Synopses & Reviews
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, violence remains one of the most entrenched problems facing individuals, communities, and societies around the globe. "Interventions addresses this problem through theoretical reflection and critique, case studies drawn from contemporary conflicts around the world, and examples of anti-violence activism. The contributors to "Interventions draw upon their experience and expertise to explore the intersections between global structures of violence (militarism, most notably) and more localized and intimate forms of violence (police brutality, hate crimes, domestic violence, among others). The book provides an archive comprising contributions from over twenty activists and academics, all of whom participated in the "Responding to Violence" colloquium at Barnard College in October 2002. This colloquium included a plenary address by Jody Williams, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
Review
"Violence is the great border-crosser. Violence is global, it is local, and it is always and everywhere personal--even if it is rationalized and camouflaged with deceptively distancing rhetoric. The feminist contributors to this valuable collection know this well, and thus are the guides we need to journey across all the violence-permeated boundaries."--Cynthia Enloe, author of
Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives
Synopsis
Interventions: Activists and Academics Respond to Violence brings together top scholars to discuss the significance of violence from a global perspective and the intersections between the global structures of violence and more localized and intimate forms of violence. The contributors to
Interventions examine many hard questions including: Are there situations in which violence should be politically supported? Are non-violent or anti-war movements in the US able to respond effectively to violence? Do we need to rethink our understanding of both "religion" and "secularism" in light of the current world situation? Have new paradigms been developed in response to violence? The essays in this collection offer incisive analysis of particular situations and creative alternatives to the omnipresence of violence.
Synopsis
Interventions: Activists and Academics Respond to Violence brings together top scholars to discuss the significance of violence from a global perspective and the intersections between the global structures of violence and more localized and intimate forms of violence. The contributors to
Interventions examine many hard questions including: Are there situations in which violence should be politically supported? Are non-violent or anti-war movements in the US able to respond effectively to violence? Do we need to rethink our understanding of both "religion" and "secularism" in light of the current world situation? Have new paradigms been developed in response to violence? The essays in this collection offer incisive analysis of particular situations and creative alternatives to the omnipresence of violence.
About the Author
Elizabeth A. Castelli is Associate Professor of Religion at Barnard College at Columbia University. She has held several other teaching and research positions, most recently serving as the Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Religion and Media at New York University during its inaugural year (2003-2004). She is a specialist in the academic study of religion, author most recently of
Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making.
Janet R. Jakobsen is the Director of the Center for Research on Women at Barnard College at Columbia University. She is the author of Working Alliances and the Politics of Difference: Diversity and Feminist Ethics and co-author, with Ann Pellegrini, of Love the Sin: Sexual Regulation and the Limits of Religious Tolerance. She is engaged in research on the idea of secularism in modern and postmodern contexts, especially as it relates to public policy debates over the role of religion in social life and politics.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Feminists Responding to Violence--Elizabeth A. Castelli *
Part I: Terms of Engagement * Feminism in a Time of Violence--Karen Beckman * The Wrong Victims--Sally Bachner * Definitions and Injuries of Violence--Meredeth Turshen * Filling the Sight by Force--Laura Wexler * Rethinking Responses to Violence, Rethinking the Safety of "Home"--Andrea Smith * Violence of Protection--Minoo Moallem * Is Secularism Less Violent than Religion?--Janet R. Jakobsen *
Part II: Violence and the U.S. Political Regime * Biblical Promise and Threat in U.S. Imperialist Rhetoric, Before and After 9.11--Erin Runions * The Best Defense? The Problem with Bush's "Preemptive" War Strategy--Neta C. Crawford * The Erosion of Democracy in Advancing the Bush Administration's Irag Agenda--Jody Williams *
Part III: Contexts and Locations of Violence * Naming Enmity--Gil Anidjar * Toward a Cherokee Theory of Violence--Laura E. Donaldson * Dangerous Crossings--Lois Ann Lorentzen * Domestic Terror--Catherine Lutz & Jon Elliston * Testifying to Violence--Anupama Rao * Challenging What We Mean by Conflict Prevention--Gwi-Yeop Son *
Part IV: Anti-Violence Ethics and Strategies: Coalitions, Theatres, Interdependencies * Sisterhood after Terrorism--Kathryn Poethig * The Female Body as Site of Attack--Fawzia Afzal-Khan * Responses to Violence--Helena Cobban * Our Enemies, Ourselves--Kay Whitlock