Decapitated Economies is the fifth volume in the Intercalations series, assembling an unusually wide range of contributors to think through the concept of headlessness — economic, political, biological, and ecological — as a structural condition of contemporary life.
About This Book
From the invention of the guillotine to the bureaucratic logic of the museum repository, from shareholder reports to Indigenous sovereignty struggles, Decapitated Economies pursues a single provocative concept across radically different registers. The collection refuses disciplinary containment: neuroscience sits alongside housing policy, ocean pollution beside political murder, wheat banks beside human extinction. What emerges is not a unified argument but a constellation of perspectives on what it means for systems — financial, ecological, institutional, bodily — to operate without a head. Essential reading for those engaged with political ecology, critical theory, and the intersections of infrastructure and power.
Key Features
- 370 pages of cross-disciplinary essays, image works, and critical contributions spanning economics, ecology, neuroscience, and political theory
- Contributions by D.T. Cochrane, Amanda DeLisio, Armin Linke, Nashin Mahtani, Jeff Monaghan, Skye Moret, Alfred Russel Wallace, and others
- Design in collaboration with Katharina Tauer
- Published by Haus der Kulturen der Welt
What You'll Discover
- How the concept of headlessness operates across institutions, economies, and bodies — from guillotine mechanics to brain surgery narratives
- The structural links between cerealization, settlement, and wheat banks as forms of decapitated resource governance
- The relationship between corporate reporting cultures and the erasure of accountability in shareholder capitalism
- Indigenous sovereignty struggles and ocean pollution examined as parallel crises of decapitated political and ecological systems
About the Author
Anna-Sophie Springer and Etienne Turpin are the editors of the Intercalations series, published in association with Haus der Kulturen der Welt. The series is known for its interdisciplinary scope, bringing together art, science, and critical theory around pressing planetary questions.
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 370
- Dimensions: 130 × 210 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783981863536
- Publisher: Haus der Kulturen der Welt
- Publication Date: 2026
Perfect For: Readers working across critical theory, political ecology, architecture and infrastructure studies, and interdisciplinary humanities — particularly those drawn to publishing projects that resist genre.