TY - BOOK ID - 12685113 TI - Violent cartographies : mapping cultures of war PY - 1997 SN - 0816629218 081668796X PB - Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, DB - UniCat KW - War and civilization. KW - War and society KW - 815 Geschiedenis KW - 820 Internationale Betrekkingen KW - 826 Imperialisme, Kolonialisme KW - 846.1 Etniciteit KW - 855 Oorlogsvoering KW - 858 Geweld KW - 876 Veiligheidspolitiek KW - 880 Regio’s en landen KW - 882.4 Noord-Amerika KW - 884.4 West-Europa KW - 853 Regionale conflicten KW - War and civilization KW - Civilization and war KW - Civilization UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:12685113 AB - An innovative critique of the way historians and political scientists study war. How can we resist a nation-state vision of the globe? What is needed to "unmap" the familiar world? In Violent Cartographies, Michael J. Shapiro considers these questions, exploring the significance of war in contemporary society and its connections to the geographical imaginary. Employing an ethnographic perspective, Shapiro uses whiplash reversals and bizarre juxtapositions to jolt readers out of conventional thinking about international relations and security studies. Considering the ideas of thinkers ranging from yon Clausewitz to Virilio, from Derrida to DeLillo, Shapiro distances readers from familiar political and strategic accounts of war and its causes. Shapiro uses literary and film analyses to elucidate his themes. For example, he considers such cultural artifacts as U.S. Marine recruiting television commercials, American war movies, and General Schwarzkopf's autobiography, elaborating how a certain image of American masculinity is played out in the military imaginary and in the media. Other topics are Melville's The Confidence Man, Bunuel's film That Obscure Object of Desire, and a comparison of the U.S. invasion of Grenada to an Aztec "flower war". Throughout, Shapiro draws attention to the violence of the colonial encounters through which many modern nation-states were formed, and ultimately suggests possible directions for an ethics of minimal violence in the encounter with others. The overall effect is of a complex, cumulative, and layered analysis of the historical and moral conditions of the current use of violence in the conduct of international relations. A fascinating and challenging work, Violent Cartographies will interest anyone concerned with the connections between war and culture. ER -