From: "Orion Anderson" <libraryofsocialscience-AT-earthlink.net> Subject: RE: [BOU:] War, Death and History Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 20:01:15 -0400 David, Thank you. Yes, this is what war ATTEMPTS to do: to "reinforce what remain the unchanging values of the Collective." This does not mean there is not a space for reflection or separation beyond the sacrificial space. However, my hypothesis is that when (some) people in society get desperate with regard to the loss of the "unchanging values," this is when war may be initiated as a means of AFFIRMING the absoluteness of the values, to prove that nothing has changed. Sacrifice says, in effect, look: We are still willing to kill and die. This proves that the value has not changed; that the Collective is still intact. You might say that war aspires toward unity in the face of the fear of fragmentation. Best regards, Richard Koenigsberg ____________________________________________________________ Library of Social Science 92-30 56th Avenue, Suite 3-E Elmhurst, NY 11373, USA Fax: 1-413-832-8145 Richard A. Koenigsberg, Ph. D., Director Telephone: 1-718-393-1081 Mei Ha Chan, Associate Director Telephone: 1-718-393-1075 Orion Anderson, Research Director Telephone: 1-718-393-1104 Website for Library of Social Science Book Exhibits http://home.earthlink.net/~lssbookexhibits/ Website for LIBRARY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE http://home.earthlink.net/~libraryofsocialscience/ Website for THE KOENIGSBERG LECTURES ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CULTURE AND HISTORY http://www.conflictaslesson.com/why_main.html -----Original Message----- From: owner-bourdieu-AT-lists.village.Virginia.EDU [mailto:owner-bourdieu-AT-lists.village.Virginia.EDU] On Behalf Of David Slocum Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 6:19 PM To: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.Virginia.EDU Subject: Re: [BOU:] War, Death and History opportunist The pieces I've read are plagued by at least three consistent problems. First, World War II and the experience of Germany leading up to and during that conflict are presented as constituting a master narrative for what occurs across societies and (at least modern) history during times of war. (This seems especially evident in more recent pieces on Saddam Hussein's Iraq.) Second, the guiding relation between individual and nation of "martyr-for-cause" is mostly unproblematized: individuals are presented as participating in war because loyalty to various collective drives -- nationalism, "sacred ideals," religious fundamentalism -- allows them to demonstrate, in the deployment of violence but especially by dying, the full measure of their devotion and belonging. Following this, and third, the idea (or "logic") of sacrifice is rendered in schematic, nearly functional terms that allow for little variation or individual exception and end up reinforcing what remain the unchanging values of the collective in whose name the individuals acted in the first place. The theoretical underpinnings here seem less Bataille that the rudiments of Girard. David Slocum New York University ----- Original Message ----- From: John Lowther <j.lo-AT-earthlink.net> Date: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 5:50 pm Subject: Re: [BOU:] War, Death and History opportunist > On Tuesday, October 19, 2004, at 04:54 PM, kent strock wrote: > > > Has anyone read his work? > > > on the lacan list, one of the folks there levi bryant, read one of > the > piece and offered a good bit of critique (to which i don't recall > any > response) which while offered in good faith seemed to me to > effectively > sink the piece in question. i have tried reading a few things > that > have gone around and found them, well, a bit confused wrt issues i > was > familiar. beyond that i cannot say. > > ********************************************************************** > Contributions: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu > Commands: majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu > Requests: bourdieu-approval-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu > ********************************************************************** Contributions: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu Commands: majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu Requests: bourdieu-approval-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ********************************************************************** Contributions: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu Commands: majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu Requests: bourdieu-approval-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
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