Posted in dissertation, tagged anthropology, archaic state, ritual, scarification, sovereignty, state, tattooing, the state, war, war machine on April 24, 2012 | 5 Comments »
the mutilated individual is removed from the common mass of humanity by a rite of separation (this is the idea behind cutting, piercing, etc.) which automatically incorporates him into a defined group; since the operation leaves ineradicable traces, the incorporation is permanent (Arnold Van Gennep, Rites of Passage, 72).
found this passage while returning to my notes on tattooing. decided to rewrite this fragment in order to include it as a block quote. rewrite after the jump.
Posted in Ideas, tagged activism, affect, anarchism, protest, subjectivity, the state, violence, war machine on April 23, 2012 | 2 Comments »
We are a generation raised on zombie movies. Of the 5,000 ads each one of us saw today, explosions punctuated more than a few.
So how can you blame us when we get a taste for destruction?
We live the revenge-torture films we’ve been spoon fed. I remember the first time I saw a cop break someone’s arm. Let me set the scene: A cloud of pepper spray was slowly settling on us as we ran. From a hill overlooking the street that 80 of us had been marching down moments ago, our coughing and wheezing fused the strange mixture of fear and exhilaration into a single feeling. Suddenly, we saw four cops pounce on one of the stragglers. Tackled, she fell hard. Her howls became part of a single emotion. Like a fine wine, or better yet, expensive perfume, my memories of protest have a distinctive smell composed of many complex notes. And I protest like any good connoisseur, avoiding boring or bland actions, while seeking out every chance to experience a slice of the sublime. (more…)
Posted in dissertation, tagged bataille, D&G, escape, james c scott, marxism, production, sovereignty on April 22, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Escape in a world without magic is simply a question of strength, and usually geography. Either the State is able to maintain what binds the captured to a person or a place, or it does not. The struggle to escape this State is the struggle to resist the direct influence of sovereign might. Opportunities to thwart this State power are numerous, either by identifying a rhythm that works against the routine ebbs and flows of State technologies of governance, or by establishing an elusive way of life that the State determines to be too costly to pursue. And as in the lightbulb example, evasion becomes easier the farther away one gets from the source. (more…)
Posted in dissertation, tagged apparatus of capture, capture, clastres, D&G, sovereignty, state, the state, war machine on April 18, 2012 | 3 Comments »
War is not always undertaken by States. This why the magician-king’s greatest illusion is war, which is the result of his most masterful conjuring trick.
Posted in dissertation, tagged apparatus of capture, appropriation, capture, encastment, magic, sovereignty, state, the state on April 17, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
But what about the poles? someone interjected. You are right, the patient voice continued, let me return to the poles…
The Archaic State utilizes the first pole of sovereignty, the pole of conquest. Dumézil outlined the mythic origins of this pole, tracing it back to the figure of the magician-king. And, although Scott gives us a clear picture of the conquering king, he has only few remarks on the magic of the State. [[footnote: Scott's analysis of millenarian religious movements and their prophecy-driven exoduses are provocative, but insufficient when compared to substantial works in cultural anthropology on religious reactions to statecraft.]]
One thing is clear: the conquerer does not succeed by might alone. Mythology provides a clear entry point for considering the role of magic in sovereign conquest. (more…)
Posted in Ideas, tagged capitalism, colonialism, communism, development, lived communism, microfinance, microloans, ngos, politics on April 16, 2012 | 6 Comments »
Dear V, It was a pleasure presenting with you on Saturday night.
My research experience with microfinance comes mostly from a feminist perspective, in particular, feminist academic work that critically considers how “empowerment” rhetoric shapes global development.
The crux of the argument is that global governance now operates primarily according to “inclusion,” “participation,” and “empowerment.” However, it is not “no strings attached” inclusion, participation, and empowerment, but actually has a tight set of rules, all set up to extend the current global imbalances. For instance, look at how international debt relief under the Millennium Development Goals regime is just another way to expand Structural Adjustment Programs, while allowing nations like the US to look like saints. [AC: "Neoliberal Corn Laws", if you will] (more…)
Posted in public scholarship, tagged affect, capitalism, colonialism, communism, emotion, history, lived communism, micropolitics, politics, poverty, the common on April 16, 2012 | 2 Comments »
presented on April 14, 2012, as part of a joint Occupy/Justice Action Ministries panel discussion on poverty entitled “The Poor Can No Longer Afford the Rich.” [for my previous pieces of public scholarship i/r/t Occupy, look to Nightmares and Ghost Stories]
In our modern world, poverty is not natural, but the result of institutions that are set up to benefit a few at the expense of the many. Relief efforts are currently failing because they do not address the root causes of poverty. These causes are not mystical or hard to identify, as the most important ones are global property law, international debt, unfair trade, top-down privatization programs, corporate tax shelters, the those problems are social and political. Furthermore, there is a history to these problems, and poverty will not be addressed until this history is reversed.
Posted in dissertation, tagged apparatus of capture, capture, micropolitics, politics, sovereignty, state, the state, war, war machine on April 15, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The fundamental misunderstanding over the Archaic State is in regards to the type of conquest it undertakes. The conquest performed by the Archaic State is never a salt-the-earth war of annihilation but a process of capture. (more…)
Posted in dissertation, tagged friction, geography, james c scott, materialism, sovereignty, space, state, state space, the state, war machine on April 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
To understand the geography of padi state political influence, Scott proposes imagining the glow of a light bulb (borrowing from Benedict Anderson) (59). In particular, consider two attributes of its light: first, that the light dims and fuzzes as it travels farther from its source; and second, that there are no clear edge to the light but a continuous gradient that fades to black. (more…)
Posted in dissertation, tagged apparatus of capture, capture, escape, governance, james c scott, padi state, slavery, sovereignty, the state on April 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
In a recent work, anarchist academic James C Scott outlines a barebones model of the Archaic State. Setting the scene, Scott focuses on the alluvial plains of Southeast Asia. It is in these fertile valleys, Scott argues, that some of the simplest states formed. Scott’s account emphasizes the political of these simple states because, for him, mass cultivation of rice was the key to their success. To dramatize the centrality of rice for these states, Scott called them “padi states.” (more…)
