Political Presence and the Politics of Noise

Abstract

The paper is inspired by the recent turn taking place at the intersection of critical citizenship studies and political geography where the meanings of political agency are being contested and re-imagined. As one major theme, this discussion involves the identification of political agency in the practice of everyday life. To introduce a new analytical approach into this line of research, the paper discusses political presence with reference to Jacques Rancière's conceptualisation of politics. By linking his thought with present spatially grounded debates on citizenship and political agency, it considers how the politics of noise can be identified from young people's everyday encounters with their political communities.

Notes

See: http://www.pisa.oecd.org.

The UN defines the child as “every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier” (http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm). In Finland, like in most liberal democracies, this right thus concerns all minors and, in part, also young adults up to their late 20s (see for example, the European Union White Paper on Youth 2001, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2001/com2001_0681en01.pdf; and the Finnish Youth Act 2006, http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1995/en19950235.pdf).

See: http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2007/en20070417.pdf.

See: http://www.tampere.fi/tiedostot/5pocaeMkx/lapsi_ja_nuorisopoliittinenohjelma.pdf.

See: http://www.okm.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/Julkaisut/2008/liitteet/opm21.pdf?lang=fi; http://http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/Julkaisut/2012/liitteet/OKM8.pdf?lang=en .

To those more familiar with Foucault's thinking, this point of resemblance may help to see how Rancière's work interlinks with the relational political geographical perspectives where the P/political divide is taken as an analytical starting-point (see also Kallio, 2012). Yet, while making this parallel, it should be noted that Rancière's political philosophy can also be read as a partial critique to Foucault's thought, especially concerning his writings on governmentality. In a Rancièrian reading, the ‘conduct of conduct’ that is the imperative of governmental rationality may succeed only if the subjects are able to identify the potential of ruptures within the given regime. Foucault does not acknowledge such dependency between policy (police) and politics (le politique) that, to Rancière, forms the basic condition of political life (la politique).

The case is introduced here only very briefly because it is intended as a mere illustration, seeking to illuminate how politics of noise can be identified from mundane presence. For a more detailed account on the case and the research methodology, see Kallio and Häkli, 2011c.

See: http://www.ouka.fi/english/youth/youthcouncil.htm.