The Death of Misunderstanding

Abstract: This talk considers the phenomena of suicide and murder, including suicide bombing, in Afghanistan. Focusing on the specific case of a “failed” suicide bombing at Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel, I undertake an analysis of the rise of this form of social violence as the violence of subjectivity and its relationship to language. More specifically, and through careful ethnographic listening, I argue that these kinds of attacks are inseparable from the role of gossip, social discourse, misunderstanding and the loss of a collective voice which might otherwise have contained their excess. 

Bio: Fatima Mojaddedi is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UC Davis. She has conducted extensive ethnographic and archival research in Afghanistan and her wider areas of interest include cultural memory, psychoanalysis, language and translation, political economy, and literary theory.

This is a hybrid event. For Zoom information, please contact pdios54 [at] stanford.edu (pdios54[at]stanford[dot]edu).