3 Review(s)

Can an individual act of suicide be socially significant,or does it present too many imponderable features? This book examines suicide like no other. Unconcerned withthe individual dispositions that lead a person to commit such an act, Usurping Suicide focuses on thereception suicides have produced - their political, social and culturalimplications. How does a particular act of suicide enable a collectivesignificance to be attached to it? And what contextual circumstances predisposea politicised public response? From Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation during regime changein Tunisia to Dimitris Christoulas's public shooting at a time of increasedpolitical upheaval in Greece, and beyond - this remarkable work examines howthe individuality of the act of suicide poses a disturbing symbolic conundrumfor the dominant liberal order.