Captives of dentity: the betrayal of intercultural cooperation

Authors

Marcelo G. Svirsky, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

54731

Publication Details

Svirsky, M. G. 2011, 'Captives of dentity: the betrayal of intercultural cooperation', Subjectivity, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 121-146.

Abstract

In conditions of intense ethnic conflict, intercultural cooperation of individuals and groups might find itself beholden to the logic of identity: ethnic heads are counted, distributed and managed as the building blocks of cooperation. We are already familiar with the dyads: Jewish¿Arab, Hindu¿Muslim, Catholic¿Protestant and so on. Accordingly, we face the choice of claiming identity either as opponents or as partners in conflict ¿ other ways are ruled out. From a Deleuzian perspective, this means abandoning new lifestyles by resurrecting strata based on dominant identities. Such, I submit, is the case with Galilee ¿ the Arab¿Jewish Bilingual School established in 1998 as a radical form of cooperation in Israel/Palestine. By applying Deleuzian tools ¿ in particular, the role Deleuze bestows upon infinitive verbs ¿ I examine unrealised potentials for continuing transformation.