5.31.2009
5.30.2009
On Political Fragmentation: Hegemony and Colonialism
"The debate between the two different military doctrines of territorial organization - linear fortification and a network of strongholds laid out throughout their depth - recalls comparisons suggested by Antonio Gramsci between the "war of position" and "war of [manoeuver]", with similar political patterns. For Gramsci, the shift from the former to the latter implies an erosion in political hegemony. He noted (allegorically perhaps) that since linear defense 'demands enormous sacrifices by an infinite mass of people ... an unprecedented concentration of hegemony is necessary, and hence a more "interventionist" government .. [that will] organize permanently the "impossibility" of internal disintegration - with control of every kind, political, administrative, etc.' The political 'war of [manoeuver]', by contrast, exists according to Gramsci as a multiplicity of non-centralized and loosely coordinated actions that aggressively compete with the power of the state."
Weizman, E. (2007). Hollow land: Israel's architecture of occupation. London: Verso. P. 77.
5.26.2009
The Politics of Urban Space (another Lefebvrian quote)
What exactly is the mode of existence of social relationships?... The study of space offers an answer according to which the social relations of production have a social existence to the extent that they have a spatial existence; they project themselves into a space, becoming inscribed there, and in the process producing that space itself.
– Henri Lefebvre.
– Henri Lefebvre.
5.25.2009
Key words for Research Agenda
On our way to come up with a proposal for research cluster, i suggested starting our shared understanding by throwing out key words in research agenda for each of us.
Sahera: everyday, space, occupation, oppression, resistance
Shu-Mei: everyday, right to the city, care ethics (caring relationships), appropriation, resistance
Andre: privatization, community, housing/real estate, everyday, migration(and moving), colonization
Ozge: to be added..
Apparently, "everyday" stands out to be our shared concern for now. However, all of them should be open to change and part of our discussion through the ongoing collaboration.
Sahera: everyday, space, occupation, oppression, resistance
Shu-Mei: everyday, right to the city, care ethics (caring relationships), appropriation, resistance
Andre: privatization, community, housing/real estate, everyday, migration(and moving), colonization
Ozge: to be added..
Apparently, "everyday" stands out to be our shared concern for now. However, all of them should be open to change and part of our discussion through the ongoing collaboration.
5.23.2009
"What is a theory, if not the articulatoin of a pracitce? "
Another quote from M. de Certeau that I am in love with right now:
"What is a theory, if not the articulatoin of a pracitce? And what is an epistemology, if not a discourse that elucidates that relationship?"
I am hoping that our cluster could be a pracitce of inquiry as such.
"What is a theory, if not the articulatoin of a pracitce? And what is an epistemology, if not a discourse that elucidates that relationship?"
I am hoping that our cluster could be a pracitce of inquiry as such.
"politics of location" : Provocative extracts from bell hooks's writing
Thinking of our discussion yesterday, I was very excited when reading these extracts as follows this morning, which may be helpful in terms of clarifing our research identities and place/space/location. Here I would like to share with you all since I really like it though the label of "postmodernity" might remain an ongoing issue open to debate.
It is actually quoted by E. D. Soja in his "Planning in/for Postmodernity"(pp.247-8) from this book
"Postmodern culture with its decentered subject can be the space where ties are severed or it can provide the occasion for new and varied forms of bonding. To some extent, ruptures, surfaces, contextuality, and a host of other happenings create gaps that make space for oppositional practices... A space is there for critical exchange...[and] this may very well be "the" central future location of resistance struggle, a meeting place where new and radical happenings can occur.
As a radical standpoint, perspective, position, the "politics of location" necessarily calls those of us who would participate in the formation of counter-hegemonic cultural practice to identify the spaces where we begin the process of re-vision oneself there is diffcult yet necessary. It is not a "safe" place. One is always at risk. One needs a community of resistance.
There is a definite distinction between the marginality which is imposed by oppresive structure and that marginality one chooses as a site of resistance, as a location of radical openness and possibility. It was this marginality that I was naming as a central location for the production of a counter-hegemonic discourse that is not just found in words but in habits of being and the way one lives. As such I was not speaking of a marginality one wishes to lose, to give up, but rather as a site one stays in, clings to even, because it nourishes one's capacity to resist. It offers the possibility of radical perspectives from which to see and to create, to imagine alternatives, new worlds.
This is an intervention. A message from that space in the margin that is a site of creativity and power, that inclusive space where we recover ourselves, where we move in solidarity to erase the category colonizer/colonized. Marginality is the space of resistance. Enter that space. Let us meet there."
Isn't the last paragraph inspiringly covering what we were grappling with yesterday? :P
It is actually quoted by E. D. Soja in his "Planning in/for Postmodernity"(pp.247-8) from this book
"Postmodern culture with its decentered subject can be the space where ties are severed or it can provide the occasion for new and varied forms of bonding. To some extent, ruptures, surfaces, contextuality, and a host of other happenings create gaps that make space for oppositional practices... A space is there for critical exchange...[and] this may very well be "the" central future location of resistance struggle, a meeting place where new and radical happenings can occur.
As a radical standpoint, perspective, position, the "politics of location" necessarily calls those of us who would participate in the formation of counter-hegemonic cultural practice to identify the spaces where we begin the process of re-vision oneself there is diffcult yet necessary. It is not a "safe" place. One is always at risk. One needs a community of resistance.
There is a definite distinction between the marginality which is imposed by oppresive structure and that marginality one chooses as a site of resistance, as a location of radical openness and possibility. It was this marginality that I was naming as a central location for the production of a counter-hegemonic discourse that is not just found in words but in habits of being and the way one lives. As such I was not speaking of a marginality one wishes to lose, to give up, but rather as a site one stays in, clings to even, because it nourishes one's capacity to resist. It offers the possibility of radical perspectives from which to see and to create, to imagine alternatives, new worlds.
This is an intervention. A message from that space in the margin that is a site of creativity and power, that inclusive space where we recover ourselves, where we move in solidarity to erase the category colonizer/colonized. Marginality is the space of resistance. Enter that space. Let us meet there."
Isn't the last paragraph inspiringly covering what we were grappling with yesterday? :P
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
