Burn The Radical Disappearance of Kathy Change Joseph Shahadi

On 22 October 1996 at around 11:15 am, the performance artist and peace activist Kathy Change walked on to the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, stood in front of one of its large outdoor sculptures, called Peace Symbol, doused herself with gasoline and set herself on fire, as students moving between classes and just inside of buildings watched, horrified. “I want to make a statement about life and death,” read the note Philadelphia police found near her body (Matza and Gibbons 1996). Change further explained her final act in writings she placed at the scene and in packets she left for friends and the media that morning. In one of these let- ters, her “Final Statement,”1 she wrote, I want to protest the present government and economic system and the cynicism and pas- sivity of the people in general. I want to protest this entirely shameful state of affairs as

1. Kathy Change’s writings, suicide notes, and manifestos, unless otherwise indicated, are reproduced here courtesy of the Friends of Change, a group formed by her friends to commemorate her life and disseminate her message. Although she left multiple documents, all of which could be considered “suicide notes,” the Friends of Change have referred to this document, found near her body, as her “Final Statement” so I am employing that description here (and throughout my essay) based on their designation.

TDR: The Drama Review 55:2 (T210) Summer 2011. ©2011 52 New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25 September 2021 Kathy Change 53 of performance menacing art.” (1987:79) of performance menacing art.” — and beauty — And finally, what instantiated social, cultural, and moral what cultural, hierarchies instantiated are social, And finally, 2

and by the and to same reappear token, [...] threatening to destroy the performer’s body, —

The use of public suicide as a method to agitate for and enact political change is an ancient tactic of resistance Self-immolation is that used reemerged to in stage the the mid-twentieth century. horrors of war by destroying the body violently and publicly in the name of peace. Beginning in Vietnam the era and up to and including the Wars, firstself-immolation and secondhasGulf been revived for this purpose and these actionswere inspiredby the ancient example. One notable recent example is a Mark David Chicago“Malachi” Ritscher, musician and activist who immolated himself next to the public artwork “Flame overlooking of Chicago’s the Millennium” 2006. on 3 November Kennedy to Expressway War protest the Iraq emphatically as possible. But primarily, I want to get publicity in order emphatically to But as draw primarily, possible. attention do this I plan to end my own life. to my To proposal for immediate social transformation. The attention of the media is only caught by acts My of moral violence. principles pre- vent me so from I doing must harm perform to this anyone act else of or their property, violence (Change against 1996a) myself... Such designed an to act, blur the lines between performance brings and the protest, ques- Performance has challenged the distinctions between art and crime at its experimental edges Andre “the According Breton simplest to [...] Surrealist act consists of dashing into the This into the as crowd.” you can pull the trigger, pistol and in firingstreet, hand, blindly, Surrealist act “simple” is meant to awaken and spectators to to “debasement” their own “exhilarating danger the or performance what art Self-destructive, Kathy “masochistic” encompasses O’Dell a calls 2. tions raised by public acts mortalof violenceself-inflicted, into sharp relief: Can suicide ever be considered using the same theoretical frames as performance? Could such an act be judged in terms of its aesthetic strategies? Is violence against the self ever a performance ethi- of moral, and political cal, ideals? Joseph Shahadi is a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at Tisch School of Shahadi is the Tisch a Arts/NYU and Joseph PhD at candidate a Studies in 2004 Performance will He defend his dissertation winner “RadicalAward. of Studies the Disappearance(s): Performance in 2011. A Brooklyn-based interdisciplinaryEmbodying Absence to Presence” Perform performance and Asinternationally. regionally, a scholar and artist artist, his work has York, been exhibited in New he is in interested language the between and relationship and the transgression, systems body, of power. [email protected]. See his work at www.josephshahadi.com. Figure Figure 1. (facing page) “TheDance of Change.” Kathy Change displays her new dance outfit, mask, and Music and Park annual Clark WestPhiladelphia’s flags, in embellished words, 1992 with at inspirational (Photo by Laessig) Diane Arts Nemea Festival. threatened by a conception of performance broad enough to include acts of violence? since the early 20th century when the Surrealists theorized the performative quality of violence Anthony Kubiak writes: I. War in the World wake of The impulse toward social disruption through the performance theoretical of in violence, the cultural and political revolution aspired to by was the made Surrealists, material by performance violence not in represented, performance art was The “real,” use of artists at mid 20th century. not directed toward like the the but crowd, Surrealist was bullet, rather more often turned similar desire [to that expressed inward by toward the “A the Surrealists] artist: finds its most graphic expression today in the work of those body-artists who and use often real, excessive vio- lence as a means of representation in (Kubiak their 1987:79). performances” wide range cutting, of counterintuitive suspensions, practices such penetrations, as piercing, and the self-starvation, application amongof other Kubiakfire, methods concludes, (1998:1). these terrorizing “Unlike works the desire theatre for that disappearance evokes to terror, show itself producing a visible sign of terror in (1987:79). the body”

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54 Joseph Shahadi

sensational execution of her suicide that lends itself to an analysis of her actions her of analysis an to itself lends that suicide her of execution sensational and planning for,meticulous performed the is public,it and and press them, the beyond to and she students the to message her carry to vehicle a as death her use to determination Change’s suicide.was her It to context a give and planning later,her of extent the reveal contents their hours few a herself killed she before packages 1996).the (Hammer retrieved one no Although 9:00 approximately at residences their at them for packages the left Change said 1996).students (Hammer PennsylvanianSeveral organizations Daily news The other and newspaper,campus Penn’s to beliefs,addition her in discussed previously had she whom with residents local two and students Penn life,six her to end to choosing was she why explaining dialogue seven-page writings,a her including of packages herself,delivered immolating Change 1996).Gibbons Further,and (Matza enough quickly or hot burn before not did alcohol because meat of cuts various on accelerants different with imenting exper been had she that effects personal her from deduced inspectors police Philadelphia ion: fash- it,a rehearsed after and act the championed.planned she She causes progressive the in students Pennsylvania of University the engage to effort an in times countless performed had be thought of as a generative and performatic and generative a as of thought be through and Phelan Taylor,by suggested paradigms the between and by persists ontology whose one situated is that performance of conception a being.propose of I elements and resistance of modes as representations against and within space/time,themselves across repeating edge knowl- of reproduction and production the in participate also can absences that arguing am I by transmission”there,’knowledge the ‘being (2003:20).of of reproduction part But and being production the in participate people presence: requires bodies] between performance ­transmits “presence”and “absence.”the writes,of for She ‘system term [her repertoire “the of understandings simplistic disrupts potential environments,performative virtual whose ern identity,tual postmod- oral,to traditional practices gestural,relates aural that and gesture a vir and memory space/time,cultural across as travel to capacity the performance gives what agency.political and cultural through knowledge For Taylor,between movement this parallel configuration of performance of configuration ­parallel PerformingRepertoire:Archive the Culturalthe and in Diana Memory Americas Taylora suggests singular,the is argument this performance.of In nature immediate, nonrepeatable and control”and (1993:148).regulation in eludes Embedded it where unconscious the and ibility ibility vis - it into so “plunges reproduced be cannot performance live of ontology Performancethe that in argues absence.Phelan own Peggy her embodied simultaneously body,she ical which through transfer of message,act political destroyed,an her she to which 3. Change (born Kathleen Chang) staged her suicide publicly,suicide her staged she Chang) where Kathleen spot (born exact Change the on throughout this essay this throughout by Westernhere it privileged employ so logocentrism” I one (6). discursive the with, embroiled always though from, separate as fields visual and digital, “the signal performatic, to Spanish from performático borrows proscribed, Taylorbecome has usefulness its that formulation new its to wedded “performative” so that be may Acknowledgingpowerful. and literate the to identity and memory social to claim the limits that performance of configuration a being, of element constitutive the considered is Westerna writing in where knowledge, moment of production the for medium a as performance (2003:5-6). discourse”Taylor embodied recuperate to wants ‘performance’ of of than adjective) (or quality a less becomes trajectory,performative this Inthe practice. sive discur- normative into agency cultural and subjectivity subsuming direction, opposite the in goes Butler[’s]it [Judith] in acts, that language to dimension. Taylor points tic Austin’s performative J.L. “[In formulation] writes, “performative,”from linguis - distinction representits its primarily formalize to and come mance has that term a Taylor- perfor of realmnondiscursive the “performatic”of term form adjectivalthe the suggests denote to Following Taylor’smay body Change’s that suggesting practice,am embodied I on work Kathy Change’s self-immolation was designed to shift the emphasis from her dancing phys- dancing her from emphasis the shift to designed was self-immolation Change’s Kathy — disappearing. in a maniacally charged present charged maniacally a in

—

in this sense. sense. this in — as embodied action that facilitates learning and conveys and learning facilitates that action embodied as — and disappears into memory,into disappears and invis- of realm the into 3 scene of her (dis)appearance,when,her even of scene — eventually deciding on gasoline on deciding eventually Unmarked: PoliticsThe of on 22 October 22 on am as transfer’ that ­transfer’ . performance bodies is ­bodies

— The espe-

and and - - Kathy Change 55 She had her loudspeaker 4 Kathy Change, 1996. (Courtesy of King) Anita Figure 2. Figure - - radical radical effacement

Change often performed wearing outrageous costumes: a US American flag–printed bikini top and thong, an American eagle, or a suit of faux marijuana leaves and sometimes a prop ballistic missile between her legs as a phallus (Matza and Gibbons 1996:7; 1996a:12).Fisher Like Phelan, I Like too Phelan, am con- Change, 46, was a 46, familiar figureChange, on which Penn’s opens campus, uneasily at various points The last time I saw Kathy perform was on a freezing cold November afternoon right - out side of the gates She at was Penn. wearing her big bird wings bumbersticker and mask, and (sic) some pasties, spangled panties and big high heels. representations.

4.

is imagined as appositional to a performance being, strategy and ontology I am calling disappearance. cerned with the capacity of per formance to elude regulation and control but I argue that as perfor radical disappearance, when, it cially is when, destroying This paradoxical - relation itself. ship of appearance to its nega- tive is the constituent element of a performance where the inten- tional abjection of the body vitalizes rather than destroys the self-­ Therefore, self. mance becomes synonymous which with is self-effacement, the ultimate expression of reg- This efface- ulational defiance. ment may take the form of a the corporeal absence, literal, performance of which destroys the body in part or or whole, a performed absence through which the life of the body is altered in relation to the dom- inant culture in which In the it either appearance resides. case, of its the body-in-the-world, embodies the performance being-ness of marked un-being by to authoritarian mark power, authoritarian power In in performance in other radical is return. words, disappearance, the presence Peggy of Phelan absence. argues that when performance enters the realm of repre- sentations it stops being This performance feature and of becomes her something argu- else. ment is visible bordered only by as what a it negative no “performance.” after-image, longer is which is con- Radical disappearance is the name I suggest “other-than-performance,” for that stituted in performance’s absence and reproduces itself within and against the circulation of Philadelphia neighborhood in which She it often resides. entered West the to campus the and danced on the brandishing College huge Green, homemade flags on which she’d painted vari- rhythmic patterns she danced to tape-recorded Weaving music and gave ous political messages. passionate speeches on behalf of nonviolent She social performed revolution. in various public spaces around Philadelphia but always returned to Penn and its students who largely regarded Heine recalled: her Ted with In bemused 2009 contempt. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25September 2021

56 Joseph Shahadi not accorded any special notice that morning, until she set herself on fire. on herself set morning,she that until notice special any accorded not the at presence So,Change’s Kathy And freshman Ludmila Zamah recalled, Zamah Ludmila freshman And 1996:A14).cringe”Raphael just (in and “show” library the saying,by sitting be would “People unwelcome junior,Saliba,an Penn Kate as a performances daily almost Change’s characterized derision.open with her efforts,treated her or ignored mostly campus,students Penn’s whose on allies few years,had 15 Change over for city the in elsewhere and campus on periodically appeared had tall,dancer the athletic that fact the 1996).despite Gibbons But and Matza (in revolution nonviolent dancing, to costumes,flamboyant commitment colorful Change’s and 1996b:1). (Fisher cries her amplified that loudspeaker the relinquish she demanded suicide,University spectacular the her before weeks up”the “wake in to students Penn passing apathetic at screaming began finally present: Change its When in tion interven- political disruptive a University’s as the not Vietnam-eraof but mime past progressive panto- quaint a as allowable were campus,performances League her Ivy the on unregulated Engram.Aramby (Photo Aghazarian) Robert sculptor by supervised project group a 2011), Figure3. leaders” and so focused her efforts on reaching them. reaching on efforts her focused leaders”so and However,her Statement,”in “Final later said as she students as “future Penn the saw Change Pelt-Dietrich Library,Pelt-Dietrich memorials. and speeches campus for spot popular a the against Vietnamprotest campus a to response in WarUniversity 5.

people. say,to those something of with for.one stood be she to what try her did asking never I person a as her to talking someone then,saw and laugh.I now a Every for words or crazy.as movements off her heads,her mock casting students bold saw I Sometimes Mostly, their signs, shake or her, then flags at her look of people one saw read I to try was,”she who knew campus on everyone senior about Parnian,said “Just Ali recalling If you stand there long enough you will see everybody”see (2010). will you enough long there stand youIf Itthe found]. is be Times[may preachingevangelicalscampus. to the Squarehazed of being pledges sororityfrom peoplewhere [...,] campus the of heart the “acall as people that library place the of front in green college the of Penn’s for Director Former Development VanPelt-Dietrich Library, Corson-Finerty, Adamspace the characterizes beside danced often Change by.walking just 2009) (Heine her,at sneering all...sometimes at mostly there me...but wasn’t or she like by her passed eyes.just my People to tears around.brought dancing It was poems, she her and ­playing (1967; photographed photographed Peace (1967; Symbol

(1996) Peace(fig.Symbol 3) PeaceSymbol, her regular spot on the College Green,College was the on spot regular her com Change’sKathy billcramer.by(Photo 1996. death, after flowers with FigurePeace4. adorned Symbol , — for a sculpture erected in 1967 by the by 1967 in erected sculpture a Newthe York Times) — in front of Penn’s of Vanfront in 5 Toleratednot but Kathy Change 57 Philadelphia Philadelphia where she was consid- — Nevertheless, Chang’s Nevertheless,

8 11 am with burns over 100 percent , “But then Times again, there York New of activists and often artists living clustered, communally 10 However, according to witnesses, her body, covered in gas- according her to body, witnesses, However, 6 article Times about her death Chang’s cousin, Sheldon York Shen, a professor of New zoology Eventually she left college and moved back brieflyto drawnCalifornia, by the 9

According to her friends Chang resisted the upwardly mobile ethos of her family and 7

and genetics atand State University Iowa the only member of her family to comment, said their family elders, that they had “viewed gotten [...] to positions of prominence by working their butts off [and] they expected as much 1996b:1). of their of (Fisher children. Most us [met their expectations]. And Kathy didn’t” “She was always a recalled an bit old of college a classmate nut,” to the In 1997, the University of Pennsylvania’s Division of Public Safety, in its first commendation ceremony for- exem Safety, Division of Public of In 1997, Pennsylvania’s the University plary He was police “exhibitingrecognized work,Officer William for heroism honored Dailey. Police University under emotionally stressful and physically dangerous forcircumstances” his role in trying to save Change’s life the year before (Burke 1997). Chang came from a family of accomplished academics. and mother Her her Gertrude, father a Sheldon, writer, an Stony Brook, engineeringleft China professor for at AmericaYork, of State University New because of the who the was William Hung, historian one of Chinese maternal Chang’s the revolution. grandfather, founders of in University Beijing, went to Yenching Harvard in 1946, where he taught until the early 1960s. was Hung one of a handful of intellectuals who endeavored to place Chinese history in the context of the history of theWest. Fisher’s In Ian wasn’t anybody who wasn’t. It was It the times, to anybody a who very1996b:1). wasn’t. large (Fisher extent” wasn’t Theyear before her death Change asked her father for help in paying a dental bill and herefused, a “huge blow” to according her 1996b:1). friends (Fisher Change’s former housemate Rogan Jo-Ann recalled in an email “She was interview, my roommate and friend. [...] I know she was trying to change the world but shared we dailyshared a living.home. We I was young and in my early 20s. Kathy was almost 40. She took care of me at a dark time in my life. I remember lying on her bed and chatting about life and the world as she sewed her elaborate costumes. I remember being very depressed one day. She dragged me to a local hospital and we danced in front of a huge window where people were receiving dialysis. That was a life-changing moment for (Rogan me” 2010). Philadelphia I neighborhoodslived inWest for most of the 1990s in similar circumstances to those that I describe here. Kathy Change was my neighbor for a time, although we were not friends. I was familiar as withwere her, many of us in the larger community of activists and artists I in saw that her partperform of and the we city. interacted once, oddly enough not in our shared neighborhood but at Olde City Hall one 4th, July where I was working as a strolling colonial figure.She alighted on the grounds in her American flag bikini toprotest. William Matza and Thomas Gibbons Jr., reporting on the incident for Thomas the Matza Gibbons and Jr., William Kathleen Chang was born in Ohio in 1950 but grew up in the she Bronx wrote where, in

8. 6. 7. 9. Inquirer wrote that witnesses “tongue saw of a fire lick 10 feet into as the Change’s air” body ignited in a sudden flash of Students brilliance in (1996). the library rushed to a large pic- ture window and watched with dawning horror engulfed beganas in to Change, flames, dance. University Police Officer Bill Dailey saw the blaze and ran though toward the it, sudden confla- gration was so intense he help did With not realize a person was burning until he came closer. Dailey covered Change in his from patrol a jacket bystander, and rolled her on the ground to smother the flames (Burke 1997). oline, kept reigniting Dailey oline, (Fisher tended 1996a:12). to Change until a Philadelphia Fire and Rescue team arrived and transported her to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Kathy (Hammer Change 1996). was pronounced dead at 11:48 of her body (Matza and Gibbons 1996). her her accomplished journal, immigrant family placed extraordinary pressure on her to be suc- cessful.

10. 11. (or close to it) in dilapidated Victorian (or houses close and to warehouse it) Victorian squats. in dilapidated brilliant, demanding family brilliant, was intolerant of her eccentricities and disowned her (Fisher 1996a:12). instead After was a drawn brief to tenure ’60s at counterculture. Mills College in Oakland, University Chang attended California, the Bronx campus York of New emerging renaissance Philadelphia, in Chinese cultural activism there before West settling in where surrogate an family extended, ered a althoughflower not child, especially political (Fisher 1996b:1). Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25September 2021

58 Joseph Shahadi 14. 13. 12. ble at the point the economy collapses”[1978?]). economy (Change the point the at ble proba- most is of disbelief’ moment ‘unanimous this [...] disbelief.realistically unanimous But imagination.collective the of of moment ments a Wejust with instantly them dissolve can “Transformation”philosophy. fig- are system wrote,economic She and system political “Our leading herself “The ined Transformation”performances.her of theme the was this and immediately”[1978?]).away imag- (Change swept Change be must bureaucracy corrupt whole home.come government.and their East Middle The the U.S.of The out pull must military instantaneously,to people American simultaneously, renounce and denounce spontaneously and her in “Transformationcaptured Manifesto.”Party the wrote,for She is salvation only “Our she States,sentiment United a the of government the renouncing abruptly by materiality and identity.ethnic and icy corruption,eradicate that unkindness,could concluded Americans She pol- over conflicts internecine superseded that revolution social of vision unifying a by struck 1996b:1).concerns,(Fisher was political meditating Change previous while her Abandoning as to “The referred revelation,Change This Transformation,”which vision a as her to came alternative,an political founding Transformationbeliefs: her on based Party office”elected after available candidacy release,any her press “for announcing 1996 a in life her (Fisher whiskey Canadian of fifth a with pills chasing again,time suicide this attempted Chang the University of Pennsylvania,of titled University the “AStudents,”Penn Sympathetic to Note wrote: Change at left she packets the in included she note suicide cohesion.the for In depend society modern of structures oppressive the which upon agreement collective of veil the pierce to attempts as (Fisher 1996b:1). (Fisher fight a had overdose,they’d barbiturate home,after by Riverdale suicide their in bed in dead 1996b:1).(Fisher scars mother permanent her 14,ing found was Then,Chang she when mak- and wrists divorced, her parents cutting her when time first the for herself kill to tried

The notion of an instantaneous shift away from the status quo is a hallmark of Change’s of hallmark a is quo status the from away shift instantaneous an of notion The n.d.) Change be.of to (Friends happens she wherever and campus Pennsylvania of University afternoons,the Sunday on on steps Philadelphia Museum the Art at demonstrations political art performance her does She New through York,since”has left and [...] “hardly 1981 in Philadelphia in landed Change passing [...A]fter complex Messianic a called was this that discovered world.soon She life her changed which revelation a had Change 1978 In in to shift name next point, “Change” her the this modified Chang, described by had who Beginning in her early teens, Chang’s life was punctuated by suicide.by punctuated Kathleen was teens,young life early The Chang’s her in Beginning wipes out the economic system”economic the Gibbons1996:7). out Matzaand wipes (in that crash a be war, to has nuclear there in end to not world the for order in that was premise whole “Her said, he transformation social Change’sInquirerof Philadelphiaabout concept the by Questioned dorm. his of lobby PennTalk,the in Change November,Kathy previousfrom the packet receiveda who students the of one was show, radio cable-feed his on Change interviewed McGeever,had Brendan Penn who 20-year-old junior a circles. intellectual and literary American Asian in figure controversial, if important, an become Hehas award. achievement lifetime a second the and stories short of tion Newin produced York.wright AwardsBook American receivetwo to Heon went play- American Asian first the in San became Theater and American Francisco Asian Frankthe founded Chin nose” her (in of 1996b:1). bridge Fisher the hollow by the in tears of well a was There creaked. it arm her moved I didn’t she when room move[and] her into went I When work. wouldn’tfor she late be that so up mother] [my wake should I thought I when school to go to out way the on was “I journal, her in wrote Chang pamphlets. homemade her of one accepted and removedher, approached I presentlywho disapprovingrangers parkthe scowlsof the Ignoring insect. giant a like strangeness, Sheradiated 1996b:1). 12 After a volatile marriage to playwright and novelist Frank Chin Frank novelist and playwright to marriage volatile a After 14 Change viewed her performances her viewed Change — she was going to save the save to going was she — the first in 1989 for a collec- a for 1989 in first the 13 ended, Kathy Change 59 if — writes, “Students American-Statesman writes, Austin The (1996b) 15

by the mainstream The media reporting after Michael for her Raphael, death. —

I have tried to the reproduce format and line breaks of texts Kathy because Change’s they are very particular and suggest a rhythm that mimics the effect of her speech. For many years I have thought that Penn be a good place to Transformation. start Would the If this action I am taking succeeds I hoped it might spark some interest In what I was trying to say. Nevertheless, the mainstream Nevertheless, media focused not on analyzing her but political positions, I first planned to take this action a I year wrote ago. up xeroxed final (sic) statements, A economic and year collapse then ago, seemed them, I to backed be down. the most the likelihood of the impending war with Iraq Today imminent danger threatening us. rapidly escalating into a nuclear holocaust eclipses the likelihood of economic collapse as being by far the more serious and (1996a) scary crisis. I’ve tried to do this several times before, And failed. If this is the right thing to do, Heaven will help me. If not, Well, I’ll be Nevermind. seeing (1996b) you around. Even many of her supporters on who Penn’s emerged campus, after her death to eulo- However, despite her careful planning Change’s politics were However, rendered in vague terms 15. Associated Press in an account published in at all who for years had walked by her with indifference or unease as she ranted on couldn’t stop talk- “What They ing remembered (1996:A14). [...] little about of though” her her suicide. message, said Penn graduate student Kyle was Bartlett she in against? Raphael’s Everything,” account: “Destruction of the Government However rain with this forest. a (A14). charac- capital G” was not terization is not entirely accurate; Transformation” Kathy Change’s “The focus on she was abstract, passionately engaged with world politics and related them to her overall vision And she often typewritten of produced tracts social short, containing revolution. her analysis of current events to urge her audience to become politically involved. rather Change’s history of previous lending suicide weight attempts, to the assumption that her A suppositionfinal that act seemed of even self-destruction more was born of existential despair. likely when coupled with the posthumous revelation that Change had been planning her self- immolation Change’s for Anita best at According King, friend least to a year (Fisher 1996a:12). and the sometime year housemate, before her death she and their other housemates discov- ered a leaking jar of gasoline in Change’s backpack and talked her out of killing herself (Fisher Change wrote “Final 1996b:1). in Statement”: her And “Note in to her Sympathetic Penn Students”: assumed gize that her mental in illness letters was to the the motivation editor, behind her sui- Mad “She of to was course. kill mad, herself when she cide. could have continued as a dancer Another of the documents she left for her allies on campus is a seven-page dialogue between a who argue and “Con” for another and “Change” named against character her named impend- throw away your whole life just to be one “You’d day’s headline and the ing next suicide. day’s “That one day will answers be Change. enough to get the “Yeah,” Con questions. trash?” (Change 1996c). started” Transformation Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25September 2021

60 Joseph Shahadi tions. organiza- century,and 20th individuals the on of intelligence of pages of thousands compiling middle the since has,organizers fact,FBI progressive in the followed that know now we Act character.different Information necessarily of a Freedom on the under filed lawsuits to Thanks take they turmoil inner of reflections than rather statements political as considered when ever themselves”for think paranoid,(1996d).face,to seem their people assertions how- On some her provoke can I hope delusional,I paranoid but branded be will I this claims: writing her “For of agency”1996d).one (Change are tone However, cies extreme the of unaware not was Change agen- intelligence all level higher some On yet? public the to known not is name whose agency oppressed.”and deceived world the of people the “keep exist,insisted,whom groups,governments,Change of hate extremists,to all racial religious and multiple,into aunwinnable ments authority” of world “secret influence “causes” linking the to senti- revolutionary of diffusion directions”this [1978–1981?]).futile attributed (Change She into them change,channel for and work to want who people idealistic attract groups These [...] people manipulate and misdirect to exist they actuality change,in social when gressive rights, human morality, for be cause, to own pretending its for groups.fighting Each pro- or of array this at look to detachment: bewildering critical “It’s and passion both demonstrates issues,single she to attachment parochial their for them criticizes and organizations gressive deranged. simply was she assumption the complicate madness,does with it incompatible itself in 1996b:1).(Fisher not,self-awareness is of self-awareness level While unexpected an onstrating her,following were agents Federal that belief own dem- her mocked often she performing when 1996b:1).trip”Fisher ego (in big a it’s complex.And said messianic She a meet. admitted She a complex.”“messianic ever would you person said, self-critical King most Anita the was “She savior,a as her herself of of Transformationimage vision central the of result revelation,the as her 1996b:1).to referred Further,she status, when mental as own her lampooned gently she (Fisher illness mental of diagnosis official an years,had many ever for psychiatrists seen act: final her on take nuanced more a 2010,had in Corson-Finerty Corson-Finerty,the in know,”Penn’s for VanDevelopment of Director the wrote Library,Pelt-Dietrich Adam don’t I achieved...what? have could protest ultimate her that think to mad peace.was for She 16. “Who is the secret authority?”asked,secret she the intelligence FBI, is some the “Who or NSA,it CIA “Is or pro- various with involvement of history her lists Change where document untitled an In Change, had not who or whether unclear act, is final it her of excess horrific the Despite her].ignore (2010) [to impossible became it herself killed she it.when But see to want didn’t I her.witness,but ignored her doing I doing was and she what knew I witness.her labels.[...] respect about I not To dancing just was Kathy when extent some it’s think I end not.the or In ill mentally was she whether judge can’t I feel I Ultimately that. with do to what know don’t we beliefs their for himself sacrifices someone when crazy...was she thought I but evil fight to gun Wea up pick who people celebrate ing information on peaceful groups within the United States. The reports were a disturbing echo of an earlier era era earlier an of echo disturbing a were reports UnitedThe States. the within groups peaceful on information ing maintain- and accumulating was Defense of Department the of secretivecomponent highly a that reporting began outlets media major 2005, December “In lawsuit: FOIA the through obtained documents Department Defense of pages of hundreds of review its on based report a Union (ACLU) released Liberties Civil American the George of 2007, President in administration And the (2005). to Bush W. opposition political stifle to attempt an was charged question in organizations the what in groups protest antiwar and rights civil multiple on years eral New overYorksev- documents internal of pages 3,500 least at compiled FBI the Timesthat reported subsequently the of Lichtblau Eric United (ACLUStates 2007). the across “suspicious incidents”reported 1,500 than more the among Iraq,wereincluded in war the to related issues protesting at wereaimed which of most gatherings, cal politi- peaceful four-dozenPentagonsecret nearly Newsa revealedthat NBC obtained which In2005, database, 16 And the notion that distinct governments are mostly facades that obscure the influence the obscure that facades mostly are governments distinct that notion the And Daily PennsylvanianDaily 1996).(Corson-Finerty However, Change recalling Kathy Change 61 - - and made the — although 17 an era when the FBI under J. Edgar infiltratedHoover civil

, which is doing, the advantage of employing perfor —

that the US was headed into Americans another are war while in Iraq, — Suicide: A “The Study in term Sociology suicide Emile Suicide: is Durkheim applied writes, a world that acted upon her, to but be one with a sure, that her world she, spectacular that pub- acted upon her, — , or self-murder, reflects, or thoseWesternselbstmord self-murder, descriptors context, whilein a other countries around

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, “To dismiss ‘deranged’ Change or as irrelevant relieves our sense of “To , Daily Pennsylvanian of unchecked and illegal government surveillance rights and peace groups, and the States militaryUnited maintained secret files on tens of thousands of American 2007). (ACLU citizens” “self- became descriptive expressions like part “self-destruction,” of the the Before term vernacular, “suicide” used were to describe the act. and The“self-slaughter” classical (and German current) “self-murder,” killing,” term the world have their and own words definitions (Leenaars 2003:131). Paul Root Wolpe, assistant professor of sociology at Penn’s Center wrote for in Bioethics, Wolpe, Paul Root I am taking this action out of hope Not despair. By destroying my material corpus I want to free my spirit So that it can jump inside of you (1996b) My intention here is not to argue for Kathy Change’s sanity in light of her extreme actions In understanding public suicide as a mode we of must performance, first parse the complex 17. “denied guarantees of health care and and human that services” continued US interference in the Middle East would result (Change in American 1996e). a homeland” direct “the attack on Understood in these terms we can read Change’s statements as both personally paranoid lic suicide, also If lic acted Change suicide, upon. was mentally ill she was also a political activist and per month of her suicide politically astute. the unease and allows us to avoid confronting her act though with never respect, with approval. It is also not fair to her; she was often eloquent in defense of and her whether beliefs, or not there was nothing incoherent we about for agree her Let a with political us, her, positions. In any 1996). event, give her moment, the respect of Wolpe taking her (Root act seriously” Kathy Change was explicit about the motivation “Note for In to her her self-immolation. Sympathetic she Penn wrote, Students” but rather to highlight the ambiguity in her a mental subtlety state, that is missing from most public accounts of her life Nor and am death. I arguing against an understanding of Kathy Change as mentally ill Rather per I se. am suggesting a parallel understanding that restores the The political implied is context or “mentally used to assumed ill” in her designation actions. Change’s muting sui- the Change’s message case she to died further to marginalize deliver. her, cide was not a but private a She act, public made one. a strategic decision to use her death for a which larger removes purpose, her actions from the merely personal and places them back in the world formance artist and Instead these of identities focusing do on not why preclude she one another. took which her is life, the of I purpose her am of “reading” actions, concerned a psychological here with an analysis of what her actions are and interests of multinational corporations is a foundational belief of the contemporary anti- The assertion that secret globalization intelligence movement. agencies work in concert to - ille gally exert force is less fantastic in light of where contemporary “black the reports sites” rule of of law does which not emerged exist, after and the Abu led scandal Ghraib, to at scrutiny of the Guantánamo Bay military in prison retrospect and Indeed, many interrogation of camp. her hyperbolic pronouncements proved to be As alarmingly in prescient: her prediction there is a general understanding of the act as self-intentioneda deathself-inflicted, (Leenaars In 2003:131). mance as a frame. There mechanism is of no the universally act accepted itself. definition of suicide Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25September 2021

62 Joseph Shahadi murder. self- to relationship its through understood be can society modern of structure the that argues society.its of limitations the describes occurs formula,suicide this Durkheim the Employing which in context the and structure; regulation,parameters, social and dent define integration indepen- two of intersection the scheme death.Durkheim’s violent In of types other from act this distinguish that consequences the of assumption or foreknowledge her and suicide the of result”intention this the words,(1951:110).produce is other will it In knows himself, he which victim the of act negative or positive a from indirectly or directly resulting death of cases all to 19. 18. Vietnam and Korea, to the now so-called suicide terrorist suicide Vietnamso-called now Korea,the and to India,like world the century,of 18th regions the many into in self-immolation of practice the to martyrs Christian peoples,the many from among today to antiquity from suicide altruistic of egoism,suicidologist than the suicide Antoon A.writes,Leenaars are,fact,“There in examples for motivation common 1959:472).less Dohrenwend a (see is suicide altruism to While lead can formation social either and second the in collectivistic and case first the in individualistic effective,rules,of are internalized set which a by characterized are altruism and egoism Both is ual society.individ- the where cases opposite,to suicide,operational ascribed altruistic Egoism’s is from detachment egoistic an of out acts individual the and life own ones taking against tions proscrip- social overwhelms it that great so as perceived is will personal of value the instance 1991:512).this Bearman In (see life social of spheres the of all across others to bonds weak has the in “modern”person who individuated world highly the of terms,suicide Durkheim’s the is,1985:115).suicide Seidman in Egoistic (see existence meaningful and identity personal of absence. tive rela- its of virtue by Therefore,study Durkheim’s in apprehensible integration”only “social is 1972:139).Cresswell (see altruism by motivated cases in proportion reverse the and suicides tic society,toward directed values tive a by integration.”means “social he (i.e.,Rather,lack a its of effects the discusses he regulation.excessive However,their what or exactly values define clearly not does Durkheim and standards of diminution or absence the represent here) consideration my of outside fall (which fatalism and over-abundance;anomie its and or integration social of absence the resent rep- altruism and egoism relations: group and interpersonal of pattern unique a with associated gration and regulation and gration

cide caused by intense altruism intense by caused cide sui- the call participates.we it So which in groups the itself,of is,to one that exterior in is conduct of property,goal own itself,the its not where something with blended is it where not is ego state,the opposite where the expresses adequately altruism alone,of itself that of name the given Having predicament the with community moral of problems links suicide that argues Durkheim ular example, the use of suicide terror to agitate for Palestinian liberation does not enjoy universal approval in in approval universal enjoy not does Palestinianliberation for agitate to terror suicide of use the example, ular way.this characterized be cannot However,tactic context. a this as in bombing suicide of Touse the pop- a cite apply would rubric the then society her and herself actant the by act altruistic an considered is suicide a if that reasonItto (2005:23). stands bombers suicide of intentions and motivation the describe to suicide altruistic SuicideProject on Chicago Terrorism, the Pape,Durkheim’s of A. Director of utilized Robert also rubric has here. employthem I sense that Itin (1959:467). is Rorschach’sof ity inkblots” “somethingambiguous,”have qual- and Dohrenwend“blurredthey the nevertheless argues of imperfect are P. Bruce sociologist Durkheim’s which 1972:135). (Cresswell categories, investigation calls an Dohrenwend as thereforewrong and right of ideas his within situated is rather but empirical entirely not is Durkheim’s study, in suicide of on analysis object work the his on Durkheim’sof philosophy moral imposition own the to due that argues sociologist Cresswell Peter The differentiated from her society,her from undifferentiated feature,asserts,a Durkheim of “primitive”cultures: 18 He identifies four distinct types of suicide based on the actants degree of social inte- social of degree actants the on based suicide of types distinct four identifies He — egoistic,altruistic,is types anomic,these fatalistic. of and Each — imaginative constructions that illuminate the role of the individual in society in individual the of role the illuminate that constructions imaginative to the state of the ego living its own life and obeying and life own its living ego the of state egoismthe to altruistic suicide. altruistic (1951:221) of effective reinforcing ties, etc.) that underlie egois - underlie ties,that reinforcing etc.) effective lack of might be described as a sociological exposition rather than than rather exposition sociological a as described be Suicidemight — or suicide bomber”suicide (2003:137). or of posi- lackof 19 In Kathy Change 63 : Daily Pennsylvanian

, where Change Symbol, poured gasoline The on Peace herself and set herself aflame, I will add, parenthetically, I thatwill theadd, use parenthetically, of theto signifyterm “martyr” suicide-as-protest is not uncontested,

due primarily to Judeo-Christian discomfiture with the political implications of its adoption.Nevertheless, it has been and continues to be used in this sense. Palestinian culture,Palestinian within or Palestine throughout the Diaspora, even among those who advocate for an end to occupation. Israeli Kathy Change’s death resonated for some in light of a history of altruistic suicide-as-protest. and where wascandles erected and byflowers Penn have been placed in her memory, classmates of (1996) my generation. On 11 June 1963 the Thich monk Quang who Duc, sat quietly in the center of a busy philosophy a student Roger 21-year-old burned LaPorte, himself alive on 9 November 1965, For me, her For public me, act touches I many was chords. profoundly affected by the events of including the the Vietnam’60s, fiery and deaths the of self-­ Buddhist monks in who died on the immolation steps of a of Norman fellow the Morrison, Quaker, Penta­ gon.

Adam Corson-Finerty, an alumnus of the class writes of in 1967, the Adam Corson-Finerty, each of these examples, Leenaars argues, each martyrdom of Leenaars is whether these argues, the it examples, motivation, is to extol a honor or religious a to belief, husband, pay The homage altruistic to - individ some other ideal. ual commits a suicidal act within the context of her society and for the benefit of hercommu- nity (137). Corson-Finerty places Change’s suicide within a particular chronological trajectory of altruis- which tic illuminates self-immolation-as-protest, and contextualizes Between her May actions. and several October Buddhist 1963, monks and a nun soaked their robes ignited with kerosene, and burned them, themselves to death in protest against the discriminatory religious poli- government led cies by These of Vietnamese Catholic the President South Ngo Dinh Diem. acts caught the attention of the world and their Yün-hua political impact Jan was tangible. writes that “served these as immolations an immediate and major cause for the fall of the Diem (1965:243). regime” Saigon intersection and set himself on performedfire, the most famous of these self-­ Photojournalist immolations. Malcolm Browne captured Quang Duc’s final act and the subse- quent photograph became one of the most enduring images era of Vietnam and the an iconic representation The of global self-immolation. conspicuousness of self-immolation as a form of protest proved influential for some US peace activists as an extreme moral response to the Including the war aforementioned Vietnam. in Norman Americans eight Morrison, immo­ during lated the themselves 1960s War to and protest 1970s Vietnam the (Fisher 1996b:1): Alice a Hertz, seminarian; Quaker Hiroko like Morrison; Roger a LaPorte, Trappist former a Hayasaki, American Japanese Buddhist; a Thoen, Erik student of Zen Buddhism; George another university Winne, student; Ronald a Brazee, high school student; and Florence who Beaumont, was described as (King “housewife” Sallie a 2000:128). King B. notes that a number of others also tried to immolate themselves during this but period, survived their attempts It (128). is beyond the scope of this essay to fully investigate each of these cases how- ever a focus on key examples make clear the central contradictions of 20th-century altruistic suicide-as-protest. one week after in Norman front Morrison, of the United Nations’ Dag Hammarskjold Library an organization Movement, that He was 1994:24). (Ryan a member of Worker the Catholic draws the inspiration for its nonviolent activism from and Catholic identifieddoctrine, himself I all did wars. this as as such “I’m in against the war, hospital shortly before saying, his death, Due to LaPorte’sa (24). this deathreligious affiliation, causedaction” uproar among Catholic author, organizations a working Thomas priest, for Merton, peace through nonviolent protest. and famous proponent of nonviolence denounced LaPorte’s actions and distanced himself from Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25September 2021

64 Joseph Shahadi could not bring himself to condemn LaPorte’s actions. LaPorte’s condemn to himself bring not could me”to (24).itself ents However, activist peace nonviolent and Berrigan,priest Daniel another pres- it as movement the of spirit present the accept cannot I that decision regretful the made] conclude,to him,him for leading embodied have actions irrationality”“[I such of that “spirit the of Fellowship the in friends to (24).wrote suicide Merton his inspired ousness”have may Fellowship,Peace view,because,Catholic his the in like groups antiwar such their “overzeal- 20. cerns the entire student body: student entire the cerns con- itself text the but beliefs experience,her previous felt,shared on she based who those to Students” Penn Sympathetic her behalf. to hand-delivered their “Note She on configured was sacrifice her and Pennsylvania of University the of students the on focused terms,was tical she of leader vision,“The a grand as her Transformation” of terms all for prac- Americans, in but herself, 1996b:1). world” saw Fisher the in Change (in save to sacrifice life,a her as it view “I of years suicide,”13 a last as the it of view most not for Cairnes,do companion Ray “I her said act of act (1994:25). Toway,this self-immolation of an act as an it perceive view proposes,to Berrigan is oneself” to violence doing than rather oneself upon violence taking of act an as it regard they of because act ‘suicide’ an as it regard not do nonviolence sort,of this proponents of act tative (25).C.life Cheyney one’s Ryan writes,of preven- loss a the endorse means they tainly “When cer action an victim,such and when aggressor an between body one’s placing violence,to akin as on”understood offering,”“taking be might LaPorte’s like self-immolation of acts suggests of Kathy Change. Kathy of case the in apparent becomes that schema his in alone,discontinuity terms a Durkheim’s in for accounted be cannot that ways in society to individual the of relation the complicates protest resistance”nonviolent (Ryanof 1994:25). aspirations deepest the suicide-as-­ with Altruistic ous a as self-immolation assess to help not does suicide) LaPorte’s against arguments secular even of subtext the was (which act immoral an as (1965:243).self-immolation religion Condemning of history the in destruction self- violent of acts of morality the determining of problem crucial the raises self-immolation sacrifice.mortal around discourse the haunts still that reason, this for that suggests Yün-hua acts ing viewpoints ing condemn”Ryanthey 1994:24).(in violence the of oppos- fury These full the themselves upon turning by nonviolence of principles own their contradicted logic,have of [self-immolators] ter mat- Ryan),view: a by opposite “as quoted the (and argued death LaPorte’s to subsequent ten

(Ryan1994:24). time a for America Latin to him Berrigan’sexiled that superiors service memorial his at him of sympathetically so spoke LaPorte’s Roger Berrigan by self-immolation, Father saddened and horrified personally was he Although I do not belong here. belong not do I party this crashed have I rage. wild my with Tryingcomplacency the through break to presence ungainly an am I shrilly scream I ALARM AGAINST ARMAGEDDON AND A TORCHLIBERTY.FOR OUR TRANSFORM WORLD. MYSELF AMERICA,OFFER TOI YOU AS AN IS INTENTION TOSPARK HOWOF DISCUSSION A PEACEFULLY CAN WE FOR BURNING ATTENTION,RADICAL ME FLAMING CALL A REAL MY BUT language: altruistic in intentions her her Statement”In stated “Final Change An editorial titled “Ordeal of Pacifists,”titled of editorial “Ordeal An the in — rather than suicide (25).suicide than rather self-sacrifice represented here by the Catholic priests Merton and Berrigan, illustrate the friction Berrigan,the and illustrate Merton priests Catholic the by here represented — which circle around religious morality,religious around circle which action,self-­ political and intervention that is nevertheless intended to be to “continu- intended nevertheless is that intervention political New York Times 20 Berrigan, employing the term Berrigan,the “self- employing of 11 November 1965,November writ- 11 of

(1996a) destructive - Kathy Change 65

21 - act. Therefore, in my Therefore, analysis act. egoistic altruistic but rather performatic suicide.

The willing, intentional The sacrificewilling, of life for the benefit of society is a characteristic of both Mulhauser, who is now the Senior Adviser and Counsel for the Committee, Mulhauser, US perhaps Senate Finance under- standably declined to comment and confirm whether or not death witnessing has Change’s stayed with him. But you do. You are the children of the host. You But you do. can talk to each other as peers You And take your rightful places At academia’s table with calm and gracious poise. As crazy as I have been, can be cool. You Have confidence in your beliefs are a step ahead of everybody else. You Underneath their herd stupidity Even the demo emulating morons and their sold out mentors Who appear to be the majority in your milieu, Are human beings Who long for the world to be freed and set right Even though they don’t know it. Do them the great kindness of forgiving their stupidity And put them in touch with the real heart Of humanity. reach through the mask To Is your task. There is so much at stake; (Change the 1996b) the future. world, The country, That altruistic self-sacrifice was Change’s intention was clear even to Ian her detractors. altruistic and However performatic self-murder suicides. motivated by altruism involves a in “integration”) Durkheim’s to terms society that degree is of unnecessary relatedness in (or, its : “Self-immolation evokes : a kind Times of noble death by pro- Fisher York writes in the New many on the however, Penn campus, and that To test, was clearly Chang what had Ms. in mind. piercing it was the last act moreof flag-waving recently, a whose and, crazy dancing, woman, shouts were dismissed as irrelevant Fisher echoes raises from (1996b:1). an the inter 1960’s” esting point that illuminates the historical paradox inherent in altruistic suicide-as-protest: is it possible to commit an altruistic suicide without the consent implicit and/or agreement, encouragement of That your the community? students of the University of Pennsylvania were Change’s community seems clear based on her attachment and to in she them, any imag- event, ined her final act as a wave of force that would disrupt their comfort and incite them to action. But many Penn students rejected the notion that she “Isacrificed don’t herself on their behalf. “I’m still an trying anonymous to witness deal chided, with care the why fact she that did I it,” Andsaw Universitysomeone ofwalking Pennsylvaniaaround (Feen senioron 1996). Scott fire” Mulhauser said the “left episode me has a mess [...] I can still see it The readily image [...] of her standing there burning will be imprinted on my memory (Feen for long 1996). a time” long, 21. When questioned about her intentions Ray Cairnes said he did not believe she was the mes- siah while she was alive and did not think that violenther actfinal, would change the world emphasizing that it “I don’t have after to her he believe death said, it,” (in But, Fisher 1996b:1). in putting Durkheim’s one’s was terms, Change’s belief that was most However, important (1). beliefs above those of society is not an of Kathy Change’s self-immolation I would like to suggest a third rhetorical frame that contex- tualizes the others: the Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25September 2021

66 Joseph Shahadi activist and author who wrote hundreds of articles and almost a dozen books articulating her articulating books dozen a almost and articles of hundreds wrote who author and activist Warweeks seven 82-year-old Quaker,Hertz,the fellow Alice of a Vietnamprotest in immolation her committed 2000:129). (King walks,”martyrdom willingly of one sense which Christian into traditional the is which of hands the at death and hand own one’s at death between difference a is there if tioned ques- Quakers] [many death Morrison’s Norman of wake community: the Quaker “In his for protest as auto-cremation of morality the of question the raised States) United the in Duc’s of Quang status Thich iconic the of something has (which 1964 in Pentagon the of steps the authority.to individual the on of self-immolation relation Morrison’s cal Norman example For hierarchi- the disorder circumstances these under acts self-destructive because culture a of ics dynam- power the visible self-violence.makes mortal intervention of characteristic acts this And through boundaries discursive and material redrawing by protest of value aesthetic the exceeds society.practice,suicide-as–radicalembodied performatic of edge ultimate disappearance the At shaping be to understood performances,be disordering) might (and disordered socially through individuals,that ways the with concerned inverse.am the I is one performatic viduals,my then indi- of behavior suicidal the regulate and integrate to capacity its through understood be may authority.its society,against rather,and of within force situated the being of of patterns virtue the by reveals example,for but case Change’s Kathy describing in frames altruistic or egoistic for made be formulations other the supersede needn’t suicide ception,performatic a con- effect.my and In intention both in differs altruism,suicide and performatic egoism both formed per is suicide performatic suggest I community moral own its within constituted is suicide istic altru- and order society. social the against configured suicide of act an motivates egoism While effects individual the how inverse,see the to in suicide public spectacular of effects material the of exploration an for allows model performance a but integration and regulation of terms in ual world,performance. the as with relationship in them situates and personal merely the from actions those removes that act: distinction public A a as it,designed preceded was that those like particular, a of confines the community. like-minded However, self-immolation, Change’s Kathy within situated is it that in character private itself,a to has exterior is conduct suicidal of goal despair.personal of private,expression a intimate ally self-destruction, the altruistic where Even designed is autonomy ultimate of expression 1991:286).Orrù However,and (Marra death and life suicide,between performatic that in choose to right the terms: basic most the in freedom and self-determination advocates vidual indi- suicide,conscience.egoistic committing collective an By the above placed is will individual of imposition the that in egoism to it relates structure.suicide nal performatic of feature This performatic formulation, where the sacrifice is performed to performed is sacrifice formulation,the performatic where 22. cal terms.cal a new paradigm in the relationship between individuals and the State in both ethical both in State the and individuals between relationship the in paradigm new a If Durkheim’s sociological project, broadly construed, concerns the ways the shape of society of shape the project,ways construed,sociological the broadly Durkheim’s concerns If individ- the on society of effects the of understanding an on depend models Sociological That this question coheres around Morrison around coheres question this That taking of human life. Anyone’s human life Anyone’shuman life. human of taking don’t we Quakers, As done. the what had in to believe Norman opposed strongly very and scandalized horrified, Morrison’sof member a quotes King SallieB. Friends were the who Meeting: of Meeting “There members were or not Morrison’s(129). not tradition or that within considered be might self-immolation whether was friends of community larger the before question the and martyrdom, of tradition a is there example, Buddhism,for Chinese to opposed as However,self-immolation, 2000:136). of history no has Quakerism while King (in dear” very hold we things the against went that act an committed had he that and this done not had both within and againstand society.within with both characteristics common shares Therefore,it while 22 This reconsideration of the use of sacrifice, describe unsettled,of to however use begins the of reconsideration This his and perhaps partly inspired his final act (Ryan 1994:21). act final his peace inspired A partly perhaps and his before

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including one’s own. So we were all agreed that we wished Norman wished we that agreed all were we Soone’s own. including . Suicide motivated by egoism is usu - is egoism by sacrifice.motivated a Suicide as — a man a — is telling in light of the fact that fact the of light in telling is disrupt disrupt society,inter its reify not — an argument could argument an and politi- ­others - - Kathy Change 67 - - - - the world, is the world, of in and Therefore, we might Therefore, 23 so that the endur — an expansive gesture. The flesh, which envelops and contains the physical body, whichThe envelopsflesh, andis containsan theexpansive physicalgesture. body,

Robert Topmiller argues the enhanced status Vietnamese women of during times of war is Topmiller an extension rather Robert than aberration of tradition, citing theVietnamese war proverb “when strikes close to home, even women must fight” (2005:134). ance of the mother’s body is associated with its The Alice expansiveness problem [...] with Hertz’s action then is not just quickly in the and fact that it destroys the maternal body, but in the manner that it destroys it: throughfinally, a death by fire that shrivels the body and folds it In into the itself. name of a maternal-type concern she for may others, thus be felt to have violated the conditions of her (31) maternal status. Setting aside for the moment the or troublesome future) notion present, maternity of (past, Admittedly, sexist culture and sexist peace movements have rarely accorded Admittedly, much rec- ognition to women who have acted in the name of peace; but I still wonder whether this explains the Might total Alice there invisibility Hertz. be of something particularly trou- bling about an act of self-immolation when performed by a woman that explains the resistance to speak of it? (1994:22) postulates Ryan that the reason for the absence of Hertz (and also a Florence Beaumont, [The maternal body] is opened filledand andenlarged, stretched In order to understand Kathy Change’s self-immolation in the context of similar perfor consider a less-noted act of self-destruction performed by a young woman named Nhat Chi on 16 the May celebration 1967, of the birth Temple Nghiem Mai in Saigon Tu outside the of the Buddha Before (King lighting 2000:127). herself on fire she placed two statues in front the Buddhist Mary, and one the of other Avalokitesvara Virgin the of Bodhisattva the of her, 23. as the defining feature of female identity I would like toRyan’s examine point from within these terms by suggesting an inversion of his metaphor and asserting an opposing image: Burning oneself alive and the productive potential of whichthe isflesh, is already burned away, tant to the tradition of But nonviolence than (23). either Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. despite her pedigree as subsequent a to premier her peace self-­ activist of the late 20th century, immolation Hertz writes, Ryan was Cheyney largely C. forgotten. homemaker from California) 55-year-old La from Puente, the ambivalent but heroic narratives that comprise the modern history of self-immolation is the dissonance between the stereotype of female the self-sacrifice and the gruesome reality of Inauto-cremation his (1994:31). view, bodily experience of burning alive is at odds with the archetypal scenes of female self-sacrifice: pregnancy and childbirth: matic actions we must also such as account those for the left absences redacted into that history, I this would list, add the Vietnamese many South To Alice Hertz by and Florence Beaumont. women who agitated for whose peace stories by immolating themselves throughout the war, notes that while are also obscured by the focus Topmiller on their Robert male compatriots. women and men Vietnamese participated in North equal measure on render the battlefield, ing the theatre the of same war terms, argument in might gender-neutral be made of the South of peace which movement, immolations were Vietnamese a key strategy. vision of Hertz nonviolent was engagement, once described by Cesar Chavez as more impor released when its dense materiality is performatically destroyed. Therefore, released in when my its Therefore, conception dense materiality is performatically destroyed. the burning “folded body into (maternal and itself”or otherwise) “shriveled” is not but rather enlarging opened itself outward, into If the generativity world. is not negated through the act of but rather self-immolation, exponentially expanded through violent the aperture purposeful, of then I suggest the focus on performances the of burning body, this act by men is a sign of pro- “opening”) reimagined as a found function violent unease (i.e., with “feminine” a stereotypically attack on authority. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25September 2021

68 Joseph Shahadi tural, and political authority.tural,political and social,of cul- processes visible make to suicides performatic of power destabilizing the to attests history of rolls the from others and self-immolations.women political these of of absence The history the from absence relative mutual their by relation,powerful time,more across made stunning a is Change’s Kathy through and with strongly so resonate words final Mai’s Chi That Mai Chi note suicide (147).her compassion In and love maternal of embodiments Christian and 1996. (Courtesy of DIF) of (Courtesy 1996. paper, on marker Black President.” 4 Change “Kathy 5. Figure there have been remembrances by friends and others who were influenced by her life and death and life her by influenced were who others and friends by remembrances been have there writings Change’s to texts.addition her In to link or post Change,also of which Friends the by 14 and networks social sophisticated into evolved internet.newsgroups the Rudimentary over all forums www.kathychange.com.on site: reposted and copied been since have writings Change’s web- a on writings Change’s of some posted have they and documents her of archive an tain Harris,Bob main- activist fellow and by King founded Change,Anita organization of an years after her death “Kathy Change” has both Facebook and MySpace accounts,MySpace opened and death Facebook Change”her both “Kathy after has years the one who burns herself for peace. (in King 2000:127) peace.King for (in herself burns who one the to peace Vietnamgive to men among love waken to dark the dissipate to torch a as body my offer I wrote: in the years since.years the in Friends The continued has that death her of point central the from ward out- online,movement culate a cir to began prepared carefully she packages the of contents the before.ever So,than scale larger much a on possible archive her of death,dissemination made her of time the at use home for available readily becoming just internet,was the which because community,Penn significant is the beyond people to words Change’s Kathy brought which 1996).dispersal,of gesture This rationality”and (Feen clarity her by struck received: were “People he responses of number the was he “overwhelmed”by the told and message her spread to obligation of sense a of out newsgroups internet local on writings Change’s posted Marcus Josh death.junior her Penn with stop not did influence her and responded,that years the over her,students few a had Change derided or ignored community Although most of the Penn the of most Although Daily PennsylvanianDaily - Kathy Change 69 - The New New The The Police Police The shared an original song 29 painter Anthony Anthony Campuzano’s painter , Daisey Fried writes, , “Change- Daisey Fried CityPaper 25 The Friends of Change organize a yearly 28 anniversaries of which her all death, appear , which wonPoem the All-American American Poetry 32 (King 2006). These artworks and events (King gener 2006). Portrait of Kathy Change is Portrait in the collection of the Pennsylvania and 10th and multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey’s - composi Tyshawn and multi-instrumentalist 31 27 Troubled ) Energy (2002), (Troubled Matthew Dickman’s 2008 poem “Trouble,” which includes Matthew Dickman’s “Trouble,” 2008 poem Change Dance (Troubled Energy), a partly Change composedDance (Troubled suite dedicated to the 26 , fifth, , 30 Portrait of Kathy Change is Portrait a representation of a representation, and a performance Pennsylvanian in The2001,Dailyyears “Five after lighting herself on fire in front of (2005), Portrait of Kathy Change was solo exhibited Portrait show in Anthony Campuzano’s Change Change Dance reports theDaily Pennsylvanian of Friends Change, in concert Counselingwith Penn 24 The . Hudes was . born the Hudes and In Heights raised in Philadelphia. 1997).

Abigail Leonard reports Abigail Leonard for related posters have been sprouting up on lampposts and lightOne reads boxes all ‘Theover the EarthMy city. Is Kathy Change’” For (a Soul’ Change quote) (1996). and urges ‘Vote interest in the legacies of Energy)obscure , “Norton’s Change Dance (Troubled wrote of Kevin Norton’s Times Jazz activists continues with the recent activist/artist Katherine (sic) Chang/Kathy In Changethe article[...].” Norton says, “Kathy Change refused to back down from her convictions that we needed a world with peace. wouldIt be easy to write her off as a nut But in job, anotherin a way way. you have to admire someone who had convictions with that amount of passion” 2002). (Steinberg The mixed-media work at the Here! Fleisher Are Ollman Gallery in March 2006. portraitCampuzano’s is composed of Change’s words font(as rendered well on as blocks aIn quotationremembrance)of Toynbee-esque color. infrom aMakihara’s using Change’s archive to paintCampuzano her fulfilled“portrait” her wish toreplace her physical body with her In that words. sense his of a performance: archive and repertoire both. Arts. Academy of Fine is collection one of the poems in Dickman’s “Trouble” for 2008. 1st TheReview/Honickman Book poemAward also appeared in theAugust 2 2008 issue of . “The performance artistYorker Kathy Change / set herself on fire while Bing sonsCrosby’s shot themselves / out of the music industry(Dickman 2008). forever” The NYC. performance 16 featured com- premiered October Kathy 2009 JazzChange” at Gallery, “For The on Sorey piano and percussion, Ben Gerstein on trombone, Okyung Lee Terrence on cello and Tyshawn poser on guitar. McManus Playwright Quiara Alegría is Hudes perhaps bestwinning known as Award the book writer for Tony the 2008 best musical In January 1997 close to 75 people, controversial activist Kathy Change was memorialized in a public ceremony by the peace sign on where she College made Green her 2001). final (Leonard protest” In a 2006 article on the Philadelphia Independent Media Center website Anita King reports of the memorial staged in honor of the 10th anniversary of Kathy death.Change’s In addition to the contributions of Makihara she and writes, Hudes “The presentations included an originalGround’ written poem for Stolen ‘On the This occasion by Lamont Steptoe, a talk Africa by Pam of the organizationMOVE (and) Mary Gabriel read Kathy’s In the 14 November 1996 edition of Philadelphia’s alternative weekly 1996 edition In the of 14 Philadelphia’s November Kathy Change has also inspired including several percussionist-composer artworks, Kevin and Psychological and ServicesPsychological and The Christian Association, held a forum titled “Kathy Change:Her Life and to discuss the impact of her Mission” life and death. than attended Hilary 20 Schaefer people” reports that “more (Schaefer

Portrait of Change Kathy Portrait memorial, at which memorial, activists and artists present work dedicated to or inspired by Kathy Change. A prominent example is the memorial staged for the 10th anniversary of her death in 2006, Makihara performed an improvisatory solo accompanied percussion by work, Toshi at which archival footage and Alegría of playwright Hudes Change, Quiara Norton’s jazz album titled “Lady Blue,” among other performances “Lady Blue,” titled 31. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 32. 24. posted online (see for example Makihara 1996) and on posters pasted up all over Philadelphia following her death. Change on a list of famous suicides, tion for jazz quartet, “For Kathy Change” “For (2009). Kathy tion Change” for jazz quartet, ated music, art, and literature art, reviews ated and music, subsequent especially news around reports, signif- icant milestones like the first Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25September 2021

70 Joseph Shahadi abstraction is to become one. become to is abstraction an resist to way best the perhaps then abstraction an is State right,the was if Change Kathy that realization unsettling the end,media.with the digital left then,In in are inherent we repeat of instances infinite potentially the in persists that gesture absence,a her is of performance the employed.thoughtfully and chosen strategy,carefully This was that strategy performance a herself. destroying by disappearance,appears is,radical who that a one as cide sui- performatic Change’s characterizes that absence this absent.is utterly It and present lutely nowhere,and abso- everywhere now is Change Kathy internet the via world: the into Change of expansion generative the in participate also suicide,representations her these of nature matic Arts FestivalArts in WestNemeaDiane byLaessig) (Photo Philadelphia. at Park Westand Musiccostume Clark in Philadelphia’s annual dancing 1992 in Change Kathy Change.” of Dance “The 6. Figure There is no question that Kathy Change’s suicide was a grandiose act.grandiose However,a was suicide Change’s Kathy also that was question it no is There vigil at the Peace sculpture on College Green, where Kathy ended her life in October 1996” (King 2006). (King 1996” October in life Peaceher the Green,ended at College Kathy vigil whereon sculpture annual the in part took some day the in Earlier [...] mediums. various involving day the throughout heard and seen be could polemic/performance of Change’sform Kathy presentations.ownunique ownaudio-visual their offered both event, the of organizers Harris, Bob ‘Aand poem King Whiteman’ Original Anita the [...] for Song persal. And by dint of the perfor persal.the of dint by And dis­ of point the to itself opened dancing,body her burning that way same the much in them ized de-material- internet the via objects virtual to material from archive Change’s Kathy of tion function. transforma- The ress per­ ments value,docu­ memorative these present. virtual endless,an in accounts newer these with coexist and online archived been also have death her of time the at written reports Finally,newspaper original the encyclopedias.online various in Change Kathy for entries in data comprises sources these of all 2010).from (King Information design,video-­ and self-publishing,to website work my limit to decided recently I outcome.the in improvement some make to like would I and many,with logue people many dia- in years fourteen last the story.writes,She spent have “I Change’s Kathy telling for cles vehi- primary her as artworks media/ new adopted has self well.as online her King Anita In addition to their com- their to addition In petually,digitally — also have a performatic a have also — now virtual and virtual now documentary” in prog- in - - Kathy Change 71 The Daily The Daily , ACLU.org , 24 October: , Times York New , 27 November: , Times York New . www . The Daily Pennsylvanian 6, 3:501–24. 6, Sociological Forum . http://thedp.com/node/8600 . The Daily Pennsylvanian The British of 2:133–45. Journal Sociology 23, , 14 www.facebook.com/pages/ December , 2009. Facebook.com , 14 November. http://citypaper.net/articles/111496/ 14 November. , CityPaper . Philadelphia: American Poetry Philadelphia: Review. . All-American Poem . Trans. John A. Spaulding and New A. George Simpson. John Trans. A Study in Sociology. Suicide: American Sociological 4:466–73. Review 24,

January. www.aclu.org/safefree/spyfiles/28024prs20070117.html www.aclu.org/safefree/spyfiles/28024prs20070117.html ( January). January.

17 http://thedp.com/node/10719 (April . 2003). Pennsylvanian Philadelphia. Philadelphia. Archive, Friends Kathy of Change performance. Change, Philadelphia. Philadelphia. Archive, Change Philadelphia. Philadelphia. Archive, Friends Kathy of Change Change, Philadelphia. http://thedp.com/node/8593 (March . 2003). Pennsylvanian (March 2003). www.nytimes.com/1996/10/24/us/woman-s-life-of-protesting-ends-in-a-suicide-of-flames B12. .html?ref=ianfisher ( January 2004). www.nytimes.com/1996/11/27/nyregion/the-manic-and-messianic-life-of-a-troubled-idealist B1. .html?ref=ianfisher ( January 2004). article020.shtml (March 2003). .dailypennsylvanian.com/node/8560 (March 2003). Kathy-Change/91374872908?ref=ts (March 2010). www.phillyimc.org/en/node/57187 Philadelphia: Philadelphia Independent Media Center. Change.” (March 2003). Durkheim’s Types.” Types.” Durkheim’s The Free Press. York: Bearman, Peter S. 1991. “The Social Structure of Suicide.” “The Social Structure of Suicide.” 1991. Peter S. Bearman, Burke, Shannon. 1997. “Public Safety Honors Top Cops with Houston Hall Ceremony.” Cops with Houston Hall Ceremony.” “Public Top Safety Honors 1997. Shannon. Burke, Archive, Friends Kathy of Change Change, Party Manifesto.” “Transformation [1978?]. Kathy. Change, A tract written by Untitled Kathy document. Change [1978–1981?]. to accompany a Kathy. Change, Archive, Friends Kathy of Change Change, “Final Kathy Statement.” Change’s 1996a. Kathy. Change, Friends Kathy Suicide of note. Change, Note to Sympathetic Penn Students.” “A 1996b. Kathy. Change, Archive, Friends Kathy Suicide of Change note. Change, “Change/Con Dialogue.” 1996c. Kathy. Change, A tract written by Untitled Kathy document. Change 1996d. to accompany a performance. Kathy. Change, Archive, Friends Kathy of Change Change, “Kathy Change Speaks on Iraq.” 1996e. Kathy. Change, “Letters to the Editor: in Kathy Life 1996. Change, and Death.” Adam. Corson-Finerty, 23 March. Phone interview 2010. with author, Adam. Corson-Finerty, “Interpretation of Suicide.” 1972. Peter. Cresswell, 2008. Matthew. Dickman, Life of Protesting Ends in a “Woman’s Suicide of Flames.” 1996a. Ian. Fisher, Idealist.” “The Manic and Messianic Life Troubled 1996b. of a Ian. Fisher, “Making Change.” 1996. Daisey. Fried, ( www.kathychange.org Kathy Change?” January Was 2003). Who “Kathy Change: Friends n.d. of Change. Activist Kills “Local Herself on College Green.” 1996. Ben. Hammer, Comment on 2009. Kathy Change. Ted. Heine, Anniversary of the Death of Kathy Philly Community Gathered Tenth for the “West 2006. Anita. King, References The Pentagon’s Threat: Secret “No Database Real on Peaceful Protest.” 2007. ACLU. Dohrenwend, Bruce P. 1959. “Egoism, Altruism, Anomie, and Fatalism: A Conceptual Analysis A of and Conceptual Fatalism: Anomie, Altruism, “Egoism, 1959. Bruce P. Dohrenwend, 1951. Emile. Durkheim, “Community Shocked by Suicide.” 1996. Ali. Feen, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00070 by guest on 25September 2021

72 Joseph Shahadi Phelan,Peggy. 1993. Pape,Robert A.2005. O’Dell,Kathy. 1998. Matza, William,and J. Thomas Jr.Gibbons 1996. Self Sets Ablaze.”Figure “Campus Marra,Orrù.Realino,Marco 1991.and Suicide.”of Images “Social Makihara, Toshi.1996. Page. Change www.toshimakihara.com/kathychange_english Kathy Official The Lichtblau,Eric. 2005. “Large VolumeF.B.I.of Files U.S. Alarms Groups.”Activist Leonard, Philadelphia Change: Longtime Kathy Abigail.The Late the 2001.for Penn at Held “Memorial Leenaars, Antoon A.2003. Perspective.”Rights: Suicidologist’s Human A and “Suicide Kubiak, Anthony.1987. of History: Stages as Terror.”The “Disappearance King,B.Sallie 2000. Self-Immolators Buddhist and Quaker “They Peace: Burned for Who Themselves King, Anita.author,with 2010.interview Email June.3 Zamah,Ludmilla.Death.” and Change,1996.Life Kathy in Editor: the to “Letters Yün-hua,Jan. 1965.China.” Medieval in Self-Immolation “Buddhist Topmiller,Robert. 2005. South Peace: Vietnamesefor “Struggling Buddhist Womenthe to Resistance and Taylor,Diana. 2003. Steinberg, Aaron.2002. Norton.” Kevin “Hearsay: Seidman,Steven. Meaning: 1985.Durkheimian of The Problem Tradition.”the and “Modernity Schaefer,Hilary. Memory.”1997.Her Honor Change of “Friends Ryan,Cheyney. 1994. Peace.”for Herself One Burns “The Who Root Wolpe,Paul.Death.” and Change,1996.Life Kathy in Editor: the to “Letters Rogan,Jo-Ann.author, with 2010.interview Email March. 3 Raphael,Michael. 1996.Suicide.” Fiery Commits Protester “Penn University of Minnesota Press. Minnesota of University Inquirer,October:B1.23 2:273–88. 2003). September (28 .html July). www.nytimes.com/2005/07/18/politics/18protest.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print( www.dailypennsylvanian.com/node/245082003). (March Five Fire Yearson Herself Lit Activist Green.”College on Ago 6,Rights 2:128–48. the during Vietnam War.” http://thedp.com/node/8593 (March 2003). (March http://thedp.com/node/8593 Vietnam War.” Press. University Duke 2003). (March norton Analysis,46,(Summer):109–30. 2 2003). (March .dailypennsylvanian.com/node/9500 2003). (March http://thedp.com/node/8593 24 October:A14. Journalof Women’s17, History 3:133–57. The PerformingRepertoire:Archive the Culturalthe and in Memory Americas. Durham: Contract Masochism,Skin: Withthe Performance 1970s.Art,the Minneapolis: and Unmarked: PoliticsThe Performanceof .Routledge. London: Dying to Dying Win: StrategicThe Suicide of Logic Terrorism.New York:House. Random 20:127–50. Studies Buddhist-Christian Jazz Times,http://jazztimes.com/articles/19740-kevin- 9,Hypatia 2:21–39. The Daily PennsylvanianDaily The .www The Austin American-Statesman, The Daily PennsylvanianDaily The ,October.23 42,Sociology Journalof British The 4,Religions 2:243–68. of History Theatre JournalTheatre1, 39:78–88. New York Times,July.18 The Daily PennsylvanianDaily The . The Daily PennsylvanianDaily The . The Philadelphia The Health and Human and Health Sociological