06.07.2017

Design of Darkness to Appall? American Exceptionalism

Mittwoch, den 12.07.2017, 18 Uhr c.t.
im Ludwig-Uhland-Institut, Schloss Hohentübingen

Stephen Reyna
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle

This talk explores US exceptionalism. In order to do so it offers conceptualizations of cargo cults
and terrorism. Notions of oppressor and oppressed cargo cults are introduced. A
phenomenological view of terrorism is advanced that distinguishes oppressor and oppressed
terrorism. A particular design, termed accumulation of terror, is argued to characterize the
current conjuncture. US exceptionalism in this conjuncture is interpreted as a form of cargo cult
whose design follows a telos that is a “darkness to appall”. The argument is supported by US
exercises of violence.

Organisation:

Der SFB 923 ‚Bedrohte Ordnungen‘, das Institut für Soziologie, die Abteilung für Ethnologie und
das Ludwig-Uhland-Institut (LUI) laden ein zum Vortrag des Anthropologen, Co-Editors des
Journal ‚Anthropological Theory‘ und Associate am Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology