[lit-ideas] Re: Special Issue: Psychological Anthropology of War
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 11:32:27 -0700
Curious about what this was, I checked and found the following from 2004
when the ?Peace Review? was seeking an editor for this enterprise. The
presupposition for their ?Psychological Interpretation of War? seems naïve
and insupportable. The matter of the Hegelian seeking after recognition
could be a precursor for this study but instead of granting Hegelian
validity, they assume a Hobbesian ?only the preservation of life ought to be
important.? That is, from glancing at their material, they don?t seem to
credit thymos or megalathymos in the manner Kojeve expounds Hegel. Instead
they look for a pathological cause, ?psychological conflict.?
This was just a first impression. I could be wrong.
Lawrence
Call for Editor: Special Issue of the Peace Review
We seek an editor to work with a co-editor to assist in the development of a
special issue of Peace Review on "The Psychological Interpretation of War."
The key elements of the position include soliciting and receiving
contributions, working with authors to refine their contributions, and
editing. Please send a letter outlining the reasons for seeking the
position, describing how your experience, expertise, skills and interests
make you an appropriate candidate. Include a current CV and respond via
e-mail to:
<mailto:PeaceReviewEditor@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> PeaceReviewEditor@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
____________________________________________________________________
Special Issue of the Peace Review:
The Psychological Interpretation of War
The belief that political disagreements can be nonviolently resolved often
presumes that disputes leading to armed conflicts emanate from issues in the
real world. If, however, political quarrels actually derive from inner,
psychological conflicts, what would constitute a viable strategy for
pursuing the objective of peace? This special issue of Peace Review will
explore the anxieties and desires that fuel our attraction to and compel us
to embrace the idea of war.
War often is conceived as an immutable element of society, even as "human
nature." We propose that the existence and persistence of warfare as an
ideology and institution is a problem to be interrogated rather than
something to be assumed or taken for granted. Why has war been a recurring
feature of human social life and history? Why do people express a passion
for war in spite of the misery it inevitably creates and disillusionment
that follows in its wake?
Viewing war as a socially constructed institution or human creation does not
diminish our recognition of the profound impact that war has exerted
throughout history. This issue of Peace Review seeks papers examining how
our internal, mental world impacts upon and interacts with our cultural
world to generate wars and warfare. What are the sources and meanings of our
attachment to an ideology whose primary product is suffering and death?
Writer's deadline for this special issue: October 2005.
____________________________________________________________________
The Peace Review
Peace Review is a quarterly, multidisciplinary, transnational journal of
research and analysis, focusing on the current issues and controversies that
underlie the promotion of a more peaceful world. Social progress requires,
among other things, sustained intellectual work, which should be pragmatic
as well as analytical. The task of the journal is to present the results of
this research and thinking in short, accessible and substantive essays.
Recent contributors include Richard Rorty, Stephen Zunes and Drucilla
Cornell.
Peace Review Home Page:
<http://www.usfca.edu/peacereview/index.htm>
http://www.usfca.edu/peacereview/index.htm
_____
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Orion Anderson
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 11:09 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Special Issue: Psychological Anthropology of War
NOW AVAILABLE: Special Issue of the PEACE REVIEW on the
PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF WAR
The Special Issue of the PEACE REVIEW (published by Taylor and Francis) is
now available. Based on over 150 proposals received, eleven articles were
accepted for publication. These essays represent the cutting edge of
contemporary thought on the psychology of warfare. A LIMITED NUMBER OF
COPIES OF THIS SPECIAL ISSUE NOW ARE AVAILABLE.
<https://www.ideologiesofwar.com/register/> For information on how to
obtain a copy of the Special Issue on the PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF
WAR, please CLICK HERE.
Articles included in this special issue are listed below. We also have
provided below brief excerpts that convey the excitement of this special
issue.
_____
ARTICLES INCLUDE:
* SACRIFICE, TRANSCENDENCE AND THE SOLDIER, Babak Rahimi, Assistant
Professor of Iranian and Islamic Studies at the University of California at
San Diego.
* GROUP PSYCHOLOGY, SACRIFICE AND WAR, Norman Steinhart, M.D.,
Research Fellow at the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the
University of Toronto, Canada
* WAR AND THE RELIGIOUS WILL TO SACRIFICE, Patrick Porter, Tutor in
Modern History at the University of Oxford
* MEMORIALIZATION AND THE SELLING OF WAR, Deborah D. Buffton,
Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse
* THE MYTHOLOGY OF WAR, Dr. Andrew Robinson, Political theorist,
University of Nottingham
* THE MANIC ECSTASY OF WAR, Wendy C. Hamblet, Professor of Philosophy,
Adelphi University, New York
* HUMILIATION AND THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR, Paul Saurette, Assistant
Professor School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, Canada
* DOMINANCE AND SUBMISSION IN POSTMODERN WAR IMAGERY, Myra Mendible,
Associate Professor of American Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University
* GUILT AND SACRIFICE IN U.S. WARFARE, Carl Mirra, American Studies at
SUNY College, Old Westbury
* MALE GENDER INSTABILITY AND WAR, Jeannette Marie Mageo, Professor of
Anthropology, Washington State University
* COMBAT MOTIVATION, Johan M.G. van der Dennen, senior researcher on
war and peace at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands
<https://www.ideologiesofwar.com/register/> For information on how to
obtain a copy of the Special Issue on the PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF
WAR, please CLICK HERE.
For further information please contact Orion Anderson at (718) 393-1104 or
send an email to <mailto:oanderson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
oanderson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_____
EXCERPTS FROM THE ARTICLES:
Buffton: We see the message of war resurrecting society in war memorials.
One of the most influential sculptors of war memorials in post World War I
France created monuments in which we see a peasant woman at the grave of a
soldier marked by a cross and a helmet, but sprouting from the grave come
abundant sheaves of wheat. The message is that the blood of the dead
soldiers brings forth new life to reinvigorate the country.
Saurette: Once we understand 9/11 as fundamentally humiliating - and not
just threatening - the United States, we can make better sense of the
elements of the global war on terror. A legal approach would never have been
accepted by the administration, even if international laws were reliable and
effective enough to pursue al-Qaeda. Why? Although courts promise to provide
justice, they rarely explicitly deliver vengeance and counter-humiliation.
Criminal prosecution may provide restitution, but it could not deliver the
larger goal of counter-humiliating al-Qaeda and thus publicly
re-establishing global respect for America.
<https://www.ideologiesofwar.com/register/> For information on how to
obtain a copy of the Special Issue on the PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF
WAR, please CLICK HERE.
Mendible: Humiliation is one of the techniques through which institutions
and nations construct docile and disciplined bodies. Military institutions
inscribe the value of discipline and control on the soldier's body and
psyche. In forging a marine corps-a military body defined by strength and
hardness, the soldier extirpates any trace of the feminine. Discipline
begins with self-abnegation; absolute surrender to the authority of the
stern father figure who punishes and rewards.
Rahimi: The soldier's experience in believing that he is dying for something
greater than himself, for something that will outlast his individual,
perishable life in place of a greater, eternal vitality (embodied in the
national or a religious identity) is crucial for the ideological
justification of war.
<https://www.ideologiesofwar.com/register/> For information on how to
obtain a copy of the Special Issue on the PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF
WAR, please CLICK HERE.
_____
Other related posts:
