Exceptional Violence

Exceptional Violence

Author: Deborah A. Thomas

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2011-10-05

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 0822350866

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This ethnography of violence in Jamaica repudiates cultural explanations for violence, arguing that its roots lie in deep racialized and gendered inequalities produced in imperial slave economies.


Book Synopsis Exceptional Violence by : Deborah A. Thomas

Download or read book Exceptional Violence written by Deborah A. Thomas and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-05 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ethnography of violence in Jamaica repudiates cultural explanations for violence, arguing that its roots lie in deep racialized and gendered inequalities produced in imperial slave economies.


Exceptional Violence

Exceptional Violence

Author: Deborah A. Thomas

Publisher: Duke University Press Books

Published: 2011-10-05

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780822350682

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Exceptional Violence is a sophisticated examination of postcolonial state formation in the Caribbean, considered across time and space, from the period of imperial New World expansion to the contemporary neoliberal era, and from neighborhood dynamics in Kingston to transnational socioeconomic and political fields. Deborah A. Thomas takes as her immediate focus violence in Jamaica and representations of that violence as they circulate within the country and abroad. Through an analysis encompassing Kingston communities, Jamaica’s national media, works of popular culture, notions of respectability, practices of punishment and discipline during slavery, the effects of intensified migration, and Jamaica’s national cultural policy, Thomas develops several arguments. Violence in Jamaica is the complicated result of a structural history of colonialism and underdevelopment, not a cultural characteristic passed from one generation to the next. Citizenship is embodied; scholars must be attentive to how race, gender, and sexuality have been made to matter over time. Suggesting that anthropologists in the United States should engage more deeply with history and political economy, Thomas mobilizes a concept of reparations as a framework for thinking, a rubric useful in its emphasis on structural and historical lineages.


Book Synopsis Exceptional Violence by : Deborah A. Thomas

Download or read book Exceptional Violence written by Deborah A. Thomas and published by Duke University Press Books. This book was released on 2011-10-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exceptional Violence is a sophisticated examination of postcolonial state formation in the Caribbean, considered across time and space, from the period of imperial New World expansion to the contemporary neoliberal era, and from neighborhood dynamics in Kingston to transnational socioeconomic and political fields. Deborah A. Thomas takes as her immediate focus violence in Jamaica and representations of that violence as they circulate within the country and abroad. Through an analysis encompassing Kingston communities, Jamaica’s national media, works of popular culture, notions of respectability, practices of punishment and discipline during slavery, the effects of intensified migration, and Jamaica’s national cultural policy, Thomas develops several arguments. Violence in Jamaica is the complicated result of a structural history of colonialism and underdevelopment, not a cultural characteristic passed from one generation to the next. Citizenship is embodied; scholars must be attentive to how race, gender, and sexuality have been made to matter over time. Suggesting that anthropologists in the United States should engage more deeply with history and political economy, Thomas mobilizes a concept of reparations as a framework for thinking, a rubric useful in its emphasis on structural and historical lineages.


Arbitrary States

Arbitrary States

Author: Rebecca Tapscott

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-05-27

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0192598473

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In recent years, scholars have noted the rise of a particular type of authoritarianism worldwide, in which rulers manipulate institutions designed to implement the rule of law so that they instead facilitate the exercise of arbitrary power. Even as scholars puzzle over this seemingly new phenomenon, scholarship on African politics offers helpful answers. This book places literature on the post-colonial African state in conversation with literature on modern authoritarianism, using this to frame over ten months of qualitative field research on Uganda's informal security actors - including vigilante groups, local militias, and community police. Based on this research, the book presents an original framework - called 'institutionalized arbitrariness' - to explain how modern authoritarian rulers project arbitrary power even in environments of relatively functional state institutions, checks and balances and the rule of law. In regimes characterized by institutionalized arbitrariness, the state's stochastic assertions and withdrawals of power inject unpredictability into the political relationship between both local authorities and citizens. This arrangement makes it difficult for citizens to predict which authority, if any, will claim jurisdiction in a given scenario, and what rules will apply. This environment of pervasive political unpredictability limits space for collective action and political claim-making, while keeping citizens marginally engaged in the democratic process. The book is grounded in empirical research and literature theorizing the African state, while seeking to inform a broader debate about contemporary forms of authoritarianism, state-building, and state consolidation. Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations is a series for scholars and students working on African politics and International Relations and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on contemporary developments in African political science, political economy, and International Relations, such as electoral politics, democratization, decentralization, gender and political representation, the political impact of natural resources, the dynamics and consequences of conflict, comparative political thought, and the nature of the continent's engagement with the East and West. Comparative and mixed methods work is particularly encouraged, as is interdisciplinary research and work that considers ethical issues relating to the study of Africa. Case studies are welcomed but should demonstrate the broader theoretical and empirical implications of the study and its wider relevance to contemporary debates. The focus of the series is on sub-Saharan Africa, although proposals that explain how the region engages with North Africa and other parts of the world are of interest. Series Editors: Nic Cheeseman, Professor of Democracy and International Development, University of Birmingham; Peace Medie, Senior Lecturer in Gender and International Politics, University of Bristol; and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Professor of the International Politics of Africa, University of Oxford. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.


Book Synopsis Arbitrary States by : Rebecca Tapscott

Download or read book Arbitrary States written by Rebecca Tapscott and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-27 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, scholars have noted the rise of a particular type of authoritarianism worldwide, in which rulers manipulate institutions designed to implement the rule of law so that they instead facilitate the exercise of arbitrary power. Even as scholars puzzle over this seemingly new phenomenon, scholarship on African politics offers helpful answers. This book places literature on the post-colonial African state in conversation with literature on modern authoritarianism, using this to frame over ten months of qualitative field research on Uganda's informal security actors - including vigilante groups, local militias, and community police. Based on this research, the book presents an original framework - called 'institutionalized arbitrariness' - to explain how modern authoritarian rulers project arbitrary power even in environments of relatively functional state institutions, checks and balances and the rule of law. In regimes characterized by institutionalized arbitrariness, the state's stochastic assertions and withdrawals of power inject unpredictability into the political relationship between both local authorities and citizens. This arrangement makes it difficult for citizens to predict which authority, if any, will claim jurisdiction in a given scenario, and what rules will apply. This environment of pervasive political unpredictability limits space for collective action and political claim-making, while keeping citizens marginally engaged in the democratic process. The book is grounded in empirical research and literature theorizing the African state, while seeking to inform a broader debate about contemporary forms of authoritarianism, state-building, and state consolidation. Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations is a series for scholars and students working on African politics and International Relations and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on contemporary developments in African political science, political economy, and International Relations, such as electoral politics, democratization, decentralization, gender and political representation, the political impact of natural resources, the dynamics and consequences of conflict, comparative political thought, and the nature of the continent's engagement with the East and West. Comparative and mixed methods work is particularly encouraged, as is interdisciplinary research and work that considers ethical issues relating to the study of Africa. Case studies are welcomed but should demonstrate the broader theoretical and empirical implications of the study and its wider relevance to contemporary debates. The focus of the series is on sub-Saharan Africa, although proposals that explain how the region engages with North Africa and other parts of the world are of interest. Series Editors: Nic Cheeseman, Professor of Democracy and International Development, University of Birmingham; Peace Medie, Senior Lecturer in Gender and International Politics, University of Bristol; and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Professor of the International Politics of Africa, University of Oxford. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.


Remaking the Exceptional

Remaking the Exceptional

Author: Amber Ginsburg

Publisher: Dapaul Art Museum

Published: 2022-07-20

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9781737760900

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Accompanying an exhibition curated by artists Ginsburg and Hughes, this book brings together artwork and writing by torture survivors, artists, and scholars. Since 2009, Chicago-based artists Amber Ginsburg and Aaron Hughes have collaborated on the "Tea Project," an ongoing series of tea ceremony performances and installations inspired by the elaborate etchings made on Styrofoam teacups by detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Produced to accompany the 2022 exhibition curated by Ginsburg and Hughes at DePaul Art Museum, Remaking the Exceptional: Tracing Torture, Justice, and Reparations brings together artworks by former and current detainees from Chicago and abroad, new works by contemporary artists and collectives, and texts by leading scholars working at the intersection of aesthetics and politics.


Book Synopsis Remaking the Exceptional by : Amber Ginsburg

Download or read book Remaking the Exceptional written by Amber Ginsburg and published by Dapaul Art Museum. This book was released on 2022-07-20 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accompanying an exhibition curated by artists Ginsburg and Hughes, this book brings together artwork and writing by torture survivors, artists, and scholars. Since 2009, Chicago-based artists Amber Ginsburg and Aaron Hughes have collaborated on the "Tea Project," an ongoing series of tea ceremony performances and installations inspired by the elaborate etchings made on Styrofoam teacups by detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Produced to accompany the 2022 exhibition curated by Ginsburg and Hughes at DePaul Art Museum, Remaking the Exceptional: Tracing Torture, Justice, and Reparations brings together artworks by former and current detainees from Chicago and abroad, new works by contemporary artists and collectives, and texts by leading scholars working at the intersection of aesthetics and politics.


Rape, Sexual Violence and Transitional Justice Challenges

Rape, Sexual Violence and Transitional Justice Challenges

Author: Janine Natalya Clark

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-01

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1351718576

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It is estimated that 20,000 people were subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence during the 1992–1995 Bosnian war. Today, these men and women have been largely forgotten. Where are they now? To what extent do their experiences continue to affect and influence their lives, and the lives of those around them? What are the principal problems that these individuals face? Such questions remain largely unanswered. More broadly, the long-term consequences of conflict-related rape and sexual violence are often overlooked. Based on extensive interviews with male and female survivors from all ethnic groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), this interdisciplinary book addresses a critical gap in the current literature on rape and sexual violence in conflict situations. In so doing, it uniquely situates and explores the legacy of these crimes within a transitional justice framework. Demonstrating that transitional justice processes in BiH have neglected the long-term effects of rape and sexual violence, it develops and operationalizes a new holistic approach to transitional justice that is based on an expanded conception of ‘legacy’ and has a wider application beyond BiH.


Book Synopsis Rape, Sexual Violence and Transitional Justice Challenges by : Janine Natalya Clark

Download or read book Rape, Sexual Violence and Transitional Justice Challenges written by Janine Natalya Clark and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is estimated that 20,000 people were subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence during the 1992–1995 Bosnian war. Today, these men and women have been largely forgotten. Where are they now? To what extent do their experiences continue to affect and influence their lives, and the lives of those around them? What are the principal problems that these individuals face? Such questions remain largely unanswered. More broadly, the long-term consequences of conflict-related rape and sexual violence are often overlooked. Based on extensive interviews with male and female survivors from all ethnic groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH), this interdisciplinary book addresses a critical gap in the current literature on rape and sexual violence in conflict situations. In so doing, it uniquely situates and explores the legacy of these crimes within a transitional justice framework. Demonstrating that transitional justice processes in BiH have neglected the long-term effects of rape and sexual violence, it develops and operationalizes a new holistic approach to transitional justice that is based on an expanded conception of ‘legacy’ and has a wider application beyond BiH.


Curative Violence

Curative Violence

Author: Eunjung Kim

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2016-12-09

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 0822373513

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In Curative Violence Eunjung Kim examines what the social and material investment in curing illnesses and disabilities tells us about the relationship between disability and Korean nationalism. Kim uses the concept of curative violence to question the representation of cure as a universal good and to understand how nonmedical and medical cures come with violent effects that are not only symbolic but also physical. Writing disability theory in a transnational context, Kim tracks the shifts from the 1930s to the present in the ways that disabled bodies and narratives of cure have been represented in Korean folktales, novels, visual culture, media accounts, policies, and activism. Whether analyzing eugenics, the management of Hansen's disease, discourses on disabled people's sexuality, violence against disabled women, or rethinking the use of disabled people as a metaphor for life under Japanese colonial rule or under the U.S. military occupation, Kim shows how the possibility of life with disability that is free from violence depends on the creation of a space and time where cure is seen as a negotiation rather than a necessity.


Book Synopsis Curative Violence by : Eunjung Kim

Download or read book Curative Violence written by Eunjung Kim and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2016-12-09 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Curative Violence Eunjung Kim examines what the social and material investment in curing illnesses and disabilities tells us about the relationship between disability and Korean nationalism. Kim uses the concept of curative violence to question the representation of cure as a universal good and to understand how nonmedical and medical cures come with violent effects that are not only symbolic but also physical. Writing disability theory in a transnational context, Kim tracks the shifts from the 1930s to the present in the ways that disabled bodies and narratives of cure have been represented in Korean folktales, novels, visual culture, media accounts, policies, and activism. Whether analyzing eugenics, the management of Hansen's disease, discourses on disabled people's sexuality, violence against disabled women, or rethinking the use of disabled people as a metaphor for life under Japanese colonial rule or under the U.S. military occupation, Kim shows how the possibility of life with disability that is free from violence depends on the creation of a space and time where cure is seen as a negotiation rather than a necessity.


Violence over the Land

Violence over the Land

Author: Ned BLACKHAWK

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-06-30

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0674020995

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In this ambitious book that ranges across the Great Basin, Blackhawk places Native peoples at the center of a dynamic story as he chronicles two centuries of Indian and imperial history that shaped the American West. This book is a passionate reminder of the high costs that the making of American history occasioned for many indigenous peoples.


Book Synopsis Violence over the Land by : Ned BLACKHAWK

Download or read book Violence over the Land written by Ned BLACKHAWK and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this ambitious book that ranges across the Great Basin, Blackhawk places Native peoples at the center of a dynamic story as he chronicles two centuries of Indian and imperial history that shaped the American West. This book is a passionate reminder of the high costs that the making of American history occasioned for many indigenous peoples.


Exemplary Violence

Exemplary Violence

Author: Alberto Villate-Isaza

Publisher: Bucknell Studies in Latin Amer

Published: 2021-03-12

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 9781684482627

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Exemplary Violence: Rewriting History in Colonial Colombia examines three seventeenth-century historical accounts of the New Kingdom of Granada (modern-day Colombia and Venezuela) that outline ideal civic and administrative practice, running counter to colonial realities. Their authors attempt to regulate behavior through instruction to the colonizing elite, ultimately unmasking the ambiguities and constant violence of the colonizers' ideological project.


Book Synopsis Exemplary Violence by : Alberto Villate-Isaza

Download or read book Exemplary Violence written by Alberto Villate-Isaza and published by Bucknell Studies in Latin Amer. This book was released on 2021-03-12 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exemplary Violence: Rewriting History in Colonial Colombia examines three seventeenth-century historical accounts of the New Kingdom of Granada (modern-day Colombia and Venezuela) that outline ideal civic and administrative practice, running counter to colonial realities. Their authors attempt to regulate behavior through instruction to the colonizing elite, ultimately unmasking the ambiguities and constant violence of the colonizers' ideological project.


The Lama Question

The Lama Question

Author: Christopher Kaplonski

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2014-11-30

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 0824838572

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Before becoming the second socialist country in the world (after the Soviet Union) in 1921, Mongolia had been a Buddhist feudal theocracy. Combatting the influence of the dominant Buddhist establishment to win the hearts and minds of the Mongolian people was one of the most important challenges faced by the new socialist government. It would take almost a decade and a half to resolve the “lama question,” and it would be answered with brutality, destruction, and mass killings. Chris Kaplonski examines this critical, violent time in the development of Mongolia as a nation-state and its ongoing struggle for independence and recognition in the twentieth century. Unlike most studies that explore violence as the primary means by which states deal with their opponents, The Lama Question argues that the decision to resort to violence in Mongolia was not a quick one; neither was it a long-term strategy nor an out-of control escalation of orders but the outcome of a complex series of events and attempts by the government to be viewed as legitimate by the population. Kaplonski draws on a decade of research and archival resources to investigate the problematic relationships between religion and politics and geopolitics and biopolitics in early socialist Mongolia, as well as the multitude of state actions that preceded state brutality. By examining the incidents and transformations that resulted in violence and by viewing violence as a process rather than an event, his work not only challenges existing theories of political violence, but also offers another approach to the anthropology of the state. In particular, it presents an alternative model to philosopher Georgio Agamben’s theory of sovereignty and the state of exception. The Lama Question will be of interest to scholars and students of violence, the state, biopolitics, Buddhism, and socialism, as well as to those interested in the history of Mongolia and Asia in general.


Book Synopsis The Lama Question by : Christopher Kaplonski

Download or read book The Lama Question written by Christopher Kaplonski and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2014-11-30 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before becoming the second socialist country in the world (after the Soviet Union) in 1921, Mongolia had been a Buddhist feudal theocracy. Combatting the influence of the dominant Buddhist establishment to win the hearts and minds of the Mongolian people was one of the most important challenges faced by the new socialist government. It would take almost a decade and a half to resolve the “lama question,” and it would be answered with brutality, destruction, and mass killings. Chris Kaplonski examines this critical, violent time in the development of Mongolia as a nation-state and its ongoing struggle for independence and recognition in the twentieth century. Unlike most studies that explore violence as the primary means by which states deal with their opponents, The Lama Question argues that the decision to resort to violence in Mongolia was not a quick one; neither was it a long-term strategy nor an out-of control escalation of orders but the outcome of a complex series of events and attempts by the government to be viewed as legitimate by the population. Kaplonski draws on a decade of research and archival resources to investigate the problematic relationships between religion and politics and geopolitics and biopolitics in early socialist Mongolia, as well as the multitude of state actions that preceded state brutality. By examining the incidents and transformations that resulted in violence and by viewing violence as a process rather than an event, his work not only challenges existing theories of political violence, but also offers another approach to the anthropology of the state. In particular, it presents an alternative model to philosopher Georgio Agamben’s theory of sovereignty and the state of exception. The Lama Question will be of interest to scholars and students of violence, the state, biopolitics, Buddhism, and socialism, as well as to those interested in the history of Mongolia and Asia in general.


Imaginative Geographies of Algerian Violence

Imaginative Geographies of Algerian Violence

Author: Jacob Mundy

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2015-09-09

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 0804795835

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The massacres that spread across Algeria in 1997 and 1998 shocked the world, both in their horror and in the international community's failure to respond. In the years following, the violence of 1990s Algeria has become a central case study in new theories of civil conflict and terrorism after the Cold War. Such "lessons of Algeria" now contribute to a diverse array of international efforts to manage conflict—from development and counterterrorism to the Responsibility to Protect doctrine and transitional justice. With this book, Jacob Mundy raises a critical lens to these lessons and practices and sheds light on an increasingly antipolitical scientific vision of armed conflict. Traditional questions of power and history that once guided conflict management have been displaced by neoliberal assumptions and methodological formalism. In questioning the presumed lessons of 1990s Algeria, Mundy shows that the problem is not simply that these understandings—these imaginative geographies—of Algerian violence can be disputed. He shows that today's leading strategies of conflict management are underwritten by, and so attempt to reproduce, their own flawed logic. Ultimately, what these policies and practices lead to is not a world made safe from war, but rather a world made safe for war.


Book Synopsis Imaginative Geographies of Algerian Violence by : Jacob Mundy

Download or read book Imaginative Geographies of Algerian Violence written by Jacob Mundy and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2015-09-09 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The massacres that spread across Algeria in 1997 and 1998 shocked the world, both in their horror and in the international community's failure to respond. In the years following, the violence of 1990s Algeria has become a central case study in new theories of civil conflict and terrorism after the Cold War. Such "lessons of Algeria" now contribute to a diverse array of international efforts to manage conflict—from development and counterterrorism to the Responsibility to Protect doctrine and transitional justice. With this book, Jacob Mundy raises a critical lens to these lessons and practices and sheds light on an increasingly antipolitical scientific vision of armed conflict. Traditional questions of power and history that once guided conflict management have been displaced by neoliberal assumptions and methodological formalism. In questioning the presumed lessons of 1990s Algeria, Mundy shows that the problem is not simply that these understandings—these imaginative geographies—of Algerian violence can be disputed. He shows that today's leading strategies of conflict management are underwritten by, and so attempt to reproduce, their own flawed logic. Ultimately, what these policies and practices lead to is not a world made safe from war, but rather a world made safe for war.