Jane Bennett (political theorist)

Jane Bennett
Born	(1957-07-31) 31 July 1957
Nationality	North American
Alma mater	University of Massachusetts

School	Speculative realism
Main interests	Political theory
Notable ideas	Vibrant matter

Jane Bennett (born July 31, 1957)^[1] is an American professor at the Department of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Arts and Sciences. She is also the editor of the academic journal Political Theory.^[2]

Bennett's work considers ontological ideas about the relationship between humans and 'things', what she calls "vital materialism",

"What counts as the material of vital materialism? Is it only human labour and the socio-economic entities made by men using raw materials? Or is materiality more potent than that? How can political theory do a better job of recognizing the active participation of nonhuman forces in every event and every stabilization? Is there a form of theory that can acknowledge a certain ‘thing-power’, that is, the irreducibility of objects to the human meanings or agendas they also embody?"^[3]

In her book, Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things,^[4] Bennett's argument is that, "Edibles, commodities, storms, and metals act as quasi agents, with their own trajectories, potentialities and tendencies."^[5]

Public lectures she has given include "Impersonal Sympathy", a talk theorizing 'sympathy' in which she considered the alchemist-physician Paracelsus (1493-1541) and Walt Whitman's collection of poetry, Leaves of Grass.^[6] In 2015 Bennett delivered the annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture in Political Theory and Contemporary Politics at the University of Utah entitled “Walt Whitman and the Soft Voice of Sympathy.”

Education

Jane Bennett originally trained in environmental studies and political science. She then went on to Cornell University to study environmental science. After Cornell she studied political theory and gained her degree (magna cum laude) in 1979 from Siena College, Loudonville, New York. Whilst at Siena College Bennett met Kathy Ferguson. Bennett then went on to the University of Massachusetts and qualified as a doctor of political science in 1986.^[5]^[7]

Fellowships

1997 - Visiting Fellow, Department of Politics, Goucher College, Australian National University^[8]
2007 - Visiting Fellow, Department of Politics, University of Nottingham^[9]
2010 - Fellow, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, University of London^[10]
2011 - Fellow, Oxford University, Keble College^[7]

Bibliography

Books

Bennett, Jane (1987). Unthinking Faith and Enlightenment: Nature and the State in a Post-Hegelian Era. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 9780814710951.
Bennett, Jane (2001). The Enchantment of Modern Life: Attachments, Crossings, and Ethics. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691088136.
Bennett, Jane (2002). Thoreau's Nature: Ethics, Politics, and the Wild (2nd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742521414.
Bennett, Jane (2010). Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822346197.

Book review: Princen, Thomas (March 2011). "Critical Dialogue - "Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things." By Jane Bennett. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010. 176p. $74.95 cloth, $21.95 paper". Perspectives on Politics. American Political Science Association via Cambridge Journals Online. 9 (1): 118–120. doi:10.1017/S1537592710003464.

Bennett's response to five book reviews of Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things: Bennett, Jane (November 2011). "Author response". Dialogues in Human Geography. Sage. 1 (3): 404–406. doi:10.1177/204382061100100310.

Edited books

Bennett, Jane; Chaloupka, William (Eds) (1993). In the Nature of Things: Language, Politics, and the Environment. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816623082.
Bennett, Jane; Shapiro, Michael J. (Eds) (2002). The Politics of Moralizing. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415934787.

Book chapters

Bennett, Jane; Shapiro, Michael J. (2002), "Introduction", in Bennett, Jane; Shapiro, Michael J. (Eds), The politics of moralizing, New York: Routledge, pp. 1–10, ISBN 9780415934787
Bennett, Jane (2002), "The Moraline Drift", in Bennett, Jane; Shapiro, Michael J. (Eds), The Politics of Moralizing, New York: Routledge, pp. 11–26, ISBN 9780415934787
Bennett, Jane; Connolly, William E. (2002), "Mouths, bodies and the state", in Honig, Bonnie; Mapel, David R., Skepticism, Individuality, and Freedom: The Reluctant Liberalism of Richard Flathman, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 244–265, ISBN 9780816639700
Bennett, Jane (2004), "Approaches to Contemporary Political Theory", in Kukathas, Chandran; Gaus, Gerald F. (Eds), Handbook of Political Theory, London Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE, pp. 46–56, ISBN 9780761967873
Bennett, Jane (2005), "In parliament with things", in Tønder, Lars; Thomassen, Lasse (Eds), Radical Democracy: Politics between Abundance and Lack, Manchester New York: Manchester University Press, ISBN 9780719070440
Bennett, Jane (2008), "Modernity and its Critics", in Phillips, Anne; Bonnie, Honig; Dryzek, John S. (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780199548439
Bennett, Jane (2006), "The Agency of Assemblages and the North American Blackout", in de Vries, Hent; Sullivan, Lawrence E., Political Theologies: Public Religions in a Post-Secular World, New York: Fordham University Press, pp. 602–616, ISBN 9780823226450
Bennett, Jane (2009), "Thoreau's Techniques of Self", in Turner, Jack, A Political Companion to Henry David Thoreau, Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, pp. 294–325, ISBN 9780813124780
Bennett, Jane (2009), "Thing-Power and an Ecological Sublime", in White, Luke; Pajaczkowska, Claire, The Sublime Now, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, pp. 24–35, ISBN 9781443813020
Bennett, Jane (2010), "A vitalist stopover on the way to a new materialism", in Coole, Diana; Frost, Samantha, New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics, Durham North Carolina London: Duke University Press, pp. 47–69, ISBN 9780822347729
Bennett, Jane (2010), "Thing-Power", in Whatmore, Sarah; Braun, Bruce, Political Matter: Technoscience, Semocracy, and Public Life, Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, ISBN 9780816670895
Bennett, Jane (2011), "Thing-Power", in Seery, John, A Political Companion to Walt Whitman, Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, pp. 131–148, ISBN 9780813126548
Bennett, Jane (2012), "Thing-Power", in Elkins, Jeremy; Norris, Andrew, Truth and Democracy, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 154–158, ISBN 9780812243796
Bennett, Jane (2012), "Powers of the Hoard: Further Notes on Material Agency", in Cohen, Jeffrey, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Ethics and Objects, Washington, DC: Oliphaunt Books an imprint of Punctum Books, pp. 237–269, ISBN 9780615625355

Abridged version printed (along with an 'assignment') as: Bennett, Jane (2013), "Powers of the hoard: further notes on material agency", in Sutela, Jenna, Add metaphysics: essays and assignments, Aalto, Finland: Aalto University Digital Design Laboratory, pp. 52–67, ISBN 9789526049540 Open access link.

Bennett, Jane; Connolly, William (2012), "The Crumpled Handkerchief", in Herzogenrath, Bernd, Time and History in Deleuze and Serres, New York: Continuum, pp. 153–172, ISBN 9781441163868
Bennett, Jane (2012), "Stones", in Sæbjörnsson, Egill (Editor); Herzogenrath, Bernd (Editor), Stones According to Egill Sæbjörnsson, New York: Revolver Publishing / Continuum, pp. 27–36, ISBN 9781441163868
Bennett, Jane; Connolly, William (2013), "Earthling: Now and Forever?", in Ellsworth, Elizabeth; Kruse, Jaime, Making the Geologic Now: Responses to Material Conditions of Contemporary Life, Brooklyn, New York: Punctum Books, pp. 244–246, ISBN 9780615766362
Bennett, Jane; Khan, Gulshan A. (2012), "Vital Materiality and Non-Human Agency: An Interview with Jane Bennett", in Prokhovnik, Raia; Dimova-Cookson, Maria; Browning, Gary, Dialogues with Contemporary Political Theorists, Houndsmill, Basingstoke, Hampshire New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 42–57, ISBN 9780230303058
Bennett, Jane (2013), "From Nature to Matter", in Archer, Crina; Ephraim, Laura; Maxwell, Lida, Second Nature: Rethinking the Natural Through Politics, New York: Fordham University Press, pp. 149–160, ISBN 9780823251421
Bennett, Jane (2014), "Of Material Sympathies, Paracelsus, and Whitman", in Iovino, Serenella; Oppermann, Serpil, Material Ecocriticism, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 149–160, ISBN 9780253013958
Bennett, Jane (2014), "Odradek: A Shape and a Speed", in Klingan, Katrin; Sepahvand, Ashkan; Rosol, Christoph; Scherer, Bernd M., Textures of the Anthropocene: Grain Vapor Ray, Berlin: Haus der Kulturen der Welt - forthcoming.
Bennett, Jane (2014), "Systems and Things: A Reply to Graham Harman and Timothy Morton", in Grusin, Richard, The Nonhuman Turn, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press - forthcoming.
Bennett, Jane (2014), "Green Materialism", in Kennedy, T. Frank; Keenan, James, Nature as a Force: Scientists, Social Scientists, and Ethicists in a Dialogue of Hope, Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press - forthcoming.

Journal articles

Bennett, Jane (Spring 2000). "The order of nature in Lucretius". Strategies. Discussing De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things) by Lucretius.
Bennett, Jane (Spring 2000). "Sometimes it's okay to be weak: reply to Stephen White". Educational Theory. Johns Hopkins University Press. 4 (2). doi:10.1353/tae.2000.0023.

This article was a response to: White, Stephen K. (Spring 2000). "Affirmation and weak ontology in political theory: some rules and doubts". Theory & Event. Johns Hopkins University Press. 4 (2). doi:10.1353/tae.2000.0013.

Bennett, Jane (Winter 2001). "Commodity fetishism and commodity enchantment". Theory & Event. Johns Hopkins University Press. 5 (1). doi:10.1353/tae.2001.0006.
Bennett, Jane (June 2004). "The force of things: steps toward an ecology of matter". Political Theory. Sage. 32 (3). doi:10.1177/0090591703260853.
Bennett, Jane (Fall 2005). "The agency of assemblages and the North American blackout public culture". Public Culture. Duke University Press. 17 (3): 445–466. doi:10.1215/08992363-17-3-445.
Bennett, Jane (May–June 2007). "Edible matter". New Left Review, special issue on Globalization and Biopolitics. New Left Review. 2 (45).
Bennett, Jane; Marrati, Paola (translator, French) (2008). "Matérialismes métalliques". Rue Descartes 81. Rue Descartes: Special issue on Gilles Deleuze, l’intempestif. 59 (1).
Bennett, Jane; Livingston, Alexander (December 2011). "Philosophy in the wild: listening to things in Baltimore". Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy: 02 Materialism. Scapegoat (02): 12–13. Available via the co-author Alexander Livingston on Academia.edu.
Bennett, Jane (Spring 2012). "Systems and things: a response to Graham Harman and Timothy Morton". New Literary History. Project MUSE: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 43 (2): 225–233. doi:10.1353/nlh.2012.0020.

This article was in response to: Harman, Graham (Spring 2012). "The well-wrought broken hammer: object-oriented literary criticism". New Literary History. Project MUSE: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 43 (2): 183–203. doi:10.1353/nlh.2012.0016.

and: Morton, Timothy (Spring 2012). "An object-oriented defense of poetry". New Literary History. Project MUSE: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 43 (2): 205–224. doi:10.1353/nlh.2012.0018.

Bennett, Jane (Spring 2013). "The elements". Postmedieval: Special issue on Ecomaterialism. Palgrave Macmillan. 4 (1): 105–111. doi:10.1057/pmed.2012.39.
Bennett, Jane; Washick, Bonnie; Wingrove, Elizabeth; Ferguson, Kathy E. (February 2015). "Politics that matter: thinking about power and justice with the new materialists". Contemporary Political Theory. Palgrave Macmillan. 14 (1): 63–89. doi:10.1057/cpt.2014.19.

Blogs

Bennett, Jane (18 August 2010). "On the call from outside". The Immanent Frame. Social Science Research Council.

References

↑ "Bennett, Jane, 1957-". Library of Congress. Retrieved 25 July 2014. Her Unthinking faith and enlightenment, c1987: CIP t.p. (Jane Bennett) data sheet (b. 7/31/57)
↑ "Political Theory: An International Journal of Political Philosophy". Sage. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
↑ Khan, Gulshan (February 2009). "Agency, nature and emergent properties: an interview with Jane Bennett". Contemporary Political Theory. Palgrave Macmillan. 8 (1): 90–105. doi:10.1057/cpt.2008.43.
↑ " Strawberries on Life Support by Antónia Szabari & Natania Meeker". Los Angeles Review of Books]
1 2 Watson, Janell (October 2013). "Eco-sensibilities: interview with Jane Bennett". Minnesota Review. Duke University Press. 81 (1): 147–158. doi:10.1215/00265667-2332147.
↑ "CISSC Lecture Series: Jane Bennett, Johns Hopkins University: Impersonal Sympathy". Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture, Concordia University, Montreal. 22 March 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
1 2 "Jane Bennett". Department of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
↑ "Visiting Fellows and Other Visitors, 1991–2004". Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
↑ "Visiting research fellows: previous visiting research fellows - Professor Bennett". Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice (CSSGJ), The University of Nottingham. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
↑ "Past visiting research fellows: Professor Jane Bennett (2010)". Birbeck Institute for the Humanities, University of London. Retrieved 25 July 2014.

External links

Jane Bennett, Johns Hopkins University

Environmental social science
Fields	Ecological anthropology Ecological economics Environmental anthropology Environmental economics Environmental communication Environmental history Environmental politics Environmental psychology Environmental sociology Human ecology Human geography Political ecology Regional science
Related	Agroecology Anthrozoology Behavioral geography Community studies Demography Design ecological environmental Ecological humanities Economics energy thermo Environmental education ethics law science studies Ethnobiology botany ecology zoology Forestry Industrial ecology Integrated geography Permaculture Rural sociology Science, technology and society science studies Sustainability science studies Systems ecology Urban ecology geography metabolism studies
Applied	Architecture landscape sustainable Ecopsychology Engineering ecological environmental Green criminology Health environmental epidemiology occupational public Management environmental fisheries forest natural resource waste Planning environmental land use regional spatial urban Policy energy environmental
Environment portal Category Concepts Degrees Institutions Journals Research institutes Scholars

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.