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“Writing a Name in the Sky”: Rancière, Cavell, and the Possibility of Egalitarian Inscription

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2012

ALETTA J. NORVAL
ALETTA J. NORVAL*
Affiliation:
University of Essex
*
Aletta J. Norval is Professor of Political Theory, Department of Government, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom ([email protected]).
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Abstract

Democratic theory is often portrayed as torn between two moments: that of disruption of rule, and the ordinary, ongoing institutionalization of politics. This dualism also marks contemporary democratic theory. In Jacques Rancière's theory of politics it takes the form of an emphasis on the ruptural qualities of the staging of novel democratic demands and the reconfiguration of the space of political argument. The reconfiguration of existing political imaginaries depends upon a moment of inscription, which remains underdeveloped in Rancière's work. Arguing that the possibility of inscription is indeed thematized in Rancière's more historical writings, but is often ignored by commentators, this article seeks to draw out the implications of a focus on inscription for democratic theory and practice. To flesh out this account, the article draws on Cavell's writings on exemplarity and the role of exemplars in fostering both critical reflection and the imagination of alternatives. The focus on such exemplars and an aversive, nonconformist ethos together facilitate a better understanding of what is required for such novel demands to be acknowledged and inscribed into democratic life.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 106 , Issue 4 , November 2012 , pp. 810 - 826
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2012

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