[...]wer, two forms among others that ='strcls'>**power over life may take='strcls'>**
='strcls'>*tendencies='strcls'>* are not static or a="trms">historical ='lgc'>[- ="frds scrmbld">Foad's “tendencies” (to destiny)='lgc'>] ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> tendencies may ="trms">morph and take new shapes ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> they can also turn toxic when they are disappointed ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> we oscillate from redemption to catastrophe ='lgc'>=/= ='lgc'>[this is the kind of political act/project we need:='lgc'>] “with Mitra and Varuna (='lgc'>~ region of structural-potential tendencies) we are not giving up hope, but the project becomes more ="trms">specific='lgc'>: to track the particular degrees of force (many of which may be morally objectionable) and the modes of contract that are available in a polity” -="ppl">Singh
...="trms">gestured to tendencies of thought

='at'>@="nms">iranian friends
to inhabit Mitra and Varuna is to not give up all political hopes and criticism (='lgc'>=/= dialectical political logic ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> a final purifying battle ='lgc'>[='lgc'>~ ="frds scrmbld">Mehdi's totall earthquake offering a “higher” synthesis to his ="nms">Tehran in a destructive scenario='lgc'>])

='strcls'>*** the locus of disappointment (& hope) ='lgc'>[for ="nms">iranian='lgc'>] ='strcls'>***

a concept can='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•shift or reverse the locus of our hopes and disappointments
="lsts lst1">•gives us coordinates along which to pay closer attention

="large lg2" stl="font-size:110%">
nondialectical thought ='lgc'>=/= law of noncontra="trms">diction ='lgc'>: you are either for or against (Islam, state, ...)


a kind of life-force that an older generation of ="trms">social ="trms">science would have called “="trms">agency”='lgc'>:
“she is fearless and has an amazing ability to bring people together”, i was drawn to the vitality that she ="trms">embody ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="ppl">Singh understands her life not simply as a unidirectional ="trms">story of “empowerment” or “="trms">agency” ='lgc'>[a ="trms">story many ="nms">iranians are caught in='lgc'>] but as a ='strcls'>*fluctuation between forms of strength and vulnerability='strcls'>*
(condition of life itself='lgc'>:) our particular strengths and vulnerabilities variably express themselves
...pushing a family from a ="trms">position of relative strength into near destitution


how do we conceptualize ="trms">relations between potentially hostile neighboring groups='qstn'>? (="ppl">Singh 2011)


='lgc'>[agonistics ='and'>& intimacies='lgc'>] ='lgc'>--how='lgc'>='lgc'>--> they may ="trms">traverse ="trms">different intensities ='lgc'>='lgc'>~='lgc'>~='lgc'>~='lgc'>~> ='strcls'>***="trms">differences ="trms">internal to a life='strcls'>***

agon (contest) ='lgc'>--="ppl">Singh='lgc'>='lgc'>--> agonistic intimacy='lgc'>: a way to understand the co-="trms">presence of modes of conflict and cohabitation, (='strcls'>*co-="trms">presence of violence and wellness='strcls'>*,) to leave open the possibility of a shared and contested future


jinn='lgc'>: a ="trms">category of spirit shared by popular hinduism and islam
who, usually turns out, is a lifelong conpanion
='strcls'>*a ="trms">relation that can be life-giving may also become life-denying
jinn and other minor spirits may also harbor the possibility of madness


='lgc'>[varying thresholds of life='lgc'>]
thinking of the dead, the unborn, spirits, and those participants among living ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> what kind of conception of life this requires='qstn'>? ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (="ppl">Deleuze > ="ppl">Singh's) ='strcls'>***varying thresholds of life='strcls'>*** (='lgc'>=/= ="ppl">Agamben's “bare life” ='lgc'>[='lgc'>--='not'>✕='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="ppl">Singh's starting point='lgc'>: how one thinks about life or vitality not just as bare life='lgc'>]) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> as a way of engaging ="trms">ancestors (such as ="frds scrmbld">Ehsan's little girl ghost ='lgc'>[='at'>#="frds scrmbld">Ehsan's brilliant ="trms">storytelling gives the “unbeliever” goosebumps from the intensities, the “incredible feeling of an unknown ="trms">Nature-="trms">affect” that he ="trms">embodies='lgc'>]), spirits, the undead, and the unborn who subsist alongside the living
='strcls'>*threshold='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•to denote points of passage accross phases of life
="lsts lst1">•refering to varying degrees of intensity (that may continue after death)='lgc'>='lgc'>--> as a spirit/jinn is preserved or recedes, through possession or in visions or ="trms">memories, enduring in potentially multiple dimensions
='strcls'>*a ="trms">memory, a dream, even a ="trms">hallucination is also a threshold of life='strcls'>*
="trms">agency of spirits ='lgc'>[jinn, abstract spirit of ="trms">modernity, secular education, Thakur Baba, , ,='lgc'>]='lgc'> = ='strcls'>*a threshold of life='strcls'>* (with its own immanent forms of movement and flux)
='lgc'>[-='lgc'>]lets not call it “disenchantment” or mere nostalgia, but ='strcls'>*a shift in the quality of life='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ethnographic investigation can be a form of heightened attentiveness (to varying thresholds of life ='lgc'>[to the intensities of ="frds scrmbld">Ehsan's ghost-girl, to the cannibal mice, ="nms">Tehran's earthquake synthesis of ="trms">affect, , ,='lgc'>]='lgc'>--(these ='lgc'>[="nms">Tehran's range of moods and intensities='lgc'>] are)='lgc'>='lgc'>--> waxing and waning گام‌های ماه ='strcls'>*intensities immanent to a milieu; ="trms">affecting our ideas of ethics and politics)


the ="trms">social ='lgc'>=='qstn'>? “our” version of the transcendent/immanent ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphysical
how many dimensions is “our” ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphysical ="trms">composed of (in ="nms">Tehran)='qstn'>?


(Durkheim starts='lgc'>:) ="trms">religion='lgc'> = an engagement with a vital animating principle, “a kind of anonymous and impersonal force ='lgc'>[...='lgc'>] none possesses it entirely and all share in it”
="prgrph">-spirits, demons, jinns, gods of every rank are the ='strcls'>*concrete forms='strcls'>* that capture this energy, this ='strcls'>*potentiality='strcls'>*
(later Durkheim reduces this remarkable promising ="trms">formulation in his signiture from the ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphysical='lgc'>: “the moral ="trms">authority of ="trms">society”, ‘="trms">religion ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> solidarity انسجام’ ='lgc'>}='lgc'>=/= innumerable ="trms">anthropologists have shown how ="trms">religion does not necessarily “reawaken solidarity”)

(instead of “the ="trms">social” lets get ="trms">interested in more than one dimension of life, lets think, with ="ppl">Singh and ="ppl">Deleuze, of) ='strcls'>*vast continuum of human and nonhuman life='strcls'>*


“Baba, I have been troubled for years. What can I do to please my ="trms">ancestral spirits='qstn'>?”


Beyzai analyzes deities and myths in ="nms">Iran, negating any potential for spiriual movement between rival groups, even in what is clearly ='strcls'>*a form of ="trms">religious life moving across='strcls'>*
Beyzai preoccupation with defeat doesn't allow him to attend to ‘forms of ="trms">religious life moving across’
="lsts lst1">•bottom-up thesis of op="trms">positional negation and from its “top-down” op="trms">posite
='lgc'>=/= ='thdf'>the idea of spiritual conversation
imitation of ='lgc'>[upper caste,,,='lgc'>] values
='lgc'>[='strcls'>***='lgc'>]the fatality of these ideas of negation and of imitation is that they obscure the possibility of a spiritual in="trms">heritence that may be shared and contested in ways that create the possibility of a ='strcls'>*cohabited future between neighbors and rivals='strcls'>* (="ppl">Singh)

yes yes the ="trms">history might be made through bloody contra="trms">dictions, and yet, we cannot be as Magi, waiting for the big drama to un="trms">fold ='lgc'>--(we can do better)='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a sig="trms">nature capacity of ethnographic attentiveness in an affirmative lineage of thought ='lgc'>--(not to deny contra="trms">diction)='lgc'>='lgc'>--> to be able to sense ='strcls'>**varying intensities of conflict and cohabitation='strcls'>**
(play and war may both be latent in the give and take of everyday life, and the ="trms">difference may not always be clear-cut)

نیرومندی و کثرت اهالی و تعارضات کشمکش و جماع
(how='qstn'>?) (to be able to) sense varying intensities ='lgc'>[کیفیتی با شدت و سختی و حجم ='lgc'>='lgc'>~= انقباض ,در هم کشیدگی ='lgc'>+ شتافتن ,گرفته شدن ='lgc'>+ فراهم آمدن ,گرفتگی ,ترنجیدگی='lgc'>] of conflict and cohabitation='lgc'>[='lgc'>: my sister thinks of this term as family in small scale='lgc'>]
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">differential ='lgc'>[داراى ضريب متغير، افتراقی، تشخیص دهنده the result of ="trms">differentiation ='lgc'>=/= ="trms">different تمایز='lgc'>] intensities


bawdy مستهجن

intimate insults ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> accumulate deadly force

shifting intensities between a festival and a riot (are not necessarily a “="trms">modern” degeneration of traditional festivity) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the case of new year's eve in Köln 2016
(bad or good) heightened intensities ='lgc'>==(may animate)='lgc'>='lgc'>==> new political and ="trms">social movements or sustain the vitality of collective life ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> intensities may also wane and become deadended

concept of vitality='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•="ppl">Deleuze='lgc'>: intensity
="lsts lst1">•="ppl">Nietzsche='lgc'>: will to power
="lsts lst1">•="ppl">Bergson='lgc'>: elan vital
="lsts lst1">•Spinoza='lgc'>: conatus


as an ___ I ="trms">respond to this challange with an ___ic persona

officiator

='strcls'>***(my ="trms">methodology='lgc'>:) let's in="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">clude in our dedication to X also a butt of ="trms">jokes and mimicry


i see you, among other things, as ethical actors

(recent work in ="trms">anthropology ='lgc'>='lgc'>==>) ethic ='lgc'>=/= simply instantiating “="trms">categorical imperatives” and ="trms">obligations, a journy from war (or politics, as the “continuation of war by other means”) to a nonagonistic equilibrium of “perpetual peace” (تعادل ناهنجارانه صلح دائمی)
='strcls'>*life often produces intensities and conflicts that cannot be accounted for by a ="trms">priori rules and ="trms">obligations


nobility='lgc'> = refusal of revenge

(="ppl">Nietzsche='lgc'>:) to sanctify revenge with the term justuce ='lgc'><='lgc'>-- characteristic debasement of agonistic ethics (رستم)
as though justice were simply a further development of the feeling of having been wronged ='strcls'>***
='strcls'>*agon='strcls'>* can ="trms">morph into a nobler, more animated form. it (can) come closer to life than to death


='strcls'>**(singular) energetic expression of vital life is not always “individual” ='strcls'>**

noble and base ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> they name a coordinate within (in ="trms">excess) of which life forces flow and way and wane

="ppl">Deleuze ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">Guattari ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">Nietzsche ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> an ethical imperative to examine the kinds of life forces we affirm. negation is not expelled ='lgc'>--(="ppl">Singh ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reading D='lgc'>+G='lgc'>+N's ethnographic intuition)='lgc'>='lgc'>--> what ‘is’ may be richer than any ideal ‘ought’ ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> ="trms">anthropology and philosophy, then, are two distinct but related ways in which life may be examined

to think affirmativelt ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> our negations become sharper


my recent knee-jerk reaction (for example to ="ppl">Olearius) would be to invoke Eurocentrism
(resist='lgc'>: “west” and “non-west”, built on entirely negative images of Europe, from which perspective postcolonial settings appear with double negativity from which they can never recover)


thoughtful moments among friends but scholastic and conversational traditions (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">Greek) ='lgc'>=/= “sage”, part of a larger conversational contest culture (not always between “friends” but is an agon ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->='qstn'>? Kelile-o Demne)
="prgrph">-other conceptual-conversational traditions (in ="nms">Iran,,,='qstn'>?) ='lgc'>[='thdf'>for example “taking an ="trms">author from behind and giving him a ="trms">child that would be his own offspring, yet ="trms">monstrous”, producing an ="trms">anthropologically oriented ="ppl">Deleuze, a ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reading of ___ that produces a ___ically oriented ___='lgc'>]
='strcls'>*** it is not a ="trms">question of negating dialectices but of setting out a ="trms">different style of thought and examining the ethnographic and political consequences that follow ='strcls'>***


“when you asked him the ="trms">question about deities, you began a type of conversation called gyan-charcha ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge-talk ="trms">technique (='lgc'><='lgc'>-- my favorite mode of ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reading of ="trms">literature, and basically everything, is like that)


='qstn'>?which concept(s) you use to think through these things='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•bonded and legitimate labor
="lsts lst1">•power ="trms">relations
="lsts lst1">•marriage
="lsts lst1">•sacrifice
="lsts lst1">•kinship
="lsts lst1">•intimacy
="lsts lst1">•buying
="lsts lst1">•selling
="lsts lst1">•
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the fabric of human relatedness depends on it


="large lg22" stl="font-size:113%"> ='strcls'>*='lgc'>[lunar enlightenment='lgc'>]='strcls'>*
(="ppl">Singh's beautiful lunar reterritorialization of “enlighting”='lgc'>:) what kind of light do we assume as our image of plenitude='qstn'>?
عجایب ماه ='at'>#moon's inflow-ence, waxing and waning intensities, fluctuating thresholds, the rise and fall of gods, tutelage of moon, a lunar rather than a solar sense of enlightenment, blemished and inconstant, the moon is nondialectical, ='strcls'>*neighbors lunacy='strcls'>*


="ppl">Derridean moment of negative transcendence

waxing and waning plenitude of that flux

="ppl">Singh='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•varying thresholds and intensities
="lsts lst1">•logics of a/not-a
="lsts lst1">•ethics and energetics ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Sana
="lsts lst1">•
="lsts lst1">•

='strcls'>*** a shift of even a degree (say, a ="trms">different mode of contract or force) could be the ="trms">difference between ="trms">social life and death, happiness and despair, or exploitation and freedom ='strcls'>***
(="ppl">Singh teaching me to think about ="nms">Tehranians)

دروغ بد را با دروغ بهتر جایگزین کنیم نه با حقیقت

="ppl">Nietzsche's double affirmation, yes yes
="ppl">Deleuze, “the ass does not know how to say no because he says yes to everything with is no” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> to affirm is “to release, to set free what lives”
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='thdf'>the idea of “challage your pre="trms">suppositions” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> this is a dialectical habit of thought='lgc'>: ='thdf'>the idea that the sig="trms">nature moment of thinking is a determinate negation (of State, Islam, Europe, etc.) ="ppl">Singh asks='lgc'>: how did this particular mode of reflexivity come to stand in for “true” ="trms">anthropological thought='qstn'>?



would it have been better to leave things more “fluid” and “complex and contradictory”='qstn'>? ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Eszter


ethnographic labor='lgc'>:
="lstsrd">1- a form of hunting and gathering impressions
="lstsrd">2- sifting الک کردن and cultivating expressions

(='mywrk'>my work in ="nms">apass='lgc'>:) our ="trms">relation to concepts becomes more explicit, as we turn impressions into considered thoughts

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thinking postcolonial ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urbanism with ="ppl">Anand Taneja

="large lg6" stl="font-size:113%"> (this is the ="trms">question of the limitations of ="trms">imagination='lgc'>:)
how (for a generation of scholars ='lgc'>[or artists='lgc'>]) rural (india) ='lgc'>[or syria, ="nms">Iran, or South Korea='lgc'>] has become simply a space of disasters, statistics, and deaths ='lgc'>--='not'>✕='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="ppl">Anand's work is a counter-example ='lgc'>[i am learning from him to be attentive to my own ="trms">imagination's stopping-points. to resist ="trms">stories that render life in those milieus unthinkable='lgc'>] ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> that those spaces are not only of abjection but also of ="trms">imagination and curiosity ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> to think about alternative (conceptual) ="trms">vocabularies to think about those abjected places, ="trms">religion, and ="nms">ajayeb ='lgc'>[that does not only negate those milieus='lgc'>]
="prgrph">-to think about ="trms">religion is super usefull and relevant, because it is also about what secularism is

how people (in rural areas) conceive of vitality and advancement='qstn'>?
='strcls'>*how people ="trms">imagine a better life='qstn'>?='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (to think non-unilateral and non-static) ='strcls'>*picture of aspiration='strcls'>* (in a ="trms">world like ="nms">Tehran; ='at'>#proposal to research on ‘the image of growth’ رشد roshd, slow growth, ='lgc'>[roshd-e bi-raviye رشد بی رویه of toxins and ="trms">species, and so on='lgc'>] in the context of contemporary ="nms">Tehran)
="prgrph">-imitations of forms

(i am activating a rhizomatic mode of perception ='lgc'>[learning from ="ppl">Anand learning from ="ppl">Deleuze and ="ppl">Guattari='lgc'>])='lgc'>='lgc'>--> how one aspect of life leads to another ='lgc'>=/= paritioning of the milieu

="large lg1" stl="font-size:115%">
="trms">anthropology of the state ='lgc'>: how one engages the state in an every day level


='strcls'>*="trms">historically one crucial exit point from the ="trms">system of ruler-="trms">relation was to become ascetic (زهد)='lgc'>: disregard for sovereign ="trms">authority (حاکم hakem, hakemiat) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a ="trms">different form of power that one let's to lead to self-rule

='lgc'>[bare life ='lgc'>=='qstn'>? life without a way of life ='lgc'>--='not'>✕='lgc'>='lgc'>--> there is no life without a way of life='lgc'>]
(="ppl">Singh='lgc'>:) someone's life cut off from their source of vitality
a local body of thought (jinn, etc.)

="display:block;white-space:nowrap;margin-bottom:-1em;overflow:hidden;">...................................

(="ppl">Anand asking) what does it means to live in a city of jinns='qstn'>?
the jinn='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•serves as witnesses of times long gone
="lsts lst1">•figures of ="trms">authority whose shrine blesses re="trms">membered forms of ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urban ="trms">religious life
="lsts lst1">•forgotten by the amnesia of the postcolonial state
="lsts lst1">•rendered unislamic by the selective amnesia of reviva="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list tradition

jinn ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> revive that old orienta="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list ="trms">trope, constituted not only by bazzar, mosque, and hammam, but also of the antinomian potentials that have long been part of the Islamic tradition

="display:block;white-space:nowrap;margin-bottom:-1em;overflow:hidden;">...................................
="large lg14" stl="font-size:111%">
vita
lives of saints
تذکرة الاولیا Tazkirat al-Awliya
concerned with canonization, education, and collective recollection of contemplative life
(vita as a biological genre recounting the lives of holly men and women in several ="trms">religious traditions='lgc'>: Bhaktamala, Theravada buddhism, The="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigata, etc.)

="ppl">Singh asking='lgc'>: how would we ="trms">narrate a scholarly life='qstn'>? (and i add to that='lgc'>: who could be oulia اولیا Arahant ='lgc'>[further ones='lgc'>] today='qstn'>? queer or nonhuman)
='strcls'>*participated in the ="trms">world ="trms">historical “isms” (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="nms">ajayeb)
='lgc'>--="ppl">Singh='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">narrating a conceptual life, vita

='strcls'>*uncertainties of reception='strcls'>* (in ="ppl">Attar's Tazkirat al-Awliya)

singularity of ="trms">trajectory of ="ppl">Attar's saints ='lgc'>=/= my random sampling of themes

="trms">anthropology='lgc'>: to ="trms">write about anything that exists or ="trms">imagined

can we talk affirmatively of a post="trms">modern ethnography of ="nms">ajayeb='qstn'>? ='lgc'>=/= “totalizing vision” of culture

recovery of a human voice as a moral imperative (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="frds scrmbld">Hoda)

(='qstn'>?your ="trms">history as a) telos of increasingly self-awareness

="prgrph">-="ppl">Derrida's philosophical style tending to negative transcendence (différance='lgc'>: an absence that transcends ‘a’ and ‘not a’)
="prgrph">-="ppl">Deleuze's tradition of affirmative immanence

(="ppl">Singh > ="ppl">Deleuze > ="ppl">Strauss='lgc'>:) structure is ="trms">composed of “pre-individual singularities” ='lgc'>~ nomadic distribution of potential ='lgc'>--immanent='lgc'>='lgc'>--> contra="trms">dictions, accidents, mutations

pure/impure
suspicious/inauspicious
life/death

heretic ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> reorder and ob="trms">literate the partitioning of ="trms">categories that ="trms">compose the structural order of ="trms">religion ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="ppl">Veena on Sikhism and Hinduism='lgc'>: ="trms">symbolism of Sikhism understood in ="trms">relation to Hinduism structural order, annihilating the ="trms">categorical ="trms">prioritise (intellectual and ="trms">social) of the medieval ="trms">world. Sikhism rejecting the op="trms">position between ="trms">categories of='lgc'>: the rulers, the caste ="trms">system, and the orders of r="trms">enunciation ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> investment of the virtues of all three ='strcls'>*in a single body of faith='strcls'>* and conduct='lgc'>]

heterodox sects
rebellious thinkers
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> negation of the organizing conceptual order

(="trms">social and) ritual order generates its own forms of instability

...ambivalences of key concepts ='lgc'>==bring='lgc'>='lgc'>==> “play” to the structure, for good and ill ='lgc'>~ liminality

(="ppl">Veena's) liminial ="trms">situation='lgc'>: a form of instability where the individual experiences his ="trms">social ="trms">world as separated from the cosmic ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> death='lgc'>: dis="trms">articulation ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> must be undone by inhabiting the liminality ='lgc'>: ritually rejoining the flow of life

similarities of ritual mourner and ascetic='lgc'>: transcending the ="trms">categories of the ="trms">social and the cosmic

incorporation of the liminal undead (preta) with ritually incorporated ="trms">ancestors (pitri) ='lgc'>[job of the mourner='lgc'>]

(crucial task of the) ritual='lgc'>: conveying the dead from the threshold of liminality into an ="trms">ancestral flow of life

emphasis on the ="trms">system is (always='qstn'>?) at the cost of the event
(eternal investment of the artists in foregrounding of the event rather than the structure ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> rapture with structure as caste, tradition, state, norm, ="trms">system, etc. at the cost of missing the practical kinship transcribed into the ="trms">social contract, leadership, and laws of encounter)

='strcls'>***="trms">modernity is ="trms">composed (neither by continuities nor rupture then, but) by trans="trms">figurations='strcls'>***
(="ppl">Singh ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">Veena)

critical event
critical structure

='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]event='lgc'>: institute a new modality of ="trms">historical action which is not inscribed in the inventory of that ="trms">situation
(for Furet='lgc'>: French revolution is an event par excellence) ='lgc'>--="ppl">Veena='lgc'>='lgc'>--> event='lgc'>: moments when new modes of action come into being which which redefines traditional ="trms">categories (such as='lgc'>: ="trms">codes of purity and honor, the meaning of martyrdom, construction of a heroic life, etc.)

foregrounding the event as analytic ="trms">category (without disappearing the ="trms">question of structure)='lgc'>:
="prgrph">-sati of Roop Kanvar
="prgrph">-Sikh militancy
="prgrph">-collective violence during the partition of India and Pakistan

not only the state (tries to institutionalize collective ="trms">memory), but also minor ="trms">communities (in the process of their emergence) try to control and fix ="trms">memory in much the same manner ='lgc'>[not total of course='lgc'>] (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> something i am learning in north of Norway with the sami)

there is always ='strcls'>*ambiguity='strcls'>* in the way even the most passionate public ="trms">presentations of militant nationa="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list discourse is framed (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> there is ='strcls'>***noise in reference to violence='strcls'>*** ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Mona)

event ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> shift the con="trms">figuration of analysis (and not annulling the structure's analytical possibilities)

event='lgc'>: (a new set of) circumstances for which rules are not set in place

in the case of Bhopal intoxication ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> gradual creation of an expert discourse which sought to dissolve the concrete and existential reality of suffering victims

in the case of such-large suffering event coordinations gradually come to be defined around it ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">question of structure

(='strcls'>**="trms">modernity is an event='strcls'>**)

pain and suffering are not simply individual experiences ... they may also be experiences which are created and distributed by the ="trms">social order

="ppl">Veena's ='strcls'>*="trms">anthropology of pain='strcls'>*
how institutions (in the domain of ="trms">religion, and ="trms">modern='lgc'>: bureaucracy, law, medicine) maintain and signal their legitimacy in the face of massive human suffering='qstn'>?
="prgrph">-manufacture of pain
="prgrph">-theology of suffering

the discovery of the event, as a ="trms">question for ="trms">anthropology, is precisely that='lgc'>: ='strcls'>*event exceeds structure='strcls'>*
(exess ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> re="trms">imagining the ="trms">networks that ="trms">compose our lives)

="ppl">Veena ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> Bhopal industrial disaster='lgc'>: neither ="trms">social ="trms">relations nor locally available knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge were sufficient to apprehend the event. it is at this point that people had to actively search for new knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge, for new kinds of ="trms">social actors that might help them address the ="trms">question of what was happening to their bodies ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> they had to reconstruct ="trms">social ="trms">relations to in="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">clude the existence of ="trms">international legal ="trms">systems and governmental bureaucracies in their image of ="trms">society='strcls'>***

toxic potency (='lgc'>='lgc'>==> ="trms">difference, collective violence ='lgc'>[such as the partition of India and Pakistan ='lgc'>=/=='lgc'>], stable violence ='lgc'>[such as a village caste dispute='lgc'>],,,)

poles of life and death that separates ="trms">different kinds of collective violence ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the sexual and reproductive violence witnessed in the Partition connot be understood by taking ="trms">social ="trms">relations as model
(="ppl">Veena)

...distance that arises out of forms of proximity

="ppl">Veena 3 ="trms">books='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•Structure and Cognition ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> illuminates certain recurring patterns
="lsts lst1">•Critical Event ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> paints a kind of national lanscape
="lsts lst1">•Life and Words ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> turn to an art of an ="trms">anthropological portraiture

...healing properties of the everyday
...everyday life generates its own forms of toxicity

(="ppl">Singh's) art of portraiture
of individuals, of milieu,

='strcls'>*singularity (of a portraiture) may express something both local and global='strcls'>*

="ppl">Veena ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> how would we conceptualize the moments of potentially violent uncertainty='qstn'>?
="prgrph">-="ppl">Benjamin='lgc'>: invocations of the uncanny
="prgrph">-="ppl">Derrida='lgc'>: the spectral
="prgrph">-="ppl">Veena='lgc'>: eventedness of the everyday (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> skepticism)

Cavell (on Hollywood cinema and other sites where the drama of separation and union is played out) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> how philosophers have typically focused on skepticism ='lgc'>[longstanding western philosophical ="trms">question and doubt about existence='lgc'>] with respect to ="trms">material objects and the external ="trms">world
...existence of the ="trms">finite neighbour (seemingly known other) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> may become unknowable

='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*="ppl">Veena discovers the concept of skepticism for ="trms">anthropology (as a discipline centrally concerned with the varying conditions of human relatedness and otherness)='strcls'>*

='lgc'>[i have been trying dicover skepticism un="trms">systematically in artistic practices those that have strong concerns of ="trms">social justice and suffering, but i never named it as such. ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Hoda, ="frds scrmbld">Xiri's emphasis on the threatening ="trms">nature of liminality (="trms">demand for equality or freedom) ='lgc'>=/= ='strcls'>**to take the possibility of unsettlement or chaos as founding concern='strcls'>**='lgc'>]
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> skepticism (may) sug="trms">gests a differnt route of inquiry

(="ppl">Veena -2007='lgc'>:) “the intimacy between skepticism and the ordinary is revealed in the ="trms">present work on several sites, as in the panic ="trms">rumors that circulate and produce the picture of the other as phantasmal from whom all human subjectivity has been evacuated, or when violence in the register of ="trms">literary is seen as transfiguring life into something else, call it a form of death, or of making oneself, as it were, into a ghost”

='lgc'>[violence ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> ghosts='lgc'>]

skeptical problematic ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> shifting potency of words ='lgc'>: energies that words may gather, and the ways these energies may give or deny life

speech ='lgc'>=/= voice
='lgc'>='lgc'>==> ='strcls'>***silence is not necessarily life-denying or that it necessarily indicates a lack or an inability to mourn='strcls'>***

="large lg3" stl="font-size:112%"> ='lgc'>[victims of violence telling ="trms">stories='lgc'>]
words imbued with spectral quality (yet animated by some other voice)

there is a deep moral energy in the ='strcls'>*refusal to re="trms">present some violations of the human body='strcls'>* ='lgc'>[='lgc'>=/= forensic architecture project's imperative of detailed re="trms">presentation of violation, explicit acknowledging traumatic ="trms">memory='lgc'>]
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>***living with poisonous knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge='strcls'>*** (a ="trms">different acknowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edgement of traumatic ="trms">memory) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> absorption exercises of remaking a ="trms">world

='lgc'>--='lgc'>{on ‘forensic architecture’ (an ="trms">aesthetics developed by Weizman)='lgc'>: ="ppl">Keenan asks='lgc'>: if the excruciating citizon videos (showing police violence for instance) could not convince a jury how can forms of ="trms">aesthetic critique based on research and visual evidence ='lgc'>[= post-conceptual art='lgc'>] be anymore effective on the general poblic='qstn'>? (='lgc'><='lgc'>== ‘evidence ='lgc'>=/= proof’)
="prgrph">-age of testimony (-public truth-)
="prgrph">-citizon photo journalism ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> “witnessing ='lgc'>='lgc'>~= action”
="prgrph">-the appearance of nonhuman objects as evidence (in forums and courts) as records of imperssions ='lgc'>[sense perception='lgc'>] ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> object='lgc'> = sensor (waiting to be ="trms">interpreted by justice-seekers) ='lgc'>='lgc'>~-> ='strcls'>***proxy for an absent victim='strcls'>***
='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]forensic='lgc'>: process of making claims of what the evidence is “saying” ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> what is made evident remains in dispute='lgc'>]
“forensic production of evidence (in art) ='lgc'>='lgc'>~= radical rejection of re="trms">presentation” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*adjudication of information='strcls'>* ='at'>@="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alice,Shariati">Ali
(="ppl">Keenan='lgc'>:) ideological and formal continuities that run from the ge[...]