The Intimate Life of Dissent Ánthropological Perspectives

Abstract

The Intimate Life of Dissent examines the meanings and implications of public acts of dissent, drawing on examples from ethnography and history. Acts of dissent are never simply just about abstract principles, but also come at great personal risk to both the dissidents and to those close to them. Dissent is, therefore, embedded in deep, complex and sometimes contradictory intimate relations. This book puts acts of high principle back into the personal relations out of which they emerge and take effect, raising new questions about the relationship between intimacy and political commitment. It does so through an introduction and eight individual chapters, drawing on examples including Sri Lankan leftists, Soviet dissidents, Tibetan exiles, Kurdish prisoners, British pacifists, Indonesian student activists and Jewish peace activists. The Intimate Life of Dissent will be of interest to postgraduate students and researchers of anthropology, history, political theory and sociology. Written in a clear and accessible style, it is also suitable for teaching introductory undergraduate courses on political anthropology. Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Notes on contributors -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction: the intimate life of dissent -- 2 One is the biggest number: estrangement, intimacy and totalitarianism in late Soviet Russia -- 3 Dissent with/out resistance? Secular and ultra-Orthodox Israeli approaches to ethical and political disagreement -- 4 Friendship behind bars: Kurdish dissident politics in Turkey's prisons -- 5 Intimate commitments: friends, comrades and family in the life of one Sri Lankan activist 6 Dissenting conscience: the intimate politics of objection in Second World War Britain -- 7 Friends with differences: ethics, rivalry and politics among Sri Lankan Tamil former political activists -- 8 The intimacy of details: a Tibetan diary of dissent -- 9 Dissident writing and the intimacy of the archive in authoritarian Indonesia -- Index