with autocratic countries also jeopardized certain foreign political and humanitarian objectives.
Deals mit Diktaturen covers and array of case studies in diplomatic and economic relations stretching from South America to Africa and Asia to Eastern and Western Europe. Among these, Bösch finds contrasting approaches to the autocracies of the Soviet Sphere and those of the Global South, at least until the student movements of the 1960s began to apply the concept of “dictatorship” beyond the communist sphere to places such as Spain, Greece, Chile, Iran, and South Korea. He also finds that, when contracts and political objectives were at stake, German diplomats, the German Foreign Office, Federal Intelligence Service, Chancellery, and companies have consistently looked the other way when confronted with infringements on women’s rights, support for international terrorist organizations, extra-territorial assassinations, oppressive surveillance states, and various other human rights violations. The pretense of such compromises was frequently a form of Wandel durch Handel—or (political) change through trade. As Bösch notes, however, too often this meant the West Germans rather than the dictatorship bore the brunt of any compromise, at points offering dangerous technologies—military vehicles, various types of weapons, and civilian but weaponizable nuclear and poison gas facilities—to dictatorships such as Libya, Iran, Brazil, and Argentina. At other times, out of caution or coercion, West Germans even surveilled and extradited politically active students, émigrés, and exilés who had found refuge from those very same governments on German soil. This is not to say that Bonn derived nothing from these dealings with dictators. German companies often scored lucrative contracts and access to raw materials controlled by these dictatorships; Bonn gained political and sometimes even human rights concessions from these foreign governments. However, obtaining these concessions was rarely if ever the primary objective for either side.
Ostblock: Putin, Kickl und ihre ÖVP
By Peter Pilz
Publisher: ZACK Media GmbH
Recommended by Edina Paleviq
In Ostblock: Putin, Kickl und ihre ÖVP (Eastern Bloc: Putin, Kickl and their ÖVP), Peter Pilz presents a meticulously researched and pressing exploration of Austria’s shifting political landscape. With an adept narrative style, Pilz scrutinizes the potential coalition between the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), despite Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s public denials about this coalition. Through his detailed analysis, Pilz reveals that preparations for such an alliance are already in motion, driven by historical and economic ties. Pilz delves into the ÖVP’s long-standing connections with Russia, highlighting a history of tolerance towards espionage and economic entanglements, which have subtly shaped Austria’s foreign policy. The book also examines the FPÖ’s overtly pro-Putin stance, raising significant concerns about Austria potentially becoming increasingly prone to Russian influence. The book also addresses key political debates and scandals in intricate detail. For example, Leitkultur, a controversial concept promoting the preservation of a dominant national culture, is dissected to reveal its broader implications on Austrian society. Additionally, the Ott case, involving serious allegations of corruption and political manipulation by high-ranking officials—including members of the government—is explored to showcase the undercurrents of power and control within the political arena. In particular, Pilz describes the actions of Herbert Kickl, the leader of the FPÖ, labeling him as a “security risk,” and examines how he could undermine Austrian democracy and jeopardize political stability.
Central to Pilz’s analysis is the critical question of whether Austria could become Putin’s next stronghold in Central Europe, as Hungary has. This potential shift poses a significant threat to the cohesion and security of the European Union. With his thorough attention to detail and engaging prose, Pilz transcends the boundaries of a traditional political analysis, offering readers a compelling insight into the intricate power dynamics of the Austrian political scene and the covert influences shaping Austria’s future. His narrative not only brings to light the latent threats to Austrian democracy but also provides a poignant reflection on the multifaceted nature of political alliances and their long-term impact.
Published on August 15, 2024.
