What's anger got to do with it? Towards a post-indignation pedagogy for communities in conflict

Abstract

We argue that anger tends to be naturalized and normalized in social and educational theory and our goal is to problematize the too easy justification of indignation as an emotional resource in political and pedagogical work. Instead we wish to propose the broad contours of a post-indignation pedagogy as a frame for rethinking racism and redefining antiracist and dialogic pedagogy. In the first part of the paper, we offer a genealogy of anger in conflict communities; in particular, our analysis explores the emotionally saturated discourses of anger in our home countries (Australia and Cyprus). In our second move, we draw on figures such as Seneca, Buddhism and Judith Butler for reframings of anger. The reframe we are proposing interrogates two extremes – resignation to anger and resignation from anger – and proposes a ‘middle way’ between these two. Thirdly, in rejecting these two extremes, the paper speculates on possibility of pedagogies of ‘conviviality’, borrowing from Gilroy.

Keywords:

• anger
• post-indignation pedagogy
• conviviality

Acknowledgements

This paper is connected to an Australian Research Council project (DP0451610) Rethinking Reconciliation and Pedagogy in Unsettling Times. This project is a collaboration between, Associate Professor Robert Hattam, Associate Professor Peter Bishop, Dr. Stephen Atkinson (University of South Australia), Associate Professor Julie Matthews (University of the Sunshine Coast), Associate Professor Pam Christie (University of Queensland) and Professor Pal Ahluwalia (University of South Australia). We also thank the University of South Australia for funding an Antiracism and Pedagogy: International Perspectives Workshop in December 2008.

Notes

1. See the special issue of the European Journal of Social Theory, 7(2) in 2004.

2. We are using the term ‘post-indignation’ to infer post-anger, or a getting past anger in struggles for social justice. Indignation in this case is code for anger.

3. For example, an affective economy of fear imposes certain affective associations that stick various signs (e.g. Muslim and terrorism) together.

4. See http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item.asp?dID=104.

5. See http://www.reconciliation.org.au/home/reconciliation-resources/1967-referendum.

6. See http://vrroom.naa.gov.au/records/?ID=19522.

7. See http://www1.aiatsis.gov.au/exhibitions/treaty/nac.htm.

8. See http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AboriginalLB/1993/28.html.

9. See http://www.clc.org.au/Media/issues/governance/kalkaringi_statement.html.

10. See http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/car/.

11. See http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/bth_report/index.html.

12. As examples of important expositions of the Australian colonial project see Commonwealth of Australia (1997); Johnston (1991); Reynolds (2005); Rintoul (1993); Altman and Hinkson (2007) and Brennan, Behrendt, Strelein and Williams (2005).

13. The traumas of ethnic division between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, first in the 1960s when the Turkish Cypriots were the main victims and then in 1974, when Turkey invaded and divided the island, with many thousands of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots displaced, came to signify an intractable conflict in the politics of the region. Since 1974, the Green Line divides the island, separating the two communities – Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north. The intractability of the conflict and the persisting status quo, despite numerous diplomatic efforts, leads to many tensions on either side of the island. A major aspect of this tension comes from the fact that the two communities have been raised apart for a long time, despite the partial lift of restrictions on movement across the Green Line in 2003. In April 2004, the Greek Cypriots rejected a proposed solution put in referendum by the United Nations, while the Turkish Cypriots accepted it; a few days later, Cyprus joined the European Union as a divided state with its problem still unresolved. Currently, the situation is marked by political stalemate and various opinion polls in both communities indicate high pessimism for a solution in the near future.

14. Between 1963 and 1974 over 2,000 persons from both communities disappeared in Cyprus. Officially the Greek Cypriots claim 1,619 and the Turkish Cypriots 803 Missing Persons. The Greek Cypriots claim their Missing from the 1974 Turkish invasion (or ‘Peace Operation’ as it is known in Turkey), while the Turkish Cypriots claim their own Missing from the hostilities between 1963 and 1974.

15. For Buddhist advice on anger see Berzin (1998); Geshe Rabten and Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey (1977); Thich Nhat Hanh (1997); Goleman, D. (1997); Dalai Lama (1997); Dilgo Khyentse (1992); Kelsang Gyatso (1979); Salzberg (1997).

16. Tibetan Buddhism asserts that there are twenty secondary emotional afflictions: belligerence, resentment, concealment, spite, jealousy, miserliness, deceit, dissimulation, haughtiness, harmfulness, non-shame, non-embarrassment, lethargy, excitement, non-faith, laziness, non-conscientiousness, forgetfulness, non-introspection, distraction. See Lati Rinpoche (1980).

17. Similarly, Lingis (1994) asks us to consider our ethico-politics from the perspective of the stranger, that multitude of strangers who make up the ‘other community’ (p. 10). Certain questions ensue from such a meditation such as: ‘How should one deal with somebody unknown dying, in one's presence or absence, somebody who is a stranger to you, but who is surely connecting you in the immense texture of causality and contingency it is this world? Is there a way to hear what such a person utters? Is there a way to address, even inaudibly, such a stranger? Is one obliged to reply if the person summons help?’ (Suga, 2006, p. 20).