Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland

Allen Feldman

University of Chicago Press, Aug 13, 1991 - History - 319 pages

"A sophisticated and persuasive late-modernist political analysis that consistently draws the reader into the narratives of the author and those of the people of violence in Northern Ireland to whom he talked. . . . Simply put, this book is a feast for the intellect"—Thomas M. Wilson, American Anthropologist

"One of the best books to have been written on Northern Ireland. . . . A highly imagination and significant book. Formations of Violence is an important addition to the literature on political violence."—David E. Schmitt, American Political Science Review

Contents

• Artifacts and Instruments of Agency: 1
• Surfaces and Centers: 2
• Embodied Transcripts: 7
• Map of the Book: 10
• Spatial Formations of Violence: 17
• Partitions: 23
• The Interface: 28
• The Sanctuary: 36
• Paramilitaries Populist Violence and State Formation: 40
• The Runback: 41
• Hardmen Gunmen Butchers Doctors Stiffs Ghosts and Black Men: 46
• Sensory Formations: 56
• The Butchers: 59
• Genealogies of the Dead: 65
• Stiffing: 68
• Doorsteps: 71
• Sacrificial Transfers: 77
• The Symbolic the Imaginary and the Real: 79
• The Black Man: 81
• Being Done Rites of Political Passage: 85
• The Collectivization of Arrest: 86
• Resisting Arrest: 89
• Capture: 97
• Getting Done: 99
• Arrest and Death: 106
• Ceremony of Verification: 110
• The Name and the Eye: 115
• White Spaces: 123
• The Sensorium of Death: 128
• Breaking the Interrogation: 138
• Battleproofing: 145
• The Breakers Yard: 147
• Criminalization: 149
• Aborted Initiations: 152
• Scatology: 165
• The Mirror: 174
• The Body as Weapon Artifact: 176
• Mechanical Bears: 185
• Techniques and Discourses of the Body: 198
• Eschatology: 218
• H6: 221
• The Stiff: 231
• The Lark: 237
• Biological Time Prison Time and Historical Time: 247
• Sacrifice Doubled: 256
• A Scene of Exchange from the Gospels: 261
• Interiorizing Subjects and Objects: 263
• The Reversal of Sacrifice: 265
• Glossary: 271
• Organizations Cited: 276
• Republican Paramilitary Cohort: 280
• Notes: 283
• References: 303
• Index: 311

About the author

Allen Feldman is professor in the Department of Media Culture and Communication at New York University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland
• Author: Allen Feldman
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1991
• ISBN: 0226240703, 9780226240701
• Length: 319 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Ireland; Political Science / General; Political Science / Political Freedom; Political Science / Terrorism; Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social; Social Science / Archaeology; Social Science / General; Social Science / Sociology / General; Social Science / Violence in Society