Disappearance: The Normalisation of the Extreme

What was once a hidden secret defining totalitarian regimes has become the defining problem of our times.Every day we encounter stories concerning the disappearance of humans, communities, cultures, and life sustaining ecosystems.Disappearance has also become a dominant theme in popular entertainment, as we have normalised the extreme.But how are we to make sense of this? This is not just about increased awareness. It now openly touches our most primal of fears - to vanish without a trace - which has been amplified in our visual landscapes that depend upon and yet weaponize the value we place on appearances. Recognizing this state of affairs and the ways in which societies are precariously hovering over disappearance fault-lines, this book will map out in original ways the history of the phenomena to offer an urgent and timely intervention.Moving beyond old ideas concerning bodies, the authors demand new ways of seeing disappearance to inspire alternative ways of thinking and responses