abstract
- The politics of dis/appearance concern a wide variety of complex issues. Engaging with historical processes and the different categorizations of (dis)appearance that they have engendered, we identify two key analytical approaches: First, we consider the meaning of appearance and disappearance within the liberal political theory, and how different political regimes have related to the individual-citizen and the public space. Second, we reflect on the inputs and shortcomings of the studies in biopolitics, their understanding of disappearance as part of the politics of life and their historical manifestations. Third, we consider a possible approach to understanding what we have termed as ¿social disappearance¿. After drafting a typology of disappearance, the article ends with some reflections on how we can approach the historicity of disappearance and with several research questions concerning contemporary devices (dispoisitif) or apparatus of disappearance and appearance.