Collignon, F. (2019) The politics of a smile. New Formations, 95. pp. 87-102. ISSN 0950-2378
Abstract
In this article, I explore the smile as regulatory mechanism installed in the face to organise a subject's responses to neo-imperial/biopolitical capitalist governmentality. I begin by situating my reading with respect to Sara Ahmed's and Lauren Berlant's work on affective labour before turning to German philosopher Helmuth Plessner (1892-1985) in order to consider the smile as theory of sovereignty. I propose that these two meanings or deployments of the smile – as (1) act that demonstrates forced enslavement to capitalist culture and (2) as articulation of the sovereign self/state – converge in their joint purpose, which is the elimination of sociality and solidarity. My article thereby contributes to recent scholarship on the face, in particular its function in affective/service labour, which it supplements by drawing on Plessner's work: at stake is not only the worker's subjection to capital but also to a regime obsessed with securing borders.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Author(s). This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in New Formations. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Biopolitics; Border Control; Capitalism; Helmuth Plessner; Smile |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > School of English (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 14 May 2020 09:41 |
Last Modified: | 14 May 2020 09:41 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Lawrence and Wishart |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3898/newf:95.06.2018 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:157602 |