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
Results 1-5 of 66
... - 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.
... Clashes 15 3 Globalization and Violence 35 4 Fear of Small Numbers 49 5 Our Terrorists , Ourselves 87 6 Grassroots Globalization in the Era of Ideocide 115 Bibliography 139 Index 143 Preface his long essay is the second installment in a.
... Some critics saw the book as presenting too rosy a picture of the globalization of the early 1990s and as being insufficiently attentive to the darker sides of globaliza- tion , such as violence , exclusion , and growing Preface.
... violence against Muslims in my home city ( Bombay , now called Mumbai ) , where there had been intense riots be- tween Hindus and Muslims in January 1992 and later in 1993 . These episodes of group violence were part of a national wave ...
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
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 | |