Traces of War in Everyday Life? Innovation, Militarization, Normalization

A half-day research seminar & workshop by Anna Leander & Ronnie Lipschutz

The presence and circulation of a representation (taught by preachers, educators, and popularizers as the key to socioeconomic advancement) tells us nothing about what it is for its users.  We must first analyze its manipulation by users who are not its makers.  Only then can we gauge the difference or similarity between the production of the image and the secondary production hidden in the process of its utilization. (Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, p. xiii).

Are there traces of war in everyday life, even during times of notional “peace”? Military research plays a key part in the technological innovation and development that shape everyday life. Moreover, it is often suggested that for the past half-century, war has been omnipresent as a global phenomenon mediated through both the economy of production and preparation for world war. But does this imply that there are therefore traces of war in the practices of everyday life?  The goal of this research seminar is to tackle this question. This task is particularly urgent since the “hybridized” nature of many practices make such traces difficult to recognize let alone explain or understand. This hybridization follows three axes: public-private, for example, as the military/security missions contracted out to companies composed of former soldiers and officers; military-civilian, for example, as the civil agencies of police adopt the tactics and technologies of the military and intelligence work draws in corporations and civil society; and technological-social, as military systems, such as GPS, are used for example to track and discipline drivers and mobile phone users.

In order to begin to provide answers, papers in this seminar will address questions such as: Can we observe a pervasive militarization of daily life, present in everyday beliefs, discourses, language, technologies and practices?  Are the traces of “war in everyday life” a concomitant of the nation-state and a necessary condition for its existence?  To what degree do agents in the private sector and civil society participate in and contribute to these traces?  Do high levels of military funding for research in “dual use technologies” diffuse militarism? Do technological systems themselves “act” to this effect? Or, are there yet other processes involved?  And if there are indeed traces of war does this augur new forms of social life, in which war-driven hybridity is normalized? What role does law and other form of regulation play in this?

Obviously, such questions cannot be answered in an afternoon; at best, they can be considered and discussed with, perhaps, a future research agenda in mind.  For this research seminar & workshop, therefore, the organisers solicit three or four relatively short think-pieces (4-5 pages) that outline tentative ways of answering the question at stake: how and why are there traces of war in everyday life?

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to Anne Birgitte Tramm Ejdrup (abte.dbp@cbs.dk). If you have any questions please contact either Anna Leander (al.dbp@cbs.dk) or Ronnie Lipschutz (rlipsch@ucsc.edu).