leaping: a primal act of faith in humankind

I am convinced that Michel-Rolph Trouillot is brilliant.
Professor Ulysse assigned us, her Contemporary Anthroplogical Theory class, chapters from his book, Global Transformations: Anthropology and the Modern World (New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2003). For today, our last day, we read the last chapter.


i read this chapter and got so excited about it that i texted clasmate/dear friend sarah brown saying, 'trouillot read my mind. (though obviously said it better)' and she texted me back so i knew she was awake so i called her so i could share with someone how much i loved the reading and we were both in the library, i was in the stairwell and she was in a quiet space so walked out into the stairway to be able to talk and we pretty much walked right into each other and got to have an in-person moment about how incredible and powerful and important this was...

reading it was ecstatic for me-- an intellectual orgasm of sorts.
so much of what trouillot described is how i understand things-- that we have a choice in how we see things, glass half empty or half full, humankind as inherently good or inherently bad, and not only can we interpret the past in either way, but we can create the future in either way, and we must take the LEAP, without reason except for that there is no better option, and act/live/believe/understand/create/write/love based on a deep faith in humankind.
and so of course to see this faith-in-humankind so intrinsically linked to anthropology( as an ACADEMIC discipline), or maybe the other way around, as trouillot does, was...inspiring.

PLEASE get ahold of this book and read as much of it as possible.
it is not just about anthropology, but about academe, activism, globalization, power, oppression, agency, the West, the world, humanity.
in the meantime, some excerpts:

"[ In A Discourse on Inequality] Rousseau does not share in the certainty of progress or the necessary improvement of humanity along teleological lines. Contrary to many thinkers of his time, he does not see the inevitability of the great march forward. Yet Rousseau leaps anyway, but backward--as it were--into savagery: if I cannot bet on the Savage, how can i bet on us? He must assume, for no reason, that humanity is essentially good, its history notwithstanding." (135)

"Moral optimism need not produce political naiveté. The two become close only when that optimism is shameful, when it refuses to present itself as a primal act of faith in humankind, however qualified by history and politics." (p. 135)

"We [anthropologists] owe it to ourselves and to our interlocutors to say loudly that we have seen alternative visions of humankind--indeed more than any academic discipline--and that we know that this one may not be the most respectful of the planet we share, nor indeed the more accurate nor the most practical. We also owe it to ourselves to say that it is not the most beautiful nor the most optimistic." (139)

"At the end of the day, in this age where futures are murky and utopias mere reminders of a lost innocence, we need to fall back on the moral optimism that has been anthropology's greatest--yet underscored--appeal. But we need to separate that optimism from the naiveté that has been liberalism's most convenient shield. We need to assume it as a choice--whether we call it moral, philosophical, or aesthetic in the best sense. We need to hang on to it not because we are historicall, socially, or politically naive--indeed as social scientists we cannot afford such naiveté--but because this is the side of humanity that we choose to prefer, and because this choice is what moved us to anthropology in the first place. We need to assume that optimism because the alternatives are lousy, and because anthropology as a discipline is the best venue through which the West can show an undying faith in the richness and variability of humankind." (139)

U of Rochester SDS occupies building in solidarity with gaza, sign action plan with the administration

some of the questions floating around my head: what role does the academy (higher education) play in society? what role should it play? what responsibility do academics/intellectuals/scholars have in creating a more just world? this makes me think about trouillot's assertion that we must be transparent in stating our subjectivities and the reasons for our academic pursuits...

[Trouillot: "We [anthropologists] owe it to ourselves and to our interlocutors to say loudly that we have seen alternative visions of humankind--indeed more than any academic discipline--and that we know that this one may not be the most respectful of the planet we share, nor indeed the more accurate nor the most practical. We also owe it to ourselves to say that it is not the most beautiful nor the most optimistic." previous posts re: trouillot]

some context: the site for the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)

"The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel was launched in Ramallah in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals to join the growing international boycott movement. The Campaign built on the Palestinian call for a comprehensive economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel issued in August 2002 and a statement made by Palestinian academics and intellectuals in the occupied territories and in the Diaspora calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions in October 2003."

"The Palestinian Campaign is inspired by the historic role played by people of conscience in the international community of scholars and intellectuals who have shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice, as exemplified in their struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott."

and from U of R SDS blog: (backwards-- their original declaration is below)

UR-SDS Declares Victory in less than 9 hours.

Submitted by ursds on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 04:29

We spoke for peace and solidarity with the Palestinians and we were heard. UR-SDS and friends declared a victory to our occupation just before midnight Friday (Feb. 6, 2009) when we signed a joint statement of understanding/plan of action with the Dean of Students where we found common ground on addressing our demands in a substantive manner. This final statement was approved overwhelmingly by a vote of the general assembly of all those present to the occupation.

The rough wording of the signed Joint Statement of Understanding/Action Plan is as follows:

1. University of Rochester will commit to provide any surplus goods or supplies that could assist the devastated University of Gaza.

2. University of Rochester will commit resources and information to assist fundraising for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

3. University of Rochester will commit to reach out to Palestinian students in order to provide them scholarships to the University of Rochester

4. University of Rochester will commit to organize an open forum to discuss why the University invests in weapons manufactures and discuss the process of the University moving toward a more socially responsible, transparent, and democratically controlled investment policy.

The spirit in the air at midnight was jubilation. Because we took a stand for peace and justice in Gaza, and we got the University of Rochester to act decisively to better the lives of the people of Gaza.

--

University of Rochester Students for a Democratic Society (UR-SDS)

U of R Students to Occupy Academic Building for Peace and in Solidarity with Gaza

Rochester, NY - 02/05/09-- Students from the University of Rochester and members of the local Rochester community will be occupying an academic building on campus tomorrow for peace and in solidarity with the people Gaza and in opposition to U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the recent atrocities in Gaza. The action, organized by U of R Students for a Democratic Society (UR-SDS), will begin on the afternoon of Friday, February 6 and will last until the University of Rochester administration meets the demands put forward.

The demands are:

1. Divestment: We demand the University of Rochester to adopt the "UR-Peaceful Investing Initiative" which institutes a peaceful investment policy to the university's endowment which includes divestment from corporations that manufacturer weapons and profit from war. (For example, the U of R invests in General Dynamics which manufactures weapons to maintain a 41-year occupation of the Palestinian territories and wars which slaughter Palestinian civilians by the 100s)

2. Humanitarian aid: We demand that the University of Rochester commit to a day of fundraising for humanitarian aid in Gaza within the next two weeks, as part of an ongoing commitment to provide financial support for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

3. Academic aid: We demand that the University of Rochester twin with the devastated Gaza University and provide the necessary academic aid (e.g., recycled computers, books, etc. ).

4. Scholarships: We demand that the University of Rochester grant a minimum of five scholarships to Palestinian students every year.

The recent war on Gaza has devastated Gazan society, taken hundreds of innocent lives, and has escalated the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Given the United States' central role in supporting the war in Gaza and a harsh 41-year military occupation of the Palestinian territories, the students' actions are to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for life and peace.

The student occupation will feature a number of informational and peaceful consciousness raising events such as public talks, teach-ins, and sit-ins. The action was inspired by a wave of student occupations that occurred in 16 universities in England following the Israeli assault on Gaza.

This event is organized by the University of Rochester Students for a Democratic Society (UR-SDS), a local chapter of the national Students for a Democratic Society. UR-SDS was founded in the Fall 2008 semester and seeks to effect progressive social change on campus through educational events and direct actions.

so we dont have answers...we at least need to ask better questions.

more from trouillot:
"the more we acknowledge the contradictions that mark our times, the better we can pierce through its fragmented globality and the more likely we are to find imaginative solutions to the dilemmas that differentiate us from previous eras."

definitions of humanity re: neoliberalism

from michel-rolph trouillot, Global Transformations: Anthropology and the Modern World--"A Fragmented Globality."

"But if we look closely at the assumptions behind neoliberal extremism, we quickly discover that what we are being sold is not just an economic program. We are being asked to endorse growth as a moral value. We are asked to take as a religious--that is, unquestionable--tenet the proposition that productivity in any domain, anywhere, anyhow is good for humankind as a whole. We are being asked to forget that productivity without a consensus on its distribution is another name for sheer profit and that whenever profit is sheer only a few can collect it. We are being asked to renounce worldviews that suggest the ethical solidarity of humankind. In short, we are being asked to accept a prepackaged formula about what it means to be a good and proper human being in all times and places, to endorse one vision of humanity, and an odd one at that." (56)