reinscribe
ree-in-SKRYB
Definition
To write, record, or imprint something again; in the context of political theory, it refers to the process by which a movement or idea unintentionally repeats, reinforces, or re-establishes the patterns of power it originally sought to change.
Etymology
Derived from the Latin 'reinscribere', combining the prefix 're-' (again) and 'inscribere' (to write upon). It entered English in the late 16th century, originally carrying the literal meaning of writing over or re-marking a surface.
In the news
Brown argues that political movements seeking liberation often end up reinscribing the very structures of discipline and authority they intend to dismantle. This is critical to the book's argument that fighting for rights or recognition can sometimes lock individuals deeper into the systems of power that caused their original injury.
Wendy Brown Receives the 2026 Benjamin E. Lippincott Award for “States of Injury: Power and Freedom in Late Modernity”
Read the full article ↗Political Science Now