Book Section
Maria José de Abreu
Camera Fog; or, The Pendulum of Austerity in Contemporary Portugal
This essay analyzes the semantics of fog in the context of neoliberal austerity in Portugal. Drawing on portraits of young Portuguese in the style of vignettes, the essay historicizes the political and epistemological uses of fog as a medium. Attending to the materiality of fog — a blurring through which visibility occurs — the argument unearths the logical structure of recurrence in and as crisis as it affects the powers of decision-making. The goal is to push the limits of this recurring structure into the present, in order to better expose how two seemingly opposite historical eras — authoritarianism and neoliberalism — share, in fact, the enduring structure of potentiation in language and governance.
Keywords: Fog; Youth unemployment; Authoritarianism; Neoliberalism; Portugal; Austerity; Precarious employment; Political messianism; Salazar, António de Oliveira; Sebastianism
| Title |
Camera Fog; or, The Pendulum of Austerity in Contemporary Portugal
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| Author(s) |
Maria José de Abreu
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| Identifier | |
| Description |
This essay analyzes the semantics of fog in the context of neoliberal austerity in Portugal. Drawing on portraits of young Portuguese in the style of vignettes, the essay historicizes the political and epistemological uses of fog as a medium. Attending to the materiality of fog — a blurring through which visibility occurs — the argument unearths the logical structure of recurrence in and as crisis as it affects the powers of decision-making. The goal is to push the limits of this recurring structure into the present, in order to better expose how two seemingly opposite historical eras — authoritarianism and neoliberalism — share, in fact, the enduring structure of potentiation in language and governance.
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| Is Part Of | |
| Place |
Berlin
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| Publisher |
ICI Berlin Press
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| Date |
20 September 2022
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| Subject |
Fog
Youth unemployment
Authoritarianism
Neoliberalism
Portugal
Austerity
Precarious employment
Political messianism
Salazar, António de Oliveira
Sebastianism
|
| Rights |
© by the author(s)
Except for images or otherwise noted, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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| Language |
en-GB
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| page start |
113
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| page end |
140
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| Source |
Errans: Going Astray, Being Adrift, Coming to Nothing, ed. by Christoph F. E. Holzhey and Arnd Wedemeyer, Cultural Inquiry, 24 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2022), pp. 113–40
|
References
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Cite as:
Maria José de Abreu, ‘Camera Fog; or, The Pendulum of Austerity in Contemporary Portugal’, in Errans: Going Astray, Being Adrift, Coming to Nothing, ed. by Christoph F. E. Holzhey and Arnd Wedemeyer, Cultural Inquiry, 24 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2022), pp. 113-40 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-24_5>