Regimes of Violence

"Regimes of Violence affords nothing less than a new political philosophy of violence that begins from a developmental systems theory of biocultural lives. John Protevi’s analysis does not accept the view that conflict and authority are the bases of political life. Instead, he offers a brilliant and novel political anthropology that updates our most entrenched philosophical biases and looks to a politics of joy beyond the relations of command."—Davide Panagia, author of Sentimental Empiricism: Politics, Philosophy, and Criticism in Postwar France

"What we inherit biologically is a body with essentially fixed actual properties (organs with well-defined functions) and an open-ended set of capacities (learnable skills) that are real but not necessarily actual. What capacities become actual depends on what we inherit culturally. This book explores our capacity for violence (from enforcing norms to fighting in a war) through a detailed examination of our biocultural nature."—Manuel DeLanda, author of Assemblage Theory

A wide-ranging examination of the roots—and possible future—of violence in human societies

Is aggression inevitable among humans? In Regimes of Violence, John Protevi explores how human violence originates and exists in our societies. Taking humans as biocultural (that is, our social practices shape our bodies and minds), he shows how aggression does not arrive from any purely biological predisposition but rather occurs only in social regimes of violence that, by manipulating the ways in which culture can shape our biological inheritance of rage and aggression, condition the forms of violence able to be expressed at any one time.

Offering detailed insights into human aggression throughout history, Protevi’s analysis ranges from evolutionary psychology to affective ideology and finally to an alternate politics of joy. He examines a wide range of seemingly disparate topics, such as cooperation between early nomadic foragers, organized sports, berserkers and blackout rages, the experiences of maroons escaping slavery, the January 6 invasion of the United States Capitol building, and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. As he entwines the philosophical with the anthropological, he asks readers to consider why humans’ capacity for cooperation and sharing is so persistently overlooked by stories that focus on aggression and warfare.

Regimes of Violence is an important contribution to studies of Deleuze and Guattari, uniquely combining cutting-edge investigations in psychology, history, evolutionary theory, cultural anthropology, and philosophy to examine the “political philosophy of the mind.” Presenting to readers a refreshingly optimistic perspective, Protevi demonstrates that we are not doomed to war and argues that humans can build a world based on antifascism, joy, and mutual empowerment.

John Protevi is professor of French studies and philosophy at Louisiana State University. He is author of Political Affect; Life, War, Earth; and Edges of the State, all published by the University of Minnesota Press.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Bioculture and Bodies Politic

Part I. Political Living

1. Human Nature

2. Affective Ideology

Part II. Political Psychology

3. Berserkers

4. Esprit de Corps

Part III. Political Anthropology

5. Statification

6. Marronage

Part IV. Political Events

7. The Capitol Invasion

8. Covid-19

Conclusion: A Politics of Joy

Notes

Bibliography

Publication History

Index

Author’s website