Disposable Futures: The Seduction of Violence in the Age of Spectacle with Brad Evans

Host Kathleen Stephenson speaks with Brad Evans about his book Disposable Futures: The Seduction of Violence in the Age of Spectacle, co-authored with Henry GIroux

Disposable Futures makes the case that we have not just become desensitized to violence, but rather, that we are being taught to desire it.

From movies and other commercial entertainment to "extreme" weather and acts of terror, authors Brad Evans and Henry Giroux examine how a contemporary politics of spectacle--and disposability--curates what is seen and what is not, what is represented and what is ignored, and ultimately, whose lives matter and whose do not.

Disposable Futures explores the connections between a range of contemporary phenomena: mass surveillance, the militarization of police, the impact of violence in film and video games, increasing disparities in wealth, and representations of ISIS and the ongoing terror wars. Throughout, Evans and Giroux champion the significance of public education, social movements and ideas that rebel against the status quo in order to render violence intolerable.

Brad Evans and Henry A. Giroux are internationally renowned educators, authors and intellectuals. Together, they curate a forum for Truthout.com that explores the theme of Disposable Futures. Brad Evans is Director of the Histories of Violence Project at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. 

Dr. Brad Evans is a political philosopher, critical theorist and writer, whose work specialises on the problem of violence. The author of some ten books and edited volumes, along with over forty academic and media articles, he currently serves as a senior lecturer at the School of Sociology, Politics & International Studies, the University of Bristol, UK.

Brad regularly writes for prominent news sources such as The Guardian, Independent, LA Review of Books, World Financial Review, Al Jazeera, TruthOut, Counter-Punch and Social Europe. His projects have been featured in various outlets including the New York Times, CBS news, El Pais, and Art Forum to name a few.