Pacifism

Histories, Social Contexts, Activism
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-30977-2
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 150 Seiten, Format (B × H): 210 mm x 280 mm

Reihe: Angelaki: New Work in the Theoretical Humanities

This book offers a profound and necessary re-evaluation of pacifism, positioning it not merely as a negative stance against war, but as a comprehensive philosophical orientation toward living and ethical engagement. Moving beyond conventional political and historical limitations, the collection interrogates the radical intellectual and practical potential of non-violence in the twenty-first century.

The contributions explore historical reappraisals—from reintroducing the Quaker pacifist Jonathan Dymond to considering Tolstoy in relation to critiques of Eurocentrism. Contemporary articulations of non-violence are examined, including anarcho-pacifism and feminist counternarratives emerging from movements like the Arab Spring. The book expands the scope of violence and pacifist resistance, questioning whether the ethical imperative of pacifism must extend to include refusal of violence against animal life and the inanimate, thereby embracing ecological and environmental justice.

This collection addresses academics, researchers, and advanced students in philosophy, political theory, peace studies, and environmental studies. It serves as essential reading for courses on pacifist philosophy, nonviolent resistance, and contemporary political thought, offering a revitalisation of pacifist knowledge as a critical counterforce to aggressive politics.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Angelaki: Journal for Theoretical Humanities.

Zielgruppe

Academic, Postgraduate, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kinsella, John

Birns, Nicholas

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Soziallehre und Sozialethik, Pastoral und Seelsorge
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Friedens- und Konfliktforschung
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Praktische Theologie Christliches Leben & Praxis
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie: Allgemeines, Methoden

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction  1. Reintroducing Jonathan Dymond (1796-1818_A Quaker Pacifist Powerhouse  2. Pacifist Historiography: Anabaptist Historiography Between Normativity and Description and Beyond Neutralization and Polarization  3. Bethinking Ourselves: Tolstoy, pacifism, and Critiques of Eurocentrism  4. Anarcho-Pacifism: The General Strike and its Aftermath in Arnold Roller’s The Social General Strike  5. Making Time for Peace: Virginia Woolf, Pat Barker, and “Peace Time.”  6. Portrait Of a Pacifist as a Young Man  7. Feminist Voices of Dissent: Counternarratives of Pacifism from The Arab Spring  8. San’Si’In-Ship” Towards A Meditational Ethics of Custodianship

Über Autor(innen)

Nicholas Birns is a literary scholar specializing in postcolonial and Australian literature. He authored Theory After Theory (2010), Contemporary Australian Literature (2015), and The Hyperlocal in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Literary Space (2019). Co-editor of The Cambridge Conpanion to Australian Literarure (2023) and Teaching Australian and New Zealand Literature (2016), he has published widely on writers ranging from Roberto Bolaño to Agatha Christie. He teaches at NYU.

John Kinsella, world-renowned Australian poet, novelist, critic, and ecological activist, holds a fellowship at Churchill College, Cambridge. His recent works include three collected poetry volumes: The Ascension of Sheep (2022), Harsh Hakea (2023), and Spirals (2024); the critical work Legibility: an anti-fascist poetics (2022); the verse novel Cellnight (2023); the novel The Mahler Erasures (2024);The Darkest Pastoral: Selected Poems (2025) and a collection of new poetry, Aporia (2025). He has written over 70 books and is Emeritus Professor of Literature and Environment at Curtin University.