Sensible Politics: Visualizing International Relations

Visual images are a powerful force in international relations, and in Sensible Politics, William A. Callahan presents a unique analytical framework and a diverse range of sources to understand what visuals mean, and also how they can viscerally move and connect us in "affective communities of sense." It explores the visual geopolitics of war, peace, migration, and empire through an analysis of photographs, films, and art. It then expands the critical gaze to consider how "visual artifacts" -maps, veils, walls, gardens, and cyberspace-are sensory spaces where international politics comes alive in the politics of everyday life. William A. Callahan is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His recent books include China Dreams: 20 Visions of the Future (OUP, 2015) and China: The Pessoptimist Nation (OUP: 2010). Callahan also makes documentary films: "China Dreams" was broadcast on KCET (Los Angeles) in 2015, "Toilet Adventures" (2015) was shortlisted for a major award by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and "Great Walls" (2019) juxtaposes Trump's wall with the Great Wall of China.