French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Imhoff, K. Quiròs, Who Speaks? (for Non-Humans)
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

In the 1970s, when asking “who speaks?”, it was a matter of questioning the sciences and their procedures, the legitimacy of authorities, the foundation of identities, representative institutions, and even the history of cinema or literature. But today, in the age of the Anthropocene, the silent voice of the world has caught up with humans.

Asking the question “Who speaks?” now means expanding the arena of knowledge and politics to all those who, because they lacked speech, could not be included—animals, plants, objects, or machines. Aliocha Imhoff and Kantuta Quirós address this question with a manifesto for a politics of silence, which is also a mapping of its possible means: those of translation processes, new forms of citizenship, eco-diplomacy, attentiveness, or advocacy with which activists, artists, and thinkers seek to give a voice to the voiceless.

CONTENTS

Introduction

“Where are you speaking from, comrade?”

Cinema as Agonism

Overturning the Apparatus

Can They Speak?

A Second Life

Silences

Closing the Loop

Ghost in the machine

Cosmomorphic Art Practices

An Assembly Turn

Figures of Relations

Transparency

A Renewed Attentiveness

Translating

Bearing Witness

Standing in Court

Representing

Towards a Gaiacracy

Towards a More-Than-Human Democracy

Only Paradoxes to Offer

Homothety

For a Politics of Silence

From a Minoritarian Ethics...

... to a Politics of Silence

Aliocha Imhoff is an associate professor of visual arts at Paris 8 University.

Kantuta Quirós is a professor of art theory at the École européenne supérieure d’art de Bretagne.

Together, they are curators, art theorists, filmmakers, and directors of the platform “le peuple qui manque,” working at the intersection of art and research.

Written by Aliocha Imhoff and Kantuta Quirós, this volume extends the critical inquiry of the 1970s into contemporary ecological concerns. As scholars and curators working at the intersection of art and theory, the authors investigate how traditional frameworks of representation might expand to encompass animals, plants, objects, and machines during the Anthropocene. Drawing on methods ranging from eco-diplomacy and translation to artistic advocacy, the text examines how contemporary activists and thinkers strive to articulate the perspectives of those traditionally excluded from political discourse.

The book serves as a vital resource for readers interested in environmental humanities, political philosophy, and contemporary art practices that engage with ecological crises. By mapping out potential pathways toward a more-than-human democracy and a new gaiacracy, Imhoff and Quirós offer conceptual tools for scholars, artists, and researchers seeking to rethink political agency. It will particularly appeal to those exploring the theoretical implications of the Anthropocene, minoritarian ethics, and the evolving relationship between philosophy, art, and ecological activism.