The minor gesture

Abstract

Manning discusses the politics of movement to the concept of the minor gesture which may pass almost unperceived. The minor gesture transforms the field of relations. More than a chance variation, less than a volition, it requires rethinking common assumptions about human agency and political action. It has the capacity to open new modes of experience and manners of expression and challenges the neurotypical image of the human - a view which devalues alternative ways of being moved by and moving through the wold. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari;s schizoanalysis and Whitehead's speculative pragmatism, Manning's analyses range from fashion to depression to the writings of autistics, in each case affirming the neurodiversity of the minor and alternative politics it gestures toward.