The Politics of Haunting and Memory in International Relations
International Relations has traditionally focused on conflict and war, but the effects of violence including dead bodies and memorialization practices have largely been considered beyond the purview of the field. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s notion of hauntology to consider the politics of life and death, Auchter traces the story of how life and death and a clear division between the two is summoned in the project of statecraft. She argues that by letting ourselves be haunted, or looking for ghosts, it is possible to trace how statecraft relies on the construction of such a dichotomy.

Three empirical cases offer fertile ground for complicating the picture often painted of memorialization: Rwandan genocide memorials, the underexplored case of undocumented immigrants who die crossing the US-Mexico border, and the body/ruins nexus in 9/11 memorialization.

Focusing on the role of dead bodies and the construction of particular spaces as the appropriate sites for memory to be situated, it offers an alternative take on the new materialisms movement in international relations by asking after the questions that arise from an ethnographic approach to the subject: viewing things from the perspective of dead bodies, who occupy the shadowy world of post-conflict international politics. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of critical international relations, security studies, statecraft and memory studies.

1133691532
The Politics of Haunting and Memory in International Relations
International Relations has traditionally focused on conflict and war, but the effects of violence including dead bodies and memorialization practices have largely been considered beyond the purview of the field. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s notion of hauntology to consider the politics of life and death, Auchter traces the story of how life and death and a clear division between the two is summoned in the project of statecraft. She argues that by letting ourselves be haunted, or looking for ghosts, it is possible to trace how statecraft relies on the construction of such a dichotomy.

Three empirical cases offer fertile ground for complicating the picture often painted of memorialization: Rwandan genocide memorials, the underexplored case of undocumented immigrants who die crossing the US-Mexico border, and the body/ruins nexus in 9/11 memorialization.

Focusing on the role of dead bodies and the construction of particular spaces as the appropriate sites for memory to be situated, it offers an alternative take on the new materialisms movement in international relations by asking after the questions that arise from an ethnographic approach to the subject: viewing things from the perspective of dead bodies, who occupy the shadowy world of post-conflict international politics. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of critical international relations, security studies, statecraft and memory studies.

68.99 In Stock
The Politics of Haunting and Memory in International Relations

The Politics of Haunting and Memory in International Relations

by Jessica Auchter
The Politics of Haunting and Memory in International Relations
Add to Wishlist
The Politics of Haunting and Memory in International Relations

The Politics of Haunting and Memory in International Relations

by Jessica Auchter

Overview

International Relations has traditionally focused on conflict and war, but the effects of violence including dead bodies and memorialization practices have largely been considered beyond the purview of the field. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s notion of hauntology to consider the politics of life and death, Auchter traces the story of how life and death and a clear division between the two is summoned in the project of statecraft. She argues that by letting ourselves be haunted, or looking for ghosts, it is possible to trace how statecraft relies on the construction of such a dichotomy.

Three empirical cases offer fertile ground for complicating the picture often painted of memorialization: Rwandan genocide memorials, the underexplored case of undocumented immigrants who die crossing the US-Mexico border, and the body/ruins nexus in 9/11 memorialization.

Focusing on the role of dead bodies and the construction of particular spaces as the appropriate sites for memory to be situated, it offers an alternative take on the new materialisms movement in international relations by asking after the questions that arise from an ethnographic approach to the subject: viewing things from the perspective of dead bodies, who occupy the shadowy world of post-conflict international politics. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of critical international relations, security studies, statecraft and memory studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780415791151
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication date: 02/06/2017
Series: Interventions
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 192
Product dimensions: 6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jessica Auchter is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Table of Contents

1. Ghostly Politics: An Introduction, 2. ‘We’re All of Us Haunting and Haunted’, 3. Border Monuments: Memory, Counter-Memory, and (b)Ordering practices along the US-Mexico Border, 4. Bones in a Brown Bag: Haunting and the Place of the Body in Rwandan Genocide Memorialization, 5. Vanishing Monuments: Absence and 9/11 Memorialization, 6. Conclusions: After Ghostly Politics

From the B&N Reads Blog
Page 1 of

Related Subjects

Current Affairs & Politics
Politics & Government - General & Miscellaneous
General & Miscellaneous - Politics & Government
Current Affairs & Politics
Politics & Government - General & Miscellaneous
General & Miscellaneous - Politics & Government

Customer Reviews