On the Political History of Destruction
<p class="first" id="d54288e67">This essay seeks to reframe the question of continuity (or discontinuity) between Orientalism and Islamophobia as, underlying the question, is an enduring conception of history as agentive, as a “making,” a “constructi...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Pluto Journals
2019-03-01
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| Series: | ReOrient |
| Online Access: | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/reorient.4.2.0144 |
| _version_ | 1797834087067549696 |
|---|---|
| author | Gil Anidjar |
| author_facet | Gil Anidjar |
| author_sort | Gil Anidjar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p class="first" id="d54288e67">This essay seeks to reframe the question of continuity (or discontinuity) between
Orientalism and Islamophobia as, underlying the question, is an enduring conception
of history as agentive, as a “making,” a “construction,” or a “production” (“Men make
their own history …”). Turning our attention instead toward
<i>destructive</i> power—distinct from repressive and coercive
<i>and</i> from productive and enabling modes of power (Foucault, Said)—a distinct history,
or anti-history, emerges, which necessitates a different lexicon. Political or subject
<i>formations</i> might still be at stake, but another logic or illogic, a different politics may become
visible where the main concern is not the making of world (Arendt), but its undoing;
not the production of collectives or of individual subjects, but their destruction.
Torture, as Jean Améry described it, is one such destruction of world. It may thus
become possible to ask whether, between Orientalism and Islamophobia, the Muslims
or
<i>Muselmänner</i> of the Nazi camps were a “product,” whether they were “made” into subjects. The essay
builds on earlier reflections where elements of a lexicon and analytics of destruction
were considered (Heidegger, Derrida), along with preliminary answers to the question:
what is destruction? Or here: is there a history of destruction?
</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T14:34:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cb2e1665ca824dd39d3b7be9b58d5176 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2055-5601 2055-561X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T14:34:06Z |
| publishDate | 2019-03-01 |
| publisher | Pluto Journals |
| record_format | Article |
| series | ReOrient |
| spelling | doaj.art-cb2e1665ca824dd39d3b7be9b58d51762023-05-03T14:19:31ZengPluto JournalsReOrient2055-56012055-561X2019-03-014214416510.13169/reorient.4.2.0144On the Political History of DestructionGil Anidjar<p class="first" id="d54288e67">This essay seeks to reframe the question of continuity (or discontinuity) between Orientalism and Islamophobia as, underlying the question, is an enduring conception of history as agentive, as a “making,” a “construction,” or a “production” (“Men make their own history …”). Turning our attention instead toward <i>destructive</i> power—distinct from repressive and coercive <i>and</i> from productive and enabling modes of power (Foucault, Said)—a distinct history, or anti-history, emerges, which necessitates a different lexicon. Political or subject <i>formations</i> might still be at stake, but another logic or illogic, a different politics may become visible where the main concern is not the making of world (Arendt), but its undoing; not the production of collectives or of individual subjects, but their destruction. Torture, as Jean Améry described it, is one such destruction of world. It may thus become possible to ask whether, between Orientalism and Islamophobia, the Muslims or <i>Muselmänner</i> of the Nazi camps were a “product,” whether they were “made” into subjects. The essay builds on earlier reflections where elements of a lexicon and analytics of destruction were considered (Heidegger, Derrida), along with preliminary answers to the question: what is destruction? Or here: is there a history of destruction? </p>https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/reorient.4.2.0144 |
| spellingShingle | Gil Anidjar On the Political History of Destruction ReOrient |
| title | On the Political History of Destruction |
| title_full | On the Political History of Destruction |
| title_fullStr | On the Political History of Destruction |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the Political History of Destruction |
| title_short | On the Political History of Destruction |
| title_sort | on the political history of destruction |
| url | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/reorient.4.2.0144 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gilanidjar onthepoliticalhistoryofdestruction |