Manhunts: A Philosophical History

by Grégoire Chamayou, Steven Rendall

Overview

A comprehensive history of manhunting in the West, from ancient times to the present

Touching on issues of power, authority, and domination, Manhunts takes an in-depth look at the hunting of humans in the West, from ancient Sparta, through the Middle Ages, to the modern practices of chasing undocumented migrants. Incorporating historical events and philosophical reflection, Grégoire Chamayou examines the systematic and organized search for individuals and small groups on the run because they have defied authority, committed crimes, seemed dangerous simply for existing, or been categorized as subhuman or dispensable.

Chamayou begins in ancient Greece, where young Spartans hunted and killed Helots (Sparta's serfs) as an initiation rite, and where Aristotle and other philosophers helped to justify raids to capture and enslave foreigners by creating the concept of natural slaves. He discusses the hunt for heretics in the Middle Ages; New World natives in the early modern period; vagrants, Jews, criminals, and runaway slaves in other eras; and illegal immigrants today. Exploring evolving ideas about the human and the subhuman, what we owe to enemies and people on the margins of society, and the supposed legitimacy of domination, Chamayou shows that the hunting of humans should not be treated ahistorically, and that manhunting has varied as widely in its justifications and aims as in its practices. He investigates the psychology of manhunting, noting that many people, from bounty hunters to Balzac, have written about the thrill of hunting when the prey is equally intelligent and cunning.

An unconventional history on an unconventional subject, Manhunts is an in-depth consideration of the dynamics of an age-old form of violence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691151656
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	07/22/2012
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Grégoire Chamayou is a research scholar in philosophy at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

CHAPTER 1 The Hunt for Bipedal Cattle 4

CHAPTER 2 Nimrod, or Cynegetic Sovereignty 11

CHAPTER 3 Diseased Sheep and Wolf-Men 19

CHAPTER 4 Hunting Indians 29

CHAPTER 5 Hunting Black Skins 43

CHAPTER 6 The Dialectic of the Hunter and the Hunted 57

CHAPTER 7 Hunting the Poor 78

CHAPTER 8 Police Hunts 87

CHAPTER 9 The Hunting Pack and Lynching 99

CHAPTER 10 Hunting Foreigners 109

CHAPTER 11 Hunting Jews 120

CHAPTER 12 Hunting Illegals 134

conclusion 149

postscript 155

Notes 157

Index 185

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"'Man, wolf to man?' Brecht asked the question, Chamayou provides a brilliant and terrifying answer."—Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz and Planet of Slums

"From manhunting for sport in the Occident to the global search for 'illegal aliens' in the twenty-first century, this book offers a history of humans' preying on other human beings. Applying the rubric of hunting to contemporary debates about illegal migrants, Chamayou shows that the supposedly newest hunt refreshes an old motif. A provocative take on a topic of great currency."—Jimmy Casas Klausen, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Editorial Reviews

Finalist for the 2012 - 26th Annual Translation Prize in Nonfiction, French-American Foundation & Florence Gould Foundation

From the Publisher

Manhunts is an unusual and stimulating essay. . . . The strength of the book lies in its refusal to treat manhunting as a metaphor. Chamayou instead focuses on the concrete violence of predation, tracking, banishment, captivity, confinement, and the murderousness that goes along with them.

Books and Ideas - Jean Berard

Manhunts is an unusual and stimulating essay. . . . The strength of the book lies in its refusal to treat manhunting as a metaphor. Chamayou instead focuses on the concrete violence of predation, tracking, banishment, captivity, confinement, and the murderousness that goes along with them.
— Jean Berard

Books and Ideas