Violent Histories, Livable Futures: Forging the Power of the People - Paperback

by Eric King Watts (Editor)

Our political landscape is crowded with competing voices--claims, demands, grievances, and even acts of violence--all made in the name of some idea of "the people." This powerful concept has been wielded both to assert democratic sovereignty and to justify exclusion and control. Violent Histories, Livable Futures unpacks this complex dynamic through compelling historical case studies, spanning sub-Saharan Africa in the 1950s, post-World War II Guatemala, and the United States in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder. By tracing how societies have contended over which people matter and which do not, this book offers a deeply relevant exploration of power, representation, and the struggle for justice, all in pursuit of a more livable future.

Author Biography

Eric King Watts has published extensively on Black public voice, its invention, and suppression and is the author of Hearing the Hurt: Rhetoric, Aesthetics, and Politics of the New Negro Movement and Postracial Fantasies and Zombies: On the Racist Apocalyptic Politics Devouring the World.