Making Emotional Sense of the Proposed Boycotts

August 27th, 2007 Posted by Judith

A thoughtful and incisive analysis of the left’s support of the Israeli boycotts by a sociologist/ psychoanalyst.

Judith Lorber 

 

Making Emotional Sense of the Proposed Boycotts against Israeli Academics and Intellectuals - Catherine B. Silver

ENGAGE Issue 4 - February 2007

 

This essay explores the signifying discourses used to support the ban on Israeli academics and intellectuals. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the links between the political and the personal, through an exploration of the emotional basis for supporting the boycott and the power of language in splitting thoughts from affects. We look at this splitting mechanism in the context of the recent attempts to boycott Israeli researchers and academics which were initiated in England in 2002 by two Jewish professors (2), and followed in 2006 with both a proposal by an Irish group of academics and an attempted ban of Israel at this year’s International Architectural Biennial in Venice. The boycott attempts have created deep divisions within the left, each camp resorting to attacks, counter-attacks, and mutual condemnations. 

 

http://www.engageonline.org.uk/journal/index.php?journal_id=14&article_id=54

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