“POST-”: AN AMBIGUOUS PREFIX Professor Kostas Gavroglu ISRF Academic Advisor
W
riting a book in these days is a truly daunting task. The bibliography for almost any subject is out of control, refereeing processes are getting more and more time consuming, many referees think that if the author does not address their specific viewpoint the manuscript is highly problematic, no one really knows how many manuscripts raising original questions are rejected and publishers’ almost exclusive concern is with financial balance sheets. All this does not necessarily lead to the publication of good books, though of course many excellent manuscripts do make it to the end. And then comes the excruciating process of reviews and, more importantly, of having an audience to engage with the books. This is why the ISRF’s book launches are so very important— academically as well as socially. Reading the pieces by Gábor Scheiring, Oche Onazi, and Manjeet Ramgotra that have been included in this ISRF Bulletin, I am convinced that we have three great books on our hands. I had recourse only to the papers included here, and have not had a chance to read the books themselves, so rather than critically commenting upon their arguments my intention is to take their pieces as a point of departure to reflect on the idea of ‘post-individualism.’ The three books in question touch upon three seemingly unrelated yet complementary issues: Gábor Scheiring studies the ways “mutated” populism has contributed to the further consolidation of what appeared to be its foe, neoliberalism; Oche Onazi investigates the possibilities of a different conception of personhood in order to propose a legal philosophy of disability justice in Africa; and Annelien 43
