Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of AngerThe period since 1989 has been marked by the global endorsement of open markets, the free flow of finance capital and liberal ideas of constitutional rule, and the active expansion of human rights. Why, then, in this era of intense globalization, has there been a proliferation of violence, of ethnic cleansing on the one hand and extreme forms of political violence against civilian populations on the other? Fear of Small Numbers is Arjun Appadurai’s answer to that question. A leading theorist of globalization, Appadurai turns his attention to the complex dynamics fueling large-scale, culturally motivated violence, from the genocides that racked Eastern Europe, Rwanda, and India in the early 1990s to the contemporary “war on terror.” Providing a conceptually innovative framework for understanding sources of global violence, he describes how the nation-state has grown ambivalent about minorities at the same time that minorities, because of global communication technologies and migration flows, increasingly see themselves as parts of powerful global majorities. By exacerbating the inequalities produced by globalization, the volatile, slippery relationship between majorities and minorities foments the desire to eradicate cultural difference. Appadurai analyzes the darker side of globalization: suicide bombings; anti-Americanism; the surplus of rage manifest in televised beheadings; the clash of global ideologies; and the difficulties that flexible, cellular organizations such as Al-Qaeda present to centralized, “vertebrate” structures such as national governments. Powerful, provocative, and timely, Fear of Small Numbers is a thoughtful invitation to rethink what violence is in an age of globalization. |
From inside the book
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... - Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book . 3rd printing , 2006 An earlier version of chapter 4 appeared as " The New Logics of Violence , " Seminar 503 ( 2001 ) . Contents Preface ix 1 From Ethnocide to Ideocide 1 2.
An Essay on the Geography of Anger Arjun Appadurai. Contents Preface ix 1 From Ethnocide to Ideocide 1 2 The Civilization of Clashes 15 3 Globalization and Violence 35 4 Fear of Small Numbers 49 5 Our Terrorists , Ourselves 87 6 ...
... ethnocide , and ideocide , we will not know where to seek the resources for hope about globalization and the globalization of hope . So I ask the reader to bear with me on this phase of an investigation that is not yet complete . As ...
... , hovered over this book . With- out her encouragement and prodding , neither its soul nor its substance would have come to light . Bethany , Connecticut August 2005 xiii 1 From Ethnocide to Ideocide his study is concerned with.
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Contents
From Ethnocide to Ideocide | 6 |
The Civilization of Clashes | |
Globalization and Violence | |
Fear of Small Numbers | 6 |
Our Terrorists Ourselves | |
Grassroots Globalization in the Era of Ideocide | 6 |
20 | |
4 | |