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Dissidence, Richard K. Ashley, and the politics of silence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2010

KYLE GRAYSON
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Abstract

Within the academy we are taught to look for silence – as a noun. We are counselled to find gaps in the literature or empirical case studies that have yet to be researched in order to bring our own voice to the issues that they raise. But, there is a tension with the other face of silence, when it assumes the form of a verb. Silence and silencing have therefore been integral motivators for the entire spectrum of ‘critical’ literature within international studies, not only to show what cannot be spoken or thought about within international studies but also, at times, how this can be a deliberate political practice. But there remains a hope. The hope is that the catalyst for transformation – not merely change – is within that which we already know and that which we already have the ability to articulate or to speak. But should we take these assumptions for granted? It is at this precise point where the concerns of Richard K. Ashley with dissidence can combine with the conceptual provocations of the case of the Pirahã people of western Amazonia to generate some uncertainty about the revelations that ‘critical’ scholarship often wants to provide.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 36 , Issue 4 , October 2010 , pp. 1005 - 1019
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 2010

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References

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2 Ibid., p. 496.

3 It has been estimated that at the time of first contact, the Pirahã numbered around 50,000.

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5 Everett argues that in Pirahã, bả a gi so literally means to ‘cause to come together’. See ‘Cultural Constraints’, p. 7.

6 Everett has remarked that there is often very little connection between amount of goods that the Pirahã bring to trade and the amount of what they ask for in return. Generally the Pirahã offer whatever goods they have collected and point at what they want in exchange until the riverboat owner/captain signals that they have been paid in full. The fairness of the exchange from the perspective of the Pirahã is determined post-event after consultations with other members of the village. See Ibid., p. 13.

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9 Everett, ‘Cultural Constraints’, p. 31. It was argued that inbreeding was a strong possibility given the small population, the lack of clearly defined kinship relationships and reports that the Pirahã had sexual mores that might be considered promiscuous by dominant Judeo-Christian standards. However, the Everetts noted that based on their experiences with the Piraha, they never saw marriages between full biological siblings. In an interview for the New Yorker Magazine, Gordon callously argued that ‘if there was some kind of Appalachian inbreeding or retardation going on, you'd see it in hairlines, facial features, motor ability. It bleeds over. They don't show any of that.’ His statement and subsequent apology generated a storm of protest. See, Colapinto, John, ‘The Interpreter’, The New Yorker Magazine (16 April 2007)Google Scholar , available at: {http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fact_colapinto}; Society of Professional Journalists, ‘Professor Apologizes for “Appalachian inbreeding” remark’ (16 April 2007), available at: {http://www.spj.org/pressNotes.asp?REF=19236}.

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40 Hobson, ‘Beyond Westphalian’ is instructive on this point.

41 Particularly distressing is a new position being articulated that for ‘critical’ scholarship to be empirically informed, it must engage in ethnographic study. Murphy, ‘The Promise’, skates dangerously close to this position. This begs two questions, assuming that we take the term empirical in its best light: the philosophical ‘why is the analysis of texts and/or discourses not empirical?’ and a broader disciplinary question of ‘how has it become possible for textual and discursive analyses to be dismissed as “not empirical” by other forms of “critical” scholarship’?

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44 Ashley, ‘The Eye of Power’, p. 529.

45 Everett notes that the Piraha say that their heads are different than other people. The Piraha language is called 7apaitảiso ‘a straight head’, while other languages are called 7apagảiso, ‘a crooked head’. He argues that this not a reflection of ethnocentrism but rather shows how the connection between culture and language is an essential aspect of the Piraha identity, especially given that they call themselves hiaitỉihỉ, ‘a straight one/he is straight’. See Everett, ‘Cultural Constraints’, p. 37.

46 Quoted in Buck-Morss, Susan, Thinking Past Terror: Islamism and Critical Theory on the Left (London: Verso, 2003), p. 17Google Scholar .

47 Ibid., p. 6.

48 Ibid., p. 7.

49 Ibid.

50 Ashley, ‘The Eye of Power’, p. 534.

51 Ashley and Walker, ‘Speaking the Language’, p. 265.

52 Everett, ‘Cultural Constraints’, p. 37.

53 Žižek, Slavoj, Violence (London: Profile Books, 2009), p. 183Google Scholar .