“The Crime of Innocence”: Baldwin, Bataille, and the Political Theology of Far-Right Climate Politics
Recent work on the global far right has highlighted its coordination with fossil capital, what Clara Daggett calls “fossil fascism.” The far right has embraced climate denial as part of its fantasy of a conspiracy against the white race, while fossil capital has embraced the far right as its most en...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
2023
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| In: |
Political theology
Year: 2023, Volume: 24, Issue: 6, Pages: 589-605 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Baldwin, James 1924-1987
/ Bataille, Georges 1897-1962
/ USA
/ Climatic change
/ Denial
/ The Right
/ Racism
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| IxTheo Classification: | FD Contextual theology KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBQ North America ZC Politics in general |
| Further subjects: | B
Theology
B Climate B Fascism B Innocence B Baldwin B Bataille B Whiteness |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Recent work on the global far right has highlighted its coordination with fossil capital, what Clara Daggett calls “fossil fascism.” The far right has embraced climate denial as part of its fantasy of a conspiracy against the white race, while fossil capital has embraced the far right as its most enthusiastic defender in the face of calls for decarbonization. This paper analyzes the political theology of fossil fascism, arguing climate denial is of a piece with the far right’s broader denial of historical and contemporary violence. The paper draws on James Baldwin and Georges Bataille to understand climate denial as the will to innocence in face of the scientific fact that combustion of fossil fuels in past acts of racial domination has ongoing climatic effects in the present. The will to innocence intensifies the very violence it disavows, and resisting fossil fascism may require retrieving the theological concept of guilt. |
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| ISSN: | 1743-1719 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Political theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2023.2185990 |