1 Introduction: Memory, Trauma and World Politics
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Dialectical Self-Overcoming and the Concept of Resilience
“Think You Right: I Am Not What I Am”: Dialectical Self-Overcoming and the Concept of Resilience Benjamin B. Taylor Department of Political Science, John Hopkins University, [email protected] Abstract: In this paper, I argue that “resilience” in some sense of the term is a necessary predicate of all subjectivity, and thus of all political programs subjects could be capable of undertaking. While contemporary political discourses typically call for “resilience” as a way to justify the social formations already in place, this does not mean that the concept of resilience is itself irredeemable. In fact, all subjects must first be “resilient,” i.e., continue to exist as themselves in some sense, before they can aspire to be other than what they are. Consequently, we cannot totally abandon the concept, even as we must continue to examine with suspicion the ways those in authority deploy it to secure their rule. I contend that the term “resilience” embodies—etymologically and socially—the classical tension between “being” and “becoming” that lies at the root of dialectical thought. By framing resilience in terms of dialectical thinking, we can see how it is both necessary for and dangerous to the pursuit of a robust and imaginative politics, as well as to ethical projects of self-mastery and self-creation. Keywords: Resilience, Dialectics, Critical Theory, Foucault, Machiavelli, Nietzschean Ethics, Self-Mastery Introduction The call for papers that SPECTRA advertised for this volume was titled “critiques of resilience.” The rest of the call elaborated on the sense of “critique” in the title by explaining that the editors were seeking papers “critically engage[d] with the notion of resilience by way of integrating theoretical, empirical, literary, and ethnographic research.” What this makes apparent is that the editors were not merely in want of a ruthless criticism of the concept of resilience aimed at eviscerating it until it had been proved devoid of any value. -
Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: a Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism
MAHMOOD MAMDANI Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism ABSTRACT The link between Islam and terrorism became a central media concern following September 11, resulting in new rounds of "culture talk. This talk has turned religious experience into a political category, differentiating 'good Muslims" from "bad Mus- lims, rather than terrorists from civilians. The implication is undisguised: Whether in Afghanistan, Palestine, or Pakistan, Islam must be quarantined and the devil must be exorcized from it by a civil war between good Muslims and bad Muslims. This article suggests that we lift the quarantine and turn the cultural theory of politics on its head. Beyond the simple but radical suggestion that if there are good Muslims and bad Muslims, there must also be good Westerners and bad Westerners, I question the very tendency to read Islamist poli- tics as an effect of Islamic civilization—whether good or bad—and Western power as an effect of Western civilization. Both those poli- tics and that power are born of an encounter, and neither can be understood outside of the history of that encounter. Cultural explanations of political outcomes tend to avoid history and issues. Thinking of individuals from "traditional" cultures in authentic and original terms, culture talk dehistoricizes the construction of political identities. This article places the terror of September 11 in a his- torical and political context. Rather than a residue of a premodern culture in modern politics, terrorism is best understood as a modern construction. Even when it harnesses one or another aspect of tradition and culture, the result is a modern ensemble at the service of a modern project. -
Collective Memory from a Psychological Perspective
Int J Polit Cult Soc (2009) 22:125–141 DOI 10.1007/s10767-009-9057-9 Collective Memory from a Psychological Perspective Alin Coman & Adam D. Brown & Jonathan Koppel & William Hirst Published online: 26 May 2009 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009 Abstract The study of collective memory has burgeoned in the last 20 years, so much so that one can even detect a growing resistance to what some view as the imperialistic march of memory studies across the social sciences (e.g., Berliner 2005;Fabian1999). Yet despite its clear advance, one area that has remained on the sidelines is psychology. On the one hand, this disinterest is surprising, since memory is of central concern to psychologists. On the other hand, the relative absence of the study of collective memory within the discipline of psychology seems to suit both psychology and other disciplines of the social sciences, for reasons that will be made clear. This paper explores how psychology might step from the sidelines and contribute meaningfully to discussions of collective memory. It reviews aspects of the small literature on the psychology of collective memoryandconnectsthisworktothelargerscholarly community’sinterestincollectivememory. Keywords Social contagion . Memory restructuring . Collective memory . Collective forgetting General Comments Contextualizing the Study of Collective Memory Why not has psychology figured prominently in discussions of collective memory? For those in social science fields other than psychology, the methodological individualism of The first three authors contributed equally to this paper. The order in which they are listed reflects the throw of a die. A. Coman : J. Koppel : W. Hirst (*) The New School for Social Research, New York, NY 10011, USA e-mail: [email protected] A. -
CRITICAL THEORY Past, Present, Future Anders Bartonek and Sven-Olov Wallensein (Eds.) SÖDERTÖRN PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES
CRITICAL THEORY Past, Present, Future Anders Bartonek and Sven-Olov Wallensein (eds.) SÖDERTÖRN PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES The series is attached to Philosophy at Sder- trn University. Published in the series are es- says as well as anthologies, with a particular em- phasis on the continental tradition, understood in its broadest sense, from German idealism to phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory and contemporary French philosophy. The com- mission of the series is to provide a platform for the promotion of timely and innovative phil- osophical research. Contributions to the series are published in English or Swedish. Cover image: Kristofer Nilson, System (Portrait of a Swedish Tax Form), 2020, Lead pencil drawing on chalk paint, on mdf 59.2 x 42 cm. Photo: Jesper Petersen. Te Swedish tax form is one of many systems designed to handle and present information. Mapped onto the surface of an artwork, it opens a free space; an untouched surface where everything can exist at the same time. Kristofer Nilson Critical Theory Past, Present, Future Edited by Anders Bartonek & Sven-Olov Wallenstein Sdertrns hgskola Sdertrns University Library SE-141 89 Huddinge www.sh.se/publications © the Authors Published under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License Cover layout: Jonathan Robson Graphic form: Per Lindblom & Jonathan Robson Printed by Elanders, Stockholm 2021 Sdertrn Philosophical Studies 28 ISSN 1651-6834 Sdertrn Academic Studies 83 ISSN 1650-433X ISBN 978-91-89109-35-3 (print) ISBN 978-91-89109-36-0 (digital) Contents Introduction -
AC Vol 42 No 25
www.africa-confidential.com 21 December 2001 Vol 42 No 25 AFRICA CONFIDENTIAL RWANDA 2 RWANDA Donor diplomacy Finance Minister Donald Kaberuka Everything is risky wins high marks from donors for President Kagame prepares for national elections while his exiled his anti-poverty plan but there is military opponents regroup in Congo-Kinshasa still much carping about the Kigali government’s forays into Congo. ‘In our situation everything we do is risky...’ General Paul Kagame told Africa Confidential on 9 December in Kigali as he explained plans to open up the country’s politics ahead of national multi-party elections due in 2003. ‘We inherited a very complex situation, we cannot hope for soft solutions.’ GHANA 3 Kagame’s hard solution is to pack dozens of political and social reforms into two hectic years. His proclaimed reforms point to a national unity approach of the kind adopted by South Africa’s African No shine on gold National Congress and outgoing National Party in 1990: a power-sharing government liberalising President Kufuor’s election pledge Rwanda’s authoritarian politics and writing a new constitution in the run-up to free elections. It is no of a ‘golden age for business’ is coincidence that South Africa is the Kigali government’s strongest African supporter. now being tested. Dire public Reality on the ground is different. Political currents are now a mélange of the options suggested by finances give him little scope for improvements in health and the Ugandan political scientist Mahmood Mamdani.* 1. Israeli strategy: to create a separate political education. He is also being pushed community of Tutsi (some 14 per cent of Rwandans) beside another of Hutu. -
Migratory Psychoanalysis Michael P
Migratory psychoanalysis MICHAEL P. STEINBERG Brown University In September 2004 I participated in a conference in La plata, Argentina, on the topic of “the State and the politics of Memory: Archives, Museums, and Education.”1 the conference was convened by the comisión provincial por la Memoria, an authority commissioned in 2000 by the provincial government of Buenos Aires (whose capital is La plata) with the task of developing a public and comparative discourse of Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung, or coming to terms with the past. the Argentine past in question is the military regime that held power between 1976 and 1983, unleashing a campaign of state terrorism responsible for the murder of 30,000 citizens, with a severe overrepresentation, in increasing order, of youth, secondary school and university students, and Jews. the city of La plata boasts an important university; as a result, the violence there was especially severe. the comisión por la Memoria is housed in a former police headquarters known to the citizens of La plata as a site of torture and other hor- rors. Its task includes the preservation and dissemination of the archive of the state security forces (dIpBA), containing 3,800,000 files as well as other materials, including, for example, 160 recordings of bugged telephone conversations.2 to my surprise and, I must confess, to my relief, the large public audience proved quite interested in the topic of my own contribution: discourses and sites of public memory and history in Berlin. As it turns out, a delegation from the comisión por la Memoria was about to travel to Berlin to consult with analogous scholars and archivists there, specifically with the archivists of the Stasi files. -
The Rwandan Genocide: Combating Stereotypes And
The Rwandan Genocide: Combating Stereotypes and Understanding the Origins Nicola Skakel Senior Honors Thesis Department of History April 9th 2018 Defense Committee: Dr. Susan K. Kent, Department of History, Primary Advisor Dr. Matthew Gerber, Department of History, Honors Council Representative Dr. Paul Shankman, Department of Anthropology, Advisor 1 Introduction On the 7th of April 1994, the small east African country of Rwanda erupted into one of the most deadly and intimate genocides the modern world had ever witnessed. Whilst the western world stood by and watched in just 100 days over 800,000 Rwandans out of a total population of 7 million, were systematically murdered in the most brutal and violent of ways. Those who were targeted made up the country’s minority ethnic group the Tutsis, and moderates from the majority group, the Hutus. For many, the legacy of Rwanda is a monstrous example of extreme pent up ethnic tensions that has its roots in European colonialism. In contrast, I will argue that the events not just of 1994 but also the unrest that proceeded it, arose from a highly complex culmination of long-standing historical tensions between ethnic groups that long pre-dated colonialism. In conjunction, a set of short-term triggers including foreign intervention, civil war, famine, state terrorism and ultimately the assassination of President Habyarimana also contributed to the outburst of genocide in 1994. Whilst it would be easy to place sole responsibility on European colonists for implementing a policy of divide and rule and therefore exacerbating ethnic tensions, it seems to me that genocide is never that cut and dried: it can never be explained by one factor. -
The 2015 Auschwitz-Trial of Lüneburg
Human Rights III, Spring 2016 Astrid Juckenack (930613-T005) The 2015 Auschwitz-trial of Lüneburg: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Collective Memory of the Holocaust in Nazi-trials in Modern-day Germany. Author: Astrid Juckenack Malmö Högskola Human Rights III; MR106L Spring 2016 Supervisor: Malin Isaksson 1 Human Rights III, Spring 2016 Astrid Juckenack (930613-T005) Abstract The points of departure in this thesis are the reciprocal relationship between the memories of human rights violations, the application of the relevant law and the understanding of what is criminal, as well as the recent trend in German courts to belatedly try low-profile Nazi- criminals. To explore these phenomena further, a critical discourse analysis incorporating historical elements is conducted on the 2015 trial of “the bookkeeper of Auschwitz” Oskar Gröning and the related media-reports. By identifying and investigating the expression of collective memory therein, a shift is revealed in that low-level participation in the Holocaust is no longer remembered as a moral infringement exclusively, but accepted as a criminal act for which a perpetrator ought to be held liable. Alongside Holocaust-focused collective memory, there are further tendencies toward a distinct memory of the prolonged failure of the German judiciary. It was thus found that long-term societal change can prevail against a deeply ingrained culture of impunity. Keywords: human rights, collective memory, Holocaust, Germany, Auschwitz, Auschwitz trial, Oskar Gröning, SS, accessory to murder, impunity Wordcount: 16,497 words 2 Human Rights III, Spring 2016 Astrid Juckenack (930613-T005) Table of Contents Abstract 2 Abbreviations 6 1. Introduction 7 1.1 Introduction to the Problem Area 7 1.2 Research Problem, -Questions and –Aim 8 1.3 Relevance for the Field of Human Rights 9 1.4 Delimitations 9 1.5 Ethical Considerations 10 1.6 Disposition 10 2. -
Memory-Modulation: Self-Improvement Or Self-Depletion?
HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY published: 05 April 2018 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00469 Memory-Modulation: Self-Improvement or Self-Depletion? Andrea Lavazza* Neuroethics, Centro Universitario Internazionale, Arezzo, Italy Autobiographical memory is fundamental to the process of self-construction. Therefore, the possibility of modifying autobiographical memories, in particular with memory-modulation and memory-erasing, is a very important topic both from the theoretical and from the practical point of view. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the state of the art of some of the most promising areas of memory-modulation and memory-erasing, considering how they can affect the self and the overall balance of the “self and autobiographical memory” system. Indeed, different conceptualizations of the self and of personal identity in relation to autobiographical memory are what makes memory-modulation and memory-erasing more or less desirable. Because of the current limitations (both practical and ethical) to interventions on memory, I can Edited by: only sketch some hypotheses. However, it can be argued that the choice to mitigate Rossella Guerini, painful memories (or edit memories for other reasons) is somehow problematic, from an Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy ethical point of view, according to some of the theories of the self and personal identity Reviewed by: in relation to autobiographical memory, in particular for the so-called narrative theories Tillmann Vierkant, University of Edinburgh, of personal identity, chosen here as the main case of study. Other conceptualizations of United Kingdom the “self and autobiographical memory” system, namely the constructivist theories, do Antonella Marchetti, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, not have this sort of critical concerns. -
Stony Brook University
SSStttooonnnyyy BBBrrrooooookkk UUUnnniiivvveeerrrsssiiitttyyy The official electronic file of this thesis or dissertation is maintained by the University Libraries on behalf of The Graduate School at Stony Brook University. ©©© AAAllllll RRRiiiggghhhtttsss RRReeessseeerrrvvveeeddd bbbyyy AAAuuuttthhhooorrr... Communism with Its Clothes Off: Eastern European Film Comedy and the Grotesque A Dissertation Presented by Lilla T!ke to The Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature Stony Brook University May 2010 Copyright by Lilla T!ke 2010 Stony Brook University The Graduate School Lilla T!ke We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. E. Ann Kaplan, Distinguished Professor, English and Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies, Dissertation Director Krin Gabbard, Professor, Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies, Chairperson of Defense Robert Harvey, Professor, Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies and European Languages Sandy Petrey, Professor, Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies and European Languages Katie Trumpener, Professor, Comparative Literature and English, Yale University Outside Reader This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School Lawrence Martin Dean of the Graduate School ii Abstract of the Dissertation Communism with Its Clothes Off: Eastern European Film Comedy and the Grotesque by Lilla T!ke Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature Stony Brook University 2010 The dissertation examines the legacies of grotesque comedy in the cinemas of Eastern Europe. The absolute non-seriousness that characterized grotesque realism became a successful and relatively safe way to talk about the absurdities and the failures of the communist system. This modality, however, was not exclusive to the communist era but stretched back to the Austro-Hungarian era and forward into the Postcommunist times. -
The Biopolitics of Memory in Transnational Circuits
The Biopolitics of Memory in Transnational Circuits: Lifted Tongues and Cloned Dogs by Hyaesin Yoon A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Rhetoric and the Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Trinh T. Minh-ha, Chair Professor Shannon Jackson Professor Charis Thompson Spring 2014 1 Abstract The Biopolitics of Memory in Transnational Circuits: Lifted Tongues and Cloned Dogs by Hyaesin Yoon Doctor of Philosophy in Rhetoric And the Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality University of California, Berkeley Professor Trinh T. Minh-ha, Chair The Biopolitics of Memory: Lifted Tongues and Cloned Pets explores an ethics of memory in a time when bodies are modified, reproduced, and disposed of in transnational circuits. This exploration raises two overarching questions. First, how do we carry memories of others when bodies and images intermingle at the intersection of biotechnology and virtual media? Second, what do such memories tell us about the uneven circuits within which these bodies circulate across the differences in sex, race, species, and nation? Critically engaging with the ethics of mourning, this dissertation searches for an ethics of memory that approaches bodies not as a fulcrum of abjection, but as regenerative interfaces in which collective memories are composed through encounters with other bodies. The dissertation concerns two sets of technologically intervened bodies, which embody “cuts” in cultural and biological memories. The first part examines the question of the diasporic tongue and its bearing on cultural memories. -
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SUBMISSION TO THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SELECT COMMITTEE INQUIRY INTO THE PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE OF AID Summary and recommendation 1. We recommend that as part of your ‘philosophy and culture of aid’ inquiry that you consider prioritizing the topic of cuts to ODA-funded research. All organisations and actors within the international development sector in the UK and internationally – INGOs, academics, research programmes, diaspora – are extremely concerned about the harm caused by these cuts. 2. An inquiry would be an opportunity to assess the likely impact on both UK organisations but also our partners in the Global South, and to argue that the decision should be reconsidered. We anticipate that witnesses would raise philosophical questions about (a) the precautionary principle; for example, should international agencies commit to the prevention of severe harm in their aid and development policies? (b) the importance of UK’s aid programme to our reputation, (c) the UK’s partnerships across the world and what responsibilities these entail, (d) the importance and hierarchies of knowledge in international development, (e) what kind of policy-making creates risk in our investments (also of interest to the Public Accounts Committee). 3. We recommend that you call this inquiry – ‘Cuts to partnership, knowledge and the prevention of harm’ and ask UK universities and INGOs to encourage submissions from across the Global South. We are aware that the IDSC has been diversifying witnesses, including encouraging practitioners and researchers in countries overseas to submit evidence, as a result of your 2019 global conference co-hosted with UKRI and GCRF. We would encourage every development studies department in the UK to encourage colleagues in the Global South to submit evidence.