An
anthropologist approach with philosophical, literature, geographic, historian,
and several others sources. If you mix all this sources it creates War and
Peace lecture. This class was absolutely
unique. Unique because it allows us to get a more pluralistic approach of war
and peacemaking-of beyond the classic historian discourse. I have to say that
at the beginning, I did not really understand why it was really important to
have this kind of thoughts of war and peace since I have always studied history
with, “historian elements”. But, thanks to this class, based on Tolstoy and
Foucault theories, I am now able to take more elements in consideration to get
i.e. to try to get a right point of view in how history is create, who are the actors, and who really have the power in making history. Also I did understand more how
subjectivity can influence the world in several ways. All the theories we
learnt during the first part of this class, from Tolstoy to Foucault allow us
to understand how unexpected agents can have a big influence, and sometimes a
bigger one, in the making of war and peace.
I won’t be
honest if I don’t say that the barrier of language made me sometimes incapable
to organize my reflection or sometimes to understand clearly the thesis of some
author (in particularly Tolstoy to say the truth). But, I tried to be
perseverant and not give up! It is also for that reason that I would like to
speak in this final entry about what the most struck me.
I have to
recognize there is one class, which was for me really revealing during this semester.
The one about the Workshop (week 8) deeply chocked me in a good way of course. I explain. I am
genuinely passionate by History, not to say a big fan. Also, because of my
Moroccan and Lebanese origins, I am unconscientiously really oriented in studying the Middle East history as a conflicts fireplace. For that matter, I
took a class this semester on the Middle and the Near East. By the bye, I also
read at least three or four times a week “Courier
International” to follow breaking news in this part of the world. Well, the text we had to read this week was
yours. But it is not for that reason that it was my favorite class (sorry). I really appreciated to see how reports (which
is a non-human force according to Foucault theory) can have a big weight. We
saw how the way the Lebanon events were reporting can have a big influence in,
what we are used to calling once the events are passed, “History”. Also, I was
really happy to have by chance the opportunity to discuss of your research work
as my last expose.
Finally,
the second part of the lecture concerning the influence of technologies in the
way peace and war are making captivated me. The class concerning the Bomb (week
5), the Report (week 6) and the Drone (week 7) allowed me to go into in depth in
the way Cold War have been made, as it is, far and away, one of my favorite History subject. I think I did not rightly consider the shift the technologies
developed in morality of the war and peace making-of before those classes.
Again,
thank you very much for your passion and your capacity to always push the limits of the debate and the reflection. Also I have to say, thanks for your patience.
Good luck in going on and in depth in your research.
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