Contemporary Histories of the Future: Politics, Planning and Uncertainty- Lecture by James D. Faubion

Hosted by the Birzeit University social and behavioral sciences department, Professor of cultural anthropology at Rice University James Faubion delivered  a lecture entitled:  "Contemporary Histories of the Future: Politics, Planning and Uncertainty" on October 14, 2014.  Professor Faubion addressed the transformation in “governmentality” in a neoliberal world from a biopolitical and statistical model to what he termed “parabiopolitical” - a model of scenario planning based historiographically on “contemporaneity” and on “management” of the paradox of “unintended consequences,” which has been adapted by governments, economic institutions, international organization, and NGOs.

Anthropologist Ala Alazzeh faculty member of the department of social and behavioral sciences did the translation and clarified the main themes of the lecture, and Faubion in his replied on questions by professors and students.