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23-02-2010, 15:55 #1Senior Member
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The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
A Paper Prepared for Presentation at the ISA Annual Convention 2009, New
York City, 15-18 February 2009.
Dr Victoria Basham
Research Fellow, Department of Politics, University of Bristol & External
Affiliate, Centre for International and Security Studies, York University
Victoria.Basham@bristol.ac.uk
Abstract:
In 2008, the British Army published its response to human rights abuses and killings of Iraqi civilians perpetrated by its soldiers between 2003 and 2004. The report quickly moves to a ‘bad apple’ explanation, suggesting only ‘endemic’ abuse would be sufficient grounds for organisational change. Blame is thus located solely in those directly involved. These soldiers, the British Army claims, must have deviated from core values and standards, lacked psychological strength, or wrongly applied treatment they could be subjected to by the ‘enemy other’ to civilians they confused with that ‘enemy other’. These explanations constitute the perpetrators are sovereign individuals, whose violence relates to the exceptional, the emergency and the spectre of the protean terrorist enemy. However, by undertaking a biopolitical analysis of these claims, this paper explores how wider relationships of power, in which the state of exception, emergency and siege have become routinised grounds for violence, enable these acts to be constituted as individual. Seen this way, torture is no longer beyond the control or culpability of the Army as institution. However, neither can it be removed from the political-spatial dimension in which it took place; in the context of the so-called ‘war on terror’. The paper concludes by theorising the implications of this reading for the resistance of torture.
You can read the whole thing by following the links at the top or on this site here. It would be glib to say that Dr Basham has tortured our language far more than any prisoner at the hands of the brutal soldiery but I warn you that its pretty hard going and mostly drivel. I wish I could get someone to pay me to come up with tosh like this.A DEAD STATESMAN
I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?
Kipling: EPITAPHS 1914
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23-02-2010, 16:10 #2Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British
Just 'cos she didn't pass selection for Bristol UOTC...
CW
Quis Separabit
Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum'When you find the Colonel, infiltrate his team by whatever means available and terminate the Colonel's command.'
'Ich am of Irlaunde,
Ant of the holy londe
Of Irlande.
Gode sire, pray ich the,
For of saynte charite,
Com ant daunce wyth me
In Irlaunde.'
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23-02-2010, 16:36 #3Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
Awesome.
"Biopolitics"?
Almost as good as Astrology in the "Avoiding-getting-a-proper-job" stakes.The above post is not intended as official communication from HMRC and in no way reflects the opinions of that organisation. In fact, it probably doesn't reflect the opinions of the poster and certainly won't have been properly thought through.
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23-02-2010, 17:08 #4Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British
A (pen) picture paints a thousand words.
And at least most of those are in plain-ish English.We need people who look to the stars, holding the nation and the world in their hearts but at the same time we need down-to-earth people who can do serious and trying work.
In a definite sense, a country's power and prestige isn't only a reflection of its economic power but also a reflection of its people's quality and morality. Moreover, I think the latter is actually more important in the long-term.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/multi...na_has_changed
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23-02-2010, 17:41 #5Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
She has a proper job. At least in as much as she is getting plenty of proper money from the tax payer for doing what she does.
Originally Posted by Tax_Tw-t
A DEAD STATESMAN
I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?
Kipling: EPITAPHS 1914
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23-02-2010, 17:45 #6Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
I understand none of that, what does biopolitics means
Why are 99% of PhDs a pointless waste of time etcToodlepip
TheGimp
You can't polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter
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23-02-2010, 17:47 #7Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British
I read the entire thing and my teeth started to hurt at page 2: A flawed piece of sh1t from start to finish - particularly her comments on a colonialising army. Originally Posted by BuggerAll
"My research draws on feminist and Foucauldian theory to examine how geopolitical events shape daily life and how daily life can, in turn, affect geopolitical outcomes. More specifically, I am interested in the intersections between identity markers (gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and social class), and the prioritisation, use and perpetration of military force and practices in liberal democratic societies.
I have recently published articles on how gender, racism and heterosexism sustain militarism in armed forces and society and I am currently working on a monograph entitled ‘War, Identity and the Liberal State’. I am also working on articles that explore how gender and imperialism influence responses to military atrocities, and on how particular understandings of subjectivity are implied and facilitated in counter-terrorism measures.
I am also very interested in feminist and reflexive methodlogy and in qualitative approaches in political research."
http://huss.exeter.ac.uk/politics/staff/basham/
Dr Victoria Basham was appointed Lecturer in Politics at the University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus in September 2009. She joins us from the University of Bristol where she graduated with a BSc in Social Policy and Politics before going on to complete her PhD on social diversity in the British Armed Forces and an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the same institution. Victoria is also an External Associate at the Centre for International and Security Studies, York University, Toronto, where she spent time as a visiting scholar in 2007 and 2008.
Victoria’s research draws on feminist and Foucauldian theory to examine how geopolitical events shape daily life and how daily life can, in turn, affect geopolitical outcomes. She has recently published articles on how gender, racism and heterosexism sustain militarism in armed forces and society and is currently working on a monograph entitled ‘War, Identity and the Liberal State’, based on her doctoral work. She is also working on articles that explore how gender and imperialism influence responses to military atrocities, and on how particular understandings of subjectivity are implied and facilitated in counter-terrorism measures. Victoria has written for The Guardian and welcomes media enquiries on civil-military relations, counter-terrorism and wider security issues.
p://www.exeter.ac.uk/cornwall/academic_departments/huss/politics/staff_profiles.shtml
She is getting paid for this drivel FFS.I'm the rootin'est, tootin'est........................
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23-02-2010, 18:00 #8Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
You could probably get a PhD in the study of why 99% of PhDs are a waste of time. And in all probability get a grant to do it, as long as you were doing it for a Lesbian Outreach Socialist Co-operative or somesuch. Originally Posted by thegimp
You've done your bit Hooky, out you go.
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23-02-2010, 18:05 #9Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
At last the waste products of horses are good for roses.
...For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.
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23-02-2010, 18:09 #10Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
Go on, admit it. How many of you have googled "Foucaldian Theory" ?
Just me, then. I'll save you the effort. Don't bother.Dubb
"Enigma wasn't a code !"
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23-02-2010, 18:20 #11Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
Just a hunch, but possibly crap politics recycled. :D Originally Posted by thegimp
The harder the fighting and the longer the war, the more the infantry and in fact all the arms, lean on the Gunners - Field Marshal Montgomery.
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23-02-2010, 18:40 #12Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
I'm afraid I did but was too thick to understand the answers I got. Which is of course the point of using big academic sounding words with obscure meanings. Very hard to challenge some one if you don't understand what they are saying. You open yourself up to sounding thick. Originally Posted by Dubb_al_Ibn
A DEAD STATESMAN
I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?
Kipling: EPITAPHS 1914
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23-02-2010, 19:55 #13Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British
Doesn't pass the SMOG test....
'When you find the Colonel, infiltrate his team by whatever means available and terminate the Colonel's command.'
'Ich am of Irlaunde,
Ant of the holy londe
Of Irlande.
Gode sire, pray ich the,
For of saynte charite,
Com ant daunce wyth me
In Irlaunde.'
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23-02-2010, 19:58 #14Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
Me too! And rather proud to be so! Researching a little further Foucaldian is apparently now rather less thought of than Post-Foucaldian, which will no doubt with greater funding become Neo-Foucaldian, and possibly Modernist Foucaldian. The sensible thing may be to wait for the Post-Modernism Foucaldian. Originally Posted by BuggerAll
I'm afraid I did but was too thick to understand the answers I got. Which is of course the point of using big academic sounding words with obscure meanings. Very hard to challenge some one if you don't understand what they are saying. You open yourself up to sounding thick. Originally Posted by Dubb_al_Ibn
A fairly reliable definition of all might be intellectual fundraising horseshit, with a writing style not dissimilar to extreme Islamists when ranting about the simple need to top their enemies!
I must ask a "proper PhD or DSc " about this. My feelings are that this stuff is largely the "Degree in Macdonald's culture" taken to an different (though not higher), level of unintelligable but equally useless pretension.
The ultimate answers to the questions will no doubt be apparent to any bright "A" level student of Shakespeare....For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.
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23-02-2010, 20:48 #15Senior Member
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Re: The Biopolitics of Soldiering and Torture in the British Armed Forces
Because if you want the wheat, you have to accept the chaff. Or, more simply, because 99% of all human thought is a pointless waste of time. Originally Posted by thegimp
If you think about it, how many billions of hours of thought went into mathematics, physics, metallurgy, und so weiter and how many of them actually contributed to lighter than air travel, space flight and teflon?
As a species, 'pointless waste of time' is a pretty good summary. It's what we do best.We need people who look to the stars, holding the nation and the world in their hearts but at the same time we need down-to-earth people who can do serious and trying work.
In a definite sense, a country's power and prestige isn't only a reflection of its economic power but also a reflection of its people's quality and morality. Moreover, I think the latter is actually more important in the long-term.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/multi...na_has_changed
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