The Politics of the Wretched

Race, Reason, and Ressentiment

Zahi Zalloua

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9781350422872
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

The Politics of the Wretched argues for ressentiment 's generative negativity, prompting a shift from ressentiment as a personal expression of frustration to ressentiment as a collective "No". Inspired by Kant and Nietzsche's philosophy, Zalloua identifies two modes of deploying ressentiment – private and public use – by substituting ressentiment for reason. This reinterpretation argues for a public use of ressentiment, for the wretched to universalize their grievances, to see their antagonism as cutting across societies, and to turn personal trauma into a common cause. A public use of ressentiment rails against the ideology of identity and victimhood and insists on ressentiment 's generative negativity, its own rationality, prompting a shift from ressentiment as a personal expression of frustration to ressentiment as a collective "No". Reframing ressentiment as a tool to oppose the evils of capitalism, anti-Blackness, and neocolonialism, it both alarms the liberal gatekeepers of the status quo and promises to energize the anti-racist Left in its ongoing struggles for universal justice and emancipation.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Dedication Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The Public Use of Ressentiment, or the Reason of the Wretched
• 1 Exiting the Zone of Nonbeing: The Death Drive and the Inexorable Demand for More
• 2 Reckoning with Disavowal, or the Position of the Colonial Unthought
• 3 Racial Ressentiment or Economic Anxiety?: On the Politics of Material Interests
• 4 Zionist Ressentiment, the Left, and the Palestinian Question
• Conclusion: Living with Ressentiment
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Imprint