Naeem

Naeem rated a book 2 of 5 stars

The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and the Pursuit of America's Enemies to the Ends of the Earth
by Mark Mazzetti

read in May, 2013

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After the riveting article published in the NYT (basically chapter 14 in the book), I was expecting good things. But none of the other pages live up to its best chapter.

There is something to be gained in reading this. For those unversed in the histor...more

Naeem made a comment on his review of Rethinking Hizballah: Legitimacy, Authority, Violence

"Indeed."

Naeem rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Rethinking Hizballah by Samer Nassif Abboud

Rethinking Hizballah: Legitimacy, Authority, Violence
by Samer Nassif Abboud

read in April, 2013

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Four stars if I consider this book a professional read. If I were reviewing this as a layperson, fewer stars would be in order. Why? Two reasons: First, the book needed a serious line-by-line editor. It reads acceptably if content is the only issue....more

Naeem made a comment on his review of Global Rift

"Two books by Vijay Prashad might do the trick. The first is The Darker Nations, the second, The Poorer Nations. Neither does what Stavrianos does, but...more "

Naeem liked Liza's review of Disgrace:

" I would like very much to be able to coherently refute this novel. After finishing it I felt as though I had maybe been taken in because while reading it I accepted its premise(s), but afterwards I wondered if what had seemed true really held up t... " Read more of this review »

Naeem made a comment on Martin's review of Discourse on Colonialism

"Next: Mona Rosendahl's Inside the Revolution.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23..."

Naeem rated a book 4 of 5 stars

The Making of a Human Bomb by Nasser Abufarha

The Making of a Human Bomb: An Ethnography of Palestinian Resistance
by Nasser Abufarha

recommended to Naeem by: Jacob Stump

read in October, 2012

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This is a dissertation turned into a book. The work is jam packed with academic defensiveness because the topic is so volatile. I think Abufarha wants to make the work "stick." We find lots of writing in the passive voice, large numbers of references...more This is a dissertation turned into a book. The work is jam packed with academic defensiveness because the topic is so volatile. I think Abufarha wants to make the work "stick." We find lots of writing in the passive voice, large numbers of references, huge literature review, explanations and justifications of his methodology, and a tone that says, "look, I am playing this game according to your rules about science, objectivity, and all that." This tactic does make the book "stick" but it also takes away a bit from its passion.

I skimmed chapter 1, read chapters 5-7. Chapter 5, "Dying to Live is built around the biographies/profiles of 3 "suicide bombers" -- a term that Abufarha rejects because it makes little sense within the culture he explores. He prefers "itishhadi" or "itishhadiyya" -- masculine and feminine terms meaning "martyr mission carrier." His cultural analysis is rich and reveals how the usual theories accounting for suicide bombers' motives are either wrong or indeterminate.

In chapter 6, "The Strategies and Politics of Martyrdom in Palestine," Abufarha moves to his central thesis: that "martyr missions" are kind of poetic or aesthetic performances with two audiences. The first is Palestinian. The purpose of the performance is to create and sustain life through dying; to make the Palestinian landscape, culture, and memory live through myrtdom actions. Abufarha shows that most everyone in Palestine understands this meaning of such performances. The second audience is the Israeli State. Here the message is mimetic or imitative but also confronting. It says to the State: "anything you can do to us with your powerful military weapons, we can match with with our convictions, courage, and culture." Apparently, there are few moral or ethical questions about martyrdom operations. The cultural consensus -- expressed in poems, plays, songs -- understands these operations as sacrifices, as investments in the future, and as forms of cultural reproduction.

The killing of "innocent civilians" resulting from martyrdom operations is seen as a necessary response to the perception that the Israeli State is bent on the total destruction of Palestinian culture and thereby targets all Palestinians -- men, women, children. Again, martyrdom operations are seen as responsive, reciprocal, and imitative.

Surprisingly, the world community is excluded from the audience. Palestinians, apparently, have completely rejected hopes of an appropriate response or even the possibility of adequate understanding from the world community.

Chapter 7, "Conclusion: An Anthropology of Violence" summarizes but also points to future directions. The take away is that culture cannot be destroyed. Specifically, Palestinian culture cannot be destroyed. Further, a living culture must express itself. When a living culture finds itself under threat of extermination, the way it expresses itself is through the poetics and aesthetics of the human bomb.

Does that mean there is nothing that can be done about suicide bombers? In one sense, yes, nothing can be done. This seems to be the message to those who fail to understand martyrdom operations as the living embodiment (double pun, please excuse it) of cultural expression. In another sense, something can be done: If cultures cannot be exterminated and if they must express themselves to live, then they must be given the space and the opportunities for expression that makes martyrdom operations unnecessary.

If we are looking for short term solutions, this is a most unsatisfactory conclusion because it means there is no defusing this bomb. But if we think that the knot(I shift from the metaphor of "bomb" to "knot") of the Palestine problem is but a microcosm of the larger structural problem of colonialism's undoing, then Abufarha gives us a rich analysis. He starts with a clear eyed assessment of the many threads that make up the knot, the tightness and durability of the threads, and the enormous skill it will take to undo the knot.

There is also something here if we are interested in "human bombs" beyond Palestine: grasping human bombs requires understanding the cultural context of their production as meaningful, as culturally thick. In sum, Abufarha makes a cultural argument with a universal significance. Or, a universal argument that requires cultural specificity.(less)

Naeem liked Sorayya Khan's review of The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life That Follows:

" There's a Sufi poet, Waris Shah, who has a line that goes something like this: "The people who say - those who go away to war will return - tell lies."
The Long Walk, Brian Castner's remarkable chronicle of his war (three tours in Iraq and then ho... " Read more of this review »

Naeem liked Sara-Maria Sorentino's review of Stedman's Surinam: Life in an Eighteenth-Century Slave Society. An Abridged, Modernized Edition of Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam:

Stedman's Surinam by John Gabriel Stedman

" best scene: 18th century exchange between maroons in Surinam and European soldiers/their slaves/pro-European afro-corps “the Rangers”:
“In this situation we continued to lie prostrate on our arms till next morning when the sun rose, and during whic... " Read more of this review »

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Naeem rated a book 2 of 5 stars The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and the Pursuit of America's Enemies to the Ends of the Earth by Mark Mazzetti read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
After the riveting article published in the NYT (basically chapter 14 in the book), I was expecting good things. But none of the other pages live up to its best chapter. There is something to be gained in reading this. For those unversed in the histor...more
13 hours, 52 min ago · see review
Naeem made a comment on his review of Rethinking Hizballah: Legitimacy, Authority, Violence "Indeed."
Apr 28, 2013 07:54am · see review
Naeem rated a book 4 of 5 stars Rethinking Hizballah: Legitimacy, Authority, Violence by Samer Nassif Abboud read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Four stars if I consider this book a professional read. If I were reviewing this as a layperson, fewer stars would be in order. Why? Two reasons: First, the book needed a serious line-by-line editor. It reads acceptably if content is the only issue....more
Apr 28, 2013 07:08am · see review
Naeem made a comment on his review of Global Rift "Two books by Vijay Prashad might do the trick. The first is The Darker Nations, the second, The Poorer Nations. Neither does what Stavrianos does, but...more "
Apr 13, 2013 08:17am · see review
Naeem liked Liza's review of Disgrace: " I would like very much to be able to coherently refute this novel. After finishing it I felt as though I had maybe been taken in because while reading it I accepted its premise(s), but afterwards I wondered if what had seemed true really held up t... " Read more of this review »
Nov 21, 2012 10:50am · see review
Naeem made a comment on Martin's review of Discourse on Colonialism "Next: Mona Rosendahl's Inside the Revolution. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23..."
Nov 04, 2012 02:59pm · see review
Naeem rated a book 4 of 5 stars The Making of a Human Bomb: An Ethnography of Palestinian Resistance by Nasser Abufarha recommended to Naeem by: Jacob Stump read in October, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is a dissertation turned into a book. The work is jam packed with academic defensiveness because the topic is so volatile. I think Abufarha wants to make the work "stick." We find lots of writing in the passive voice, large numbers of references...more
Oct 15, 2012 12:12pm · see review
Naeem liked Sorayya Khan's review of The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life That Follows: " There's a Sufi poet, Waris Shah, who has a line that goes something like this: "The people who say - those who go away to war will return - tell lies." The Long Walk, Brian Castner's remarkable chronicle of his war (three tours in Iraq and then ho... " Read more of this review »
Oct 01, 2012 12:40pm · see review
Naeem liked Sara-Maria Sorentino's review of Stedman's Surinam: Life in an Eighteenth-Century Slave Society. An Abridged, Modernized Edition of Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam: " best scene: 18th century exchange between maroons in Surinam and European soldiers/their slaves/pro-European afro-corps “the Rangers”: “In this situation we continued to lie prostrate on our arms till next morning when the sun rose, and during whic... " Read more of this review »
Aug 22, 2012 07:05pm · see review

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