Interventions: Activists and Academics Respond to Violence

This collection brings together top scholars to discuss the significance of violence from a global perspective and the intersections between the global structures of violence and more localized and intimate forms of violence. Activists and academics consider questions such as; are there situations in which violence should be politically supported? Are non-violent or antiwar movements in the US able to effectively respond to violence? Do we need to rethink our understanding of both 'religion' and 'secularism' in light of the current world situation? Have new paradigms been developed in response to violence? The essays in this collection offer inclusive analysis of particular situations and creative alternatives to the omnipresence of violence.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; E.Castelli & J.Jakobsen Responding to Violence Against Women; N.Abdo Cultural Resistance to Dominant Paradigms of Violence; F.Afzal-Kahn Naming Emnity; G.Anidjar The Wrong Victims; S.Bachner Feminism, Violence, and the Usefullness of Ambiguity; K.Beckman Investigating a 'Right to Peace'; H.Cobban Empire of Insecurity; N.C.Crawford Understanding the Relationship Between Law and Violence as a Matter of Law; L.A.Crooms Recovering a Cherokee Critical Theory of Violence; L.E.Donaldson On Religion, Secularism, and Violence; J.R.Jacobsen Finding the Words; I.Klepfisz State, Society and Violence; T.Longman Dangerous Crossings; L.A.Lorentzen War and the Pacification of the US Citizen Since 1970; C.Lutz Domestic Terrorism; C.Lutz & J.Elliton The Violence of Poverty in America; L.C.Minnite Violence of Protection; M.Moallem 'Sisterhood' After Terrorism; K.Poethig The Ethics and Politics of Hindu Hatred; A.Rao Women, War and Biblical Interpretation After 9/11; E.Runions Rethinking 'Home' A.Smith Civil Society and Nation-Building in the Peace-Building Process; G.Son Sacred Excess; R.Subramaniam Definitions and Injuries of Violence; M.Turshen Domestic Photography and the Militarization of American Life; L.Wexler Beyond 'Us' and 'Them'; K.Whitlock

About the Author :
Elizabeth A. Castelli is Assistant Professor of Religion at Barnard College, USA. She is editor / author of several books including Women, Gender, Religion (Palgrave 2001), Martyrdom and Memory, and Sexuality in Antiquity. Janet R. Jakobsen is Director of the Center for Research on Women and is Adjunct Associate Professor at Barnard College, New York, USA. She is the author of Love the Sin and Working Alliances and the Politics of Difference.

Review :
'There is a long tradition of intellectuals responding to violence, particularly if there is a provocation such as the US invasion in Iraq. Castelli and Jakobsen have edited a book with a wide range of articles, most of them written from a feminist point of view. All are in some way related to violence. Basically, they try to contribute to the development of new and more comprehensive vocabularies for analyzing violence and revitalized strategies for antiviolence activism...For the peace research community, this book brings together articles that try to focus on violence from a feminist or at least from a female point of view. This is the most relevant and fruitful aspect of the book.' - Journal of Peace Research