Lacan Africa K Seniors

Psychoanalysis Northwestern
Hamraie P. 1 of 74
PSYCHOANALYSIS KRITIK
Aid Assistance Kritik
1NC......................................................................................................................................................................3-5
2NC- Overview....................................................................................................................................................6
2NC- Impact Block..............................................................................................................................................7
2NC- Perm Block.................................................................................................................................................8
Links
Link- Aid/Humanitarian.....................................................................................................................................9
Link- Terrorism (1/3)........................................................................................................................................10
Link- Terrorism (2/3)........................................................................................................................................11
Link- Terrorism (3/3)........................................................................................................................................12
Link- Terrorism (1/2)........................................................................................................................................13
Link- Terrorism (2/2)........................................................................................................................................14
Link- Utilitarianism/Catastrophe (1/2).........................................................................................................15
Link- Utilitarianism/Catastrophe (2/2).........................................................................................................16
Development Kritik
1NC.................................................................................................................................................................17-18
2NC- Overview..................................................................................................................................................19
2NC- Perm Block..............................................................................................................................................20
2NC- Perm Block..............................................................................................................................................21
Links
Link- Development...........................................................................................................................................22
Link- Civil Society/Social Capital (1/2)......................................................................................................23
Link- Civil Society/Social Capital (2/2)......................................................................................................24
Link- Aid/Development....................................................................................................................................27
Link- Failure Dev........................................................................................................................................28
Link- Humanitarian Ethics..............................................................................................................................29
Link- Selfish Motive (1/2)..............................................................................................................................30
Link- Selfish Motive (2/2)..............................................................................................................................31
Impacts
Impact- Return of the Repressed....................................................................................................................32
Impact- Reproduction of Harms.....................................................................................................................33
Impact- Domination..........................................................................................................................................34
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PSYCHOANALYSIS KRITIK
Alternative
Alternative- Opens Up Space..........................................................................................................................35
Alternative- Universalizing.............................................................................................................................36
Psychoanalysis Key to Interrogate Other.....................................................................................................37
Psychoanalysis Solves Failures in Colonial reps of other ........................................................................38
Psychoanalysis Solves Fantasies/ Hierarchies ............................................................................................39
Unconscious Reps of Africa Shapes Actions...............................................................................................40
Framework- Desire before Discourse............................................................................................................41
Answers To:
AT- Psycho Primitivism..............................................................................................................................42
AT- Psychoanalysis = Racist...........................................................................................................................43
AT- Psychoanalysis = Racist...........................................................................................................................44
AT- Psychoanalysis Bad/Racist/Eurocentric................................................................................................45
AT- Oedipus Bad/Racist/Eurocentric............................................................................................................46
AT- Heath and Gates.........................................................................................................................................51
AT- Post-structural/Colonialist Ks of Psychoanalysis .............................................................................52
AT- Post-Structural Development..................................................................................................................53
AT- Postructuralism Dev Ks..........................................................................................................................54
AT- Development Good....................................................................................................................................55
AT- AFF Solves Relation with the Other......................................................................................................56
AT- Universalism absorbs culture into West................................................................................................57
AT- AFF Solves Subjectivity...........................................................................................................................58
AT- AFF Solves Subjectivity...........................................................................................................................59
AT- AFF Solves Racism...................................................................................................................................60
AT- AFF Solves Neo-Colonialism..................................................................................................................61
AFF Answers
Psychology Bad.................................................................................................................................................62
Psychoanalysis = Racism.................................................................................................................................63
Psychoanalytic Discourse Racism............................................................................................................66
Psychoanalysis Doesnt Solve Colonialism .................................................................................................67
Psychoanalysis Fails in Africa........................................................................................................................68
Psychoanalysis Fails in Africa........................................................................................................................69
Psychoanalysis Fails in Policy.......................................................................................................................70
Fantasies Not Apply to Africa........................................................................................................................71
Perm key to Ethical Deplyoment...................................................................................................................72
No Alt to Development.....................................................................................................................................73
Universalism = Racist......................................................................................................................................74
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A. The 1ACs desire to intervene into the problems of Africa are part of the emerging liberal
democratic ethic of humanitarian aid---an opiate that conceals the desire to prey on Africa to
bolster our capitalist system while using our profit for assistance. This masks our complicity
in the production of structural violence through the structures of capitalism
Zizek 06 Proff U of Ljubljana (Slavoj Nobody has to be vile, April 6, 2006,

http://www.lacan.com/zizvile.htm)
There is no exploited working class today, only concrete

L i be r a l c o m m u ni s t s a r e p r a gm a t i c ; t h e y h a t e a d oc t r i na i r e a p p r o a c h .
problems to be solved: starvation in Africa , t h e pl i g h t o f M u s l i m w o m e n , r e l i g i o u s f u n d a m e n t a l i s t vi o l e nc e . When there is a

humanitarian crisis in Africa (liberal communists love a humanitarian crisis; it brings out the best
in them), instead of engaging in anti-imperialist rhetoric, we should get together and work out the
best way of solving the problem , e n g a ge p e o p l e , g o v e r n m e n t s a n d b u s i n e s s i n a c o m m o n e n t e r p ri s e , s t a r t m o v i n g t hi n g s i n s t e a d o f re l y i n g o n
c e nt r a l i s e d s t a t e h e l p , a p p r o a c h t h e c ri s i s i n a c re a t i v e a n d u nc o n v e n t i o n a l w a y. L i b e ra l c om m u n i s t s l i k e t o p oi n t o u t t h a t t h e d e c i s i o n o f s o m e l a rg e i n t e r na t i o na l
c o r p o r a t i o n s t o i g n o re a p a rt h e i d r ul e s w i t h i n t h e i r c o m p a ni e s w a s a s i m p o r t a n t a s t he d i r e c t p o l i t i c a l s t r u g gl e a ga i n s t a pa r t h e i d i n S o u t h A f r i c a . A b o l i s h i n g s e g r e g a t i o n w i t hi n
t h e c o m p a n y, pa y i n g b l a c k s a n d w h i t e s t h e s a m e s a l a r y f o r t h e s a m e j o b e t c : t h i s w a s a p e r f e c t i n s t a n c e o f t h e o v e rl a p b e t w e e n t he s t r u g g l e f o r p ol i t i c a l f r e e d om a n d b u s i n e s s
i n t e r e s t s , s i n c e t h e s a m e c o m pa n i e s c a n n o w t h r i v e i n p o s t - a p a rt h e i d S o u t h A f r i c a . L i b e ra l c om m u n i s t s l o ve M a y 1 9 6 8 . W h a t a n e x pl o s i o n o f y o u t h f u l e n e rg y a n d c r e a t i vi t y !
Those who were old

H o w i t s h a t t e r e d t he b u r e a uc r a t i c o r d e r ! W h a t a n i m pe t u s i t ga v e t o e c o n o m i c a n d s o c i a l l i f e a f t e r t h e p o l i t i c a l i l l u s i o n s d r o p p e d a wa y !
enough were themselves protesting and fighting on the streets: now they have changed in order to
change the world, to revolutionise our lives for real. D i d n ' t M a r x s a y t h a t a l l p o l i t i c a l u p h e a v a l s w e r e u ni m p o r t a n t c om p a r e d t o t h e
i n v e nt i o n o f t he s t e a m e n g i ne ? A n d w o u l d M a r x n o t ha v e s a i d t o d a y : w h a t a r e a l l t h e p r o t e s t s a g a i n s t gl o b a l c a p i t a l i s m i n c om p a r i s o n w i t h t h e i nt e r n e t ? Above all,
liberal communists are true citizens of the world - good people who worry. They worry about
populist fundamentalism and irresponsible greedy capitalist corporations. They see the 'deeper
causes' of today's problems: mass poverty and hopelessness breed fundamentalist terror. Their
goal is not to earn money, but to change the world (and, as a by-product, make even more money).
B i l l Gates is already the single greatest benefactor i n t he h i s t o r y o f h u m a n i t y, displaying his love f o r h i s n e i g h b o u r s b y
giving hundreds of millions of dollars for education, the fight against hunger and malaria etc. The
catch is that before you can give all this away you have to take it (or, as t h e l i b e r a l communists would
put it, create it) . I n o r d e r t o he l p p e o pl e , t he j u s t i fi c a t i o n g o e s , y o u m u s t ha v e t he m e a n s t o d o s o , a n d e x p e ri e n c e - t h a t i s , r e c o g ni t i o n o f t h e d i s m a l f a i l u r e o f
a l l c e nt r a l i s e d s t a t i s t a n d c ol l e c t i vi s t a p p r o a c h e s - t e a c h e s u s t h a t p r i v a t e e nt e r p r i s e i s b y fa r t h e m o s t e ff e c t i ve w a y. B y r e g u l a t i n g t h e i r b u s i ne s s , t a x i n g t he m e xc e s s i v e l y,
Liberal communists do not

t h e s t a t e i s u n de r m i ni n g t h e o ff i c i a l g o a l o f i t s o w n a c t i v i t y ( t o m a k e l i f e b e t t e r f o r t h e m a j o r i t y, t o h e l p t h o s e i n ne e d ) .
want to be mere profit-machines: they want their lives to have deeper meaning. T h e y a r e a ga i n s t o l d - fa s h i o n e d
r e l i g i o n a n d f o r s p i ri t u a l i t y, f o r n o n - c o n f e s s i o n a l m e d i t a t i o n ( e v e r y b o d y k n o w s t h a t B u d d h i s m f o r e s h a d o w s b r a i n s c i e n c e , t h a t t h e p o w e r o f m e d i t a t i o n c a n be m e a s u r e d
Their motto is social responsibility and gratitude: they are the first to admit that society
s c i e nt i f i c a l l y ) .
has been incredibly good to them, allowing them to deploy their talents and amass wealth, so they
feel that it is their duty to give something back to society a n d h e l p p e o p l e . This beneficence is what
makes business success worthwhile. T h i s i s n ' t a n e n t i re l y n e w p h e n om e n o n . R e m e m be r A n d r e w Carnegie , w h o e m p l o ye d a p r i va t e a r m y
t o s u p p r e s s o rg a n i s e d l a b o u r i n h i s s t e e l w o r k s a n d t h e n distributed large parts of his wealth for educational, cultural and
humanitarian causes, proving that, although a man of steel, he had a heart of gold ? I n t he s a m e w a y ,
today's liberal communists give away with one hand what they grabbed with the other. There is a
chocolate-flavoured laxative available on the shelves of US stores which is publicised with the
paradoxical injunction: Do you have constipation? Eat more of this chocolate! - i.e. eat more of
something that itself causes constipation . T h e s t r u c t u r e o f t he c h o c ol a t e l a xa t i ve c a n be d i s c e r ne d t h r o u g h o u t t o d a y ' s i d e ol o g i c a l l a n d s c a p e ; i t
i s w h a t m a k e s a f i g u re l i ke S o r o s s o o b j e c t i o na b l e . H e s t a n d s f o r r ut h l e s s f i n a nc i a l exploitation combined with its counter-agent,
humanitarian worry about the catastrophic social consequences of the unbridled market economy .
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Soros's daily routine is a lie embodied: half of his working time is devoted to financial
speculation, the other half to 'humanitarian' activities (financing cultural and democratic activities
in post-Communist countries, writing essays and books) which work against the effects of his own
speculations. T h e t w o fa c e s o f B i l l G a t e s a r e e xa c t l y l i ke t h e t w o fa c e s o f S o r o s : o n t h e o ne h a n d , a c r u e l b u s i ne s s m a n , d e s t r o y i n g o r b u yi n g o u t c om p e t i t o r s ,
a i m i n g a t a v i rt u a l m o n o p o l y ; o n t h e o t he r, t he g r e a t p h i l a n t h r o p i s t w h o m a k e s a p o i nt o f s a y i n g : ' W h a t d o e s i t s e r ve t o h a ve c o m p ut e r s i f p e o pl e d o n o t ha v e e n o u g h t o e a t ? '
According to liberal communist ethics, the ruthless pursuit of profit is counteracted by charity:
charity is part of the game, a humanitarian mask hiding the underlying economic exploitation.
Developed countries are constantly 'helping' undeveloped ones ( with aid , credits etc), and so
avoiding the key issue: their complicity in and responsibility for the miserable situation of the
Third World. A s f o r t h e o p p o s i t i o n b e t w e e n ' s m a rt ' a n d ' n o n - s m a r t ' , o ut s o u r c i n g i s t he k e y n o t i o n . Yo u e x p o r t t h e ( n e c e s s a r y ) d a r k s i d e o f p r o d uc t i o n - di s c i p l i n e d ,
h i e ra r c h i c a l l a b o u r, e c o l o gi c a l p o l l ut i o n - t o ' n o n - s m a r t ' T h i r d Wo rl d l o c a t i o n s ( o r i n vi s i b l e o ne s i n t h e F i r s t Wo r l d ) . T he u l t i m a t e l i b e r a l c o m m u n i s t d r e a m i s t o e x p o r t t he
e n t i r e w o r k i n g c l a s s t o i n v i s i bl e T hi r d Wo r l d s w e a t s h o p s . We s h o u l d h a v e n o i l l u s i o n s : l i b e ra l c om m u n i s t s a re t h e e n e m y o f e v e r y t r ue p r o g r e s s i v e s t r u g g l e t o d a y. A l l o t he r
Precisely because
e n e m i e s - r e l i g i o u s f u n d a m e n t a l i s t s , t e r r o r i s t s , c o r r u p t a n d i n e ff i c i e n t s t a t e b u r e a u c r a c i e s - d e pe n d o n c o n t i n g e n t l o c a l c i rc u m s t a nc e s .
they want to resolve all these secondary malfunctions of the global system, liberal communists
are the direct embodiment of what is wrong with the system. I t m a y b e n e c e s s a r y t o e nt e r i nt o t a c t i c a l a l l i a n c e s w i t h l i be r a l
c o m m u n i s t s i n o r d e r t o f i g h t ra c i s m , s e xi s m a n d r e l i g i o u s o b s c u r a nt i s m , b u t i t ' s i m p o r t a nt t o r e m e m be r e x a c t l y w h a t t h e y a r e u p t o . E t i e n n e Balibar , i n L a C r a i nt e d e s
m a s s e s ( 1 9 9 7 ) , distinguishes the two opposite but complementary modes of excessive violence in today's
capitalism: the objective (structural) violence that is inherent in the social conditions of global
capitalism (the automatic creation of excluded and dispensable individuals, from the homeless to
the unemployed), and the subjective violence of newly emerging ethnic a n d / o r re l i gi o u s (in short: racist)
fundamentalisms. They may fight subjective violence, but liberal communists are the agents of
the structural violence that creates the conditions for explosions of subjective violence . T h e s a m e
S o r o s w h o g i v e s m i l l i o n s t o f u n d e d u c a t i o n ha s r ui n e d t he l i ve s o f t h o u s a n d s t h a n k s t o h i s f i na n c i a l s p e c ul a t i o n s a n d i n d o i n g s o c re a t e d t h e c o n d i t i o n s f o r t h e r i s e o f t h e
i n t ol e r a nc e h e de n o u n c e s .
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B. Instead of buying into the liberal humanitarian impulse for aid---which attempts to
relieve our complicity with Africas structural violence---we should reject the desire to
blindly endorse assistance---in order to interrogate our relationship with the violence the
affirmative outlines on a personal level and create momentum for emancipation.
Nayar 99, professor of law at the University of Warwick, 1999 (Jayan, 9 Transnational Law and
Contemporary Problems 599, lexis)
We are today bombarded by images of our "one world." We speak of the world as "shrinking" into
a "global village." We are not all fooled by the implicit benign-ness of this image of "time-space"
contracted--so we also speak of "global pillage." This astuteness of our perceptions, however,
does not prevent us from our delusion of the "global;" the image of the "global" world persists
even for many activists amongst us who struggle to "change" the world .
This is recent delusion. It is a delusion which anesthetizes us from the only world which we can
ever locate ourselves in and know--the worlds of "I"-in relationships .
The "I" is seldom present in " emancipatory " projects to change the world. This is because the
"relational I"-world and the "global"-world are negations of one another; the former negates the
concept of the latter whilst the latter negates the life of the former . A n d concepts are more
amenable to scrutiny than life . T h e a d v a n c e i n t e c h n o l o gi e s o f i m a g e - i n g e n a b l e s a d i s t a nc i a t i o n o f s c r u t i n y, f r o m t he " I" - w o r l d o f r e l a t i o n s h i p s t o
t h e " g l o ba l " - w o r l d o f a b s t r a c t i o n s . A s w e be c o m e f i x a t e d w i t h t h e d i s t a n t , a s w e c o n s u m e t h e i m a ge s o f " w o r l d " a s ot h e r t ha n h e r e a n d n o w, a s w e p r oj e c t o u r s e l v e s t h r o u g h
t e c h n o l o g i c a l t i m e - s p a c e i n t o w o r l d s a p a rt f r o m o u r h e re a n d n o w, a s w e b e c om e " gl o b a l ," w e a re r e l i e v e d o f t h e g r a vi t y o f o u r p r e s e nt . We , t h u s , c e a s e t h e a c t i vi s m o f s e l f
( b e i n g ) a n d t a ke o n t h e m a n t l e o f t he " a c t i v i s t " ( d oi n g ) . T h i s i s a s i g ni f i c a n t d i s p l a c e m e n t . T h a t t h e r e i s s u ff e ri n g a l l o v e r t he w o r l d h a s i n d e e d b e e n m a d e m o r e v i s i bl e b y
t h e t e c h n ol o g i e s o f i m a g e - i n g . Ye t f o r a l l i t s c o n s e q u e nt f o s t e r i n g o f " n e t w o r k s , " i m a g e s o f " g l o b a l " s u ff e r i n g ha v e a l s o s e r ve d t o d i s e m p o w e r. B y t hi s , w e m e a n n ot m e re l y
t h a t w e a r e fi l l e d w i t h t he s e n s e t h a t t h e f o rc e s a g a i n s t w h i c h t he s t r u g g l e f o r e m a nc i p a t i o n s f r o m i nj u s t i c e a n d e x pl o i t a t i o n a r e w a g e d a r e p e r va s i v e a n d , t h e r e f o re , o f t e n
i m pe n e t ra b l e , b ut , m o r e i m p o r t a n t l y, t h a t i t d i ve r t s o u r g a z e a w a y f r o m t h e o n l y t r u e p o w e r t ha t i s i n o u r di s p o s a l - - t h e p o w e r o f s e l f - c h a n ge i n r e l a t i o n s h i p s o f s o l i d a r i t i e s .
There is no such thing as the global "one

T h e " w o r l d , " a s w e pe r c e i v e i t t o d a y, di d n o t e xi s t i n t i m e s p a s t . It d o e s n o t e xi s t t o d a y.
world." The world can only exist in the locations and experiences revealed through and in human
relationships . It is often that we think that to change the world it is necessary to change the way
power is exercised in the world; so we go about the business of exposing and denouncing the
many power configurations that dominate. Power indeed does lie at the core of human misery, yet
we blind ourselves if we regard this power as the power out there. Power, when all the complex
networks of its reach are untangled, is personal; power does not exist out there, [*630] it only
exists in relationship . To say the word, power, is to describe relationship, to acknowledge power,
is to acknowledge our subservience in that relationship. There can exist no power if the
subservient relationship is refused--then power can only achieve its ambitions through its naked
form, as violence . C ha n g i n g t he w o r l d t h e re f o r e i s a m i s n o m e r f o r i n t r u t h i t i s r e l a t i o n s h i p s t h a t a r e t o be c h a n ge d . A n d t h e o nl y r e l a t i o n s h i p s t ha t w e c a n
c h a n ge f o r s u r e a r e o u r o w n . A n d t he c o n s t a nt i n o u r r e l a t i o n s h i p s i s o u r s e l v e s - - t h e " I " o f a l l o f u s . A n d s o , t o c ha n g e o u r r e l a t i o n s h i p s , w e m u s t c h a n ge t h e " I " t h a t i s e a c h
o f u s . Tr a n s f o r m a t i o n s o f " s t r uc t u r e s" w i l l s o o n f o l l o w. This is, pe r h a p s , the beginning of all emancipations . T h i s i s , p e r h a p s , t he

essential message of Mahatmas.
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Kritik Outweighs Case
A. Magnitude---attempts to minimize structural violence and African instability erase our
focus on structural causes of violence---this authorizes death in the third world so that
we can constantly re-intervene and help to relieve our guilt.
B. Time-frame ---these structural causes of violence ensure violent ethnic conflicts---

which should be preferred over their high magnitude low probability scenarios.
C. Turns Case---
1. The 1AC impulse authorizes re-intervention and necessitates poverty
and instability to so we can continuously satiate our desire for western
solutions to Africas problems.
2. Their mindset created Africas troubles in the first place---This dual
system of exploitation and band-aid solutions mimics colonial
frameworks for violence that attempt to mask the greater exploitation
legitimized by give aid to relieve our complicity
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1. No Solvency and Turn---regardless of what their plan attempts solve---zizek indicates the
1ACs band aid solution masks our complicity without interrogating the structural
relationships which cause the root of the harms their inherency outlines---ensures that
violence remains intact at a local level---thats Nayar.
2. Ethics---attempting to alleviate ourselves of guilt by blindly throwing aid at Africa masks

our complicity the construction of those harms through our dependency on violent forms of
capitalism that benefit the West at the expense and exploitation of Africa.
3. Violence---disregarding the actions and empowerment of individuals allows global systems

to exploit and negate the lives of those people---making violence inevitable in their
conception of politicsthats Nayar
4. They operate from a faulty ontology---focusing on globally based impacts prevents an

understanding our relation to global violence and disempowers individuals---removing them
from the only form of political advocacy that allows them to express autonomy.
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2NC- Perm Block

1. Still links---their impulse to act overcomes our ability to construct of alternate forms of
power---global focuses always disempowers localized resistance---only action in the abstract
can have any chance to effectuate change---thats Nayar.
2. Its severance---our alternative is to vote Neg and refuse the politics tied to your 1AC---
makes them a moving targetallowing them to spike out of our links---voter for fairness.
3. Link Harder---assistance to Africa consumes us into a fantasy of salvation that necessarily
corrupts focus on localized relationships by creating the perception that post permutation
the world has changed---concealing global political focus behind a non-genuine mask of
individualized actionthats Nayar.
4. Combining their fixation to solve foreign problems in Africa with an interrogation of

individual relationships and complicity overpowers our alternative by diverting our gaze
from individual empowerment.
Nayar 99, professor of law at the University of Warwick, 1999 (Jayan, 9 Transnational Law and
Contemporary Problems 599, lexis)
The advance in technologies of image-ing enables a distanciation of scrutiny, from the "I"-world
of relationships to the "global"-world of abstractions. As we become fixated with the distant , as
we consume the images of "world" as other than here and now, as we project ourselves through
technological time-space into worlds apart from our here and now, as we become "global," we are
relieved of the gravity of our present. We, thus, cease the activism of self (being) and take on the
mantle of the "activist" (doing). This is a significant displacement .
That there is suffering all over the world has indeed been made more visible by the technologies
of image-ing . Yet for all its consequent fostering of "networks ," images of "global" suffering have
also served to disempower . By this, we mean not merely that we are filled with the sense that the
forces against which the struggle for emancipations from injustice and exploitation are waged are
pervasive and , therefore, often impenetrable, but , more importantly, that it diverts our gaze away
from the only true power that is in our disposal--the power of self-change in relationships of
solidarities .
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Link- Aid/Humanitarian
The humanitarian impulse conceals our complicity with historical violenceand instead
poses Band-Aid solutions of aid and freedom to give us a feeling of control over our
miserable destiny---these attempts result in the opposite of their intention through outburst
of violence later.
Zizek 05--Proff U of Ljubljana--(Slavoj, Violence, Irrational and Rational, 2005,

http://lacan.com/zizfrance.htm)
T h e F u g i t i v e t h u s p r o vi d e s a c l e a r ve r s i o n o f t h e vi o l e nt p a s s a g e l ' a c t e s e r vi n g a s a l u re , a v e hi c l e o f i d e ol o g i c a l d i s p l a c e m e n t . A s t e p f u r t he r f r o m t hi s z e r o - l e v e l o f
v i o l e n c e i s f o u n d i n P a u l S c h r a de r ' s a n d M a r t i n S c o r c e s e ' s Ta x i D r i ve r, i n t h e f i na l o u t b u r s t o f Tr a v i s ( R o be r t d e N i r o ) a g a i n s t t h e p i m p s w h o c o nt r o l t he y o u n g g i r l he w a n t s
t o s a v e ( J o d i e F o s t e r ) . C r u c i a l i s t he i m pl i c i t s u i c i d a l di m e n s i o n o f t h i s p a s s a g e l ' a c t e : w h e n Tr a v i s p re p a r e s f o r h i s a t t a c k , h e p r a c t i c e s i n f r o n t o f t h e m i r r o r t h e d ra w i n g
o f t h e g u n; i n w h a t i s t h e b e s t - k n o w n s c e ne o f t h e fi l m , he a d d r e s s e s h i s o w n i m a ge i n t he m i r r o r w i t h t h e a g g r e s s i v e - c o n de s c e n d i n g " Yo u t a l k i n ' t o m e ? " . I n a t e x t b o o k
i l l u s t r a t i o n o f L a c a n ' s n o t i o n o f t h e " m i r r o r s t a g e ," a g g r e s s i v i t y i s h e r e c l e a r l y a i m e d a t o n e s e l f , a t o ne ' s o w n m i r r o r i m a g e . T hi s s u i c i d a l d i m e n s i o n r e e m e rg e s a t t he e n d o f
t h e s l a u g h t e r s c e n e w h e n Tr a v i s , h e a v i l y w o u n d e d a n d l e a n i n g a t t h e w a l l , m i m i c s w i t h t h e f o re f i n g e r o f hi s ri g h t h a n d a g u n a i m e d a t h i s b l o o d - s t a i n e d f o r e he a d a n d
m o c ki n g l y t ri g g e r s i t , a s i f s a y i n g " T h e t r u e a i m o f m y o ut b u r s t w a s m y s e l f . " T h e p a ra d o x o f Tr a v i s i s t h a t h e p e rc e i ve s H I M S E L F a s p a r t o f t h e d e ge n e r a t e d i rt o f t h e c i t y
l i fe h e w a n t s t o e r a d i c a t e , s o t h a t , a s B re c h t p ut i t a p r o p o s o f re v o l u t i o n a r y v i ol e n c e i n h i s T he M e a s u r e Ta k e n , he w a n t s t o b e t h e l a s t p i e c e o f d i rt w i t h w h o s e r e m o va l t he
Far from signaling an imperial arrogance, such "irrational" outbursts of violence - one
room will be clean.
of the key topics of American culture and ideology - rather stand for an implicit admission of
impotence: their very violence , display of destructive power , is to be conceived as the mode of
appearance of its very opposite - i f a n y t hi n g , t h e y a r e e xe m p l a r y c a s e s o f t he i m p ot e n t pa s s a ge l ' a c t e . A s s u c h , these outbursts
enable us to discern the hidden obverse of the much-praised American individualism and self-
reliance: the secret awareness that we are all helplessly thrown around by forces out of our
control. T h e re i s a w o n d e r f u l e a r l y s h o r t s t o r y b y P a t r i c i a H i g h s m i t h , " B ut t o n , " a b o u t a middle-class New Yorker who lives with a
mongoloid 9-years old son who babbles meaningless sounds all the time and smiles, while saliva
is running out of his open mouth; one late evening, unable to endure the situation, he decides to
take a walk on the lone Manhattan streets where he stumbles upon a destitute homeless beggar
who pleadingly extends his hand towards him; in an act of inexplicable fury, the hero beats the
beggar to death and tears off from his jacket a button . A f t e r w a r d s , he returns home a changed man,
enduring his family nightmare without any traumas, capable of even a kind smile towards his
mongoloid son; he keeps this button all the time in the pocket of his trousers - a remainder that,
once at least, he did strike back against his miserable destiny . H i g h s m i t h i s a t h e r be s t w h e n e v e n s u c h a v i o l e n t o u t b u r s t
f a i l s , a s i n w h a t i s a rg u a b l y h e r s i n gl e g r e a t e s t a c h i e v e m e n t , T h o s e W h o Wa l k Aw a y : i n i t , s h e t o o k c ri m e fi c t i o n , t h e m o s t " na r r a t i v e " ge n r e o f t he m a l l , a n d i m b u e d i t w i t h
t h e i n e r t i a o f t he r e a l , t h e l a c k o f re s o l u t i o n , t h e d r a g gi n g - o n o f t h e " e m p t y t i m e ," w h i c h c ha r a c t e r i z e t he s t u p i d f a c t u a l i t y o f l i f e . I n R om e , E d C ol e m a n t r i e s t o m u r d e r R a y
G a r r e t t , a f a i l e d pa i n t e r a n d g a l l e r y - o w n e r i n h i s l a t e 2 0 s , h i s s o n - i n - l a w w h o m h e bl a m e s f o r t h e r e c e n t s u i c i d e o f hi s o nl y c h i l d , P e g g y, R a y ' s w i f e . R a t h e r t ha n f l e e , R a y
f o l l o w s E d t o Ve n i c e , w h e r e E d i s w i n t e ri n g w i t h I n e z , h i s g i r l f ri e n d . W h a t f ol l o w s i s H i g h s m i t h ' s p a r a di g m a t i c a g o n y o f t h e s y m bi o t i c r e l a t i o n s h i p o f t w o m e n w h o a r e
i n e xt r i c a b l y l i n k e d t o e a c h ot h e r i n t h e i r ve r y h a t re d . R a y h i m s e l f i s h a u nt e d b y a s e n s e o f g ui l t f o r hi s w i fe ' s d e a t h , s o he e x p o s e s h i m s e l f t o E d ' s v i ol e n t i n t e nt i o n s . E c h oi n g
h i s d e a t h w i s h , he a c c e p t s a l i f t f r om E d i n a m o t o r- b o a t ; i n t he m i d dl e o f t he l a g o o n , E d p u s h e s R a y o v e r b o a r d . R a y p r e t e n d s he i s a c t u a l l y d e a d a n d a s s u m e s a f a l s e n a m e
a n d a n ot h e r i de n t i t y, t h u s e x p e ri e n c i n g b o t h e x hi l a ra t i n g f re e d o m a n d o v e r w h e l m i n g e m p t i ne s s . H e r o a m s l i k e a l i vi n g d e a d t h r o u g h t h e c o l d s t r e e t s o f w i n t r y Ve n i c e w h e n . . .
We ha v e h e re a c ri m e n o ve l w i t h n o m u r d e r, j u s t f a i l e d a t t e m p t s a t i t : t h e r e i s n o c l e a r r e s o l u t i o n a t t h e n o v e l ' s e n d - e x c e p t , p e r ha p s , t h e r e s i g ne d a c c e p t a n c e o f b ot h R a y a n d
E d t ha t t he y a r e c o n d e m ne d t o h a u nt e a c h o t h e r t o t h e e n d . To d a y, w i t h t he g l o b a l A m e ri c a n i d e o l o gi c a l o ff e n s i v e , t h e f u n d a m e n t a l i n s i g ht o f m o v i e s l i k e J o h n F o r d ' s
we witness the resurgence of the figure of the "quiet American," a

S e a r c he r s a n d Ta x i D r i v e r i s m o r e r e l e v a nt t h a n e v e r :
nave benevolent agent who sincerely wants to bring t o t h e Vi e t n a m e s e democracy and Western freedom
- it is just that his intentions totally misfire , o r, a s G r a h a m G r e e n e p u t i t : "I never knew a man who had better
motives for all the trouble he caused." Freud was thus right in his prescient analysis of Woodrow
Wilson, the US president who exemplifies American humanitarian interventionist attitude: the
underlying dimension of aggressivity could not escape him.
\
9
Hamraie P. 10 of 74
Link- Terrorism (1/3)

Positing the act of terrorism as a catastrophe which threatens American society with violence
creates a fantasy where peaceful and civilized society of the West is threatened by the Evil
Third World. This fear of total destruction necessitates a politics of violence against
perceived enemies of freedom---while simultaneously concealing the structural violence that
has caused more death than terrorism ever has.
Zizek 02Proff U of Ljubljana(Slavoj, WELCOME TO THE DESERT OF THE REAL!,
South Atlantic Quarterly Zizek 101 (2): 385, 2002,
http://saq.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/101/2/385)
It is p re c i s e l y n o w, when we are dealing with the raw Real of a catastrophe , that we should bear in
mind the ideological and fantasmatic coordinates which determine its perception . I f t h e r e i s a n y s y m b o l i s m i n
t h e c o l l a p s e o f t h e W T C t o w e r s , i t i s n o t s o m u c h t h e o l d - fa s h i o n e d n o t i o n o f t h e " c e n t e r o f fi n a n c i a l c a p i t a l i s m , " b u t , ra t h e r, t he n o t i o n t h a t t h e t w o W T C t o w e r s s t o o d f o r
The shattering impact of the

t h e c e n t e r o f t h e V I RT U A L c a p i t a l i s m , o f fi n a n c i a l s p e c u l a t i o n s d i s c o n n e c t e d f r om t h e s p h e re o f m a t e r i a l p r o d u c t i o n .
bombings can only be accounted for only against the background of the borderline which today
separates the digitalized First World from the Third World "desert of the Real." It is the
awareness that we live in an insulated artificial universe which generates the notion that some
ominous agent is threatening us all the time with total destruction . I s , c o n s e q u e n t l y, O s a m a B i n L a d e n , t h e s u s p e c t e d
m a s t e r m i n d be h i n d t he b o m b i n g s , n o t t h e r e a l - l i f e c o u nt e r p a rt o f E r n s t S t a v r o B l o f e l d , t h e m a s t e r- c r i m i n a l i n m o s t o f t he J a m e s B o n d f i l m s , i n v o l ve d i n t he a c t s o f gl o b a l
d e s t r u c t i o n . W ha t o n e s h o u l d re c a l l h e re i s t h a t t h e o nl y p l a c e i n H o l l y w o o d fi l m s w h e r e w e s e e t h e p r o d uc t i o n p r oc e s s i n a l l i t s i nt e n s i t y i s w h e n J a m e s B o n d p e n e t r a t e s t h e
m a s t e r- c ri m i na l ' s s e c r e t d o m a i n a n d l oc a t e s t h e r e t h e s i t e o f i n t e n s e l a b o r ( di s t i l l i n g a n d pa c k a gi n g t h e d r u g s , c o n s t r uc t i n g a r o c k e t t h a t w i l l de s t r o y N e w Yo r k . . . ) . W h e n t h e
m a s t e r- c ri m i na l , a ft e r c a p t u r i n g B o n d , u s u a l l y t a k e s h i m o n a t o u r o f h i s i l l e ga l f a c t o r y, i s t hi s n ot t h e c l o s e s t H o l l y w o o d c om e s t o t he s o c i a l i s t - r e a l i s t p r o u d p re s e n t a t i o n o f
t h e p r o d uc t i o n i n a f a c t o r y ? A n d t h e f u n c t i o n o f B o n d ' s i nt e r v e nt i o n , o f c o u r s e , i s t o e x p l o de i n f i re c r a k s t hi s s i t e o f p r o d u c t i o n , a l l o w i n g u s t o r e t u r n t o t he d a i l y s e m b l a n c e
o f o u r e x i s t e n c e i n a w o r l d w i t h t h e " d i s a p p e a r i n g w o r k i n g c l a s s . " I s i t n o t t h a t , i n t h e e x p l o d i n g W T C t o w e r s , t hi s vi o l e nc e d i re c t e d a t t h e t h re a t e n i n g O u t s i d e t u r n e d b a c k a t
us?The safe Sphere in which Americans live is experienced as under threat from the Outside of
terrorist attackers who are ruthlessly self-sacrificing AND cowards, cunningly intelligent AND
primitive barbarians. Whenever we encounter such a purely evil Outside, we should gather the
courage to endorse the Hegelian lesson: in this pure Outside, we should recognize the distilled
version of our own essence. F o r t he l a s t fi v e c e n t u r i e s , the ( r e l a t i ve ) prosperity and peace of the "civilized"
West was bought by the export of ruthless violence and destruction into the "barbarian" Outside:
the long story from the conquest of America to the slaughter in Congo. Cruel and indifferent as it
may sound, we should a l s o , n o w m o r e t h a n e ve r , bear in mind that the actual effect of these bombings is
much more symbolic than real: in Africa , EVERY SINGLE DAY more people die of AIDS than
all the victims of the WTC collapse, a n d t he i r d e a t h c o ul d h a v e be e n e a s i l y c ut b a c k w i t h r e l a t i ve l y s m a l l f i na n c i a l m e a n s . The US
just got the taste of what goes on around the world on a daily basis, from Sarajevo to Grozny,
from Ruanda and Congo to Sierra Leone . I f o n e a d d s t o t h e s i t ua t i o n i n N e w Yo r k ra p i s t g a n g s a n d a d o z e n o r s o s n i p e r s b l i n d l y t a rg e t i n g
p e o p l e w h o w a l k a l o n g t h e s t r e e t s , o n e g e t s a n i d e a a b o u t w h a t S a r a j e v o w a s a d e c a d e a g o . It i s w h e n w e w a t c he d o n T V s c r e e n t h e t w o W T C t o w e r s c o l l a p s i n g , t ha t i t b e c a m e
p o s s i b l e t o e x p e r i e n c e t h e f a l s i t y o f t he " re a l i t y T V s h o w s " : e ve n i f t he s e s h o w s a r e " f o r r e a l , " pe o p l e s t i l l ac t i n t he m - t he y s i m p l y pl a y t he m s e l v e s . T h e s t a n d a r d d i s c l a i m e r
i n a n o ve l (" c h a ra c t e r s i n t h i s t e x t a re a f i c t i o n , e v e r y r e s e m b l a nc e w i t h t h e r e a l l i f e c ha r a c t e r s i s p u r e l y c o n t i n ge n t " ) h ol d s a l s o f o r t h e pa r t i c i p a nt s o f t h e r e a l i t y s o a p s : w h a t
one already
w e s e e t he r e a re f i c t i o n a l c h a ra c t e r s , e v e n i f t h e y p l a y t h e m s e l v e s f o r t he r e a l . O f c o u r s e , t h e " r e t u r n t o t he R e a l " c a n b e g i ve n d i ff e r e n t t w i s t s :
hears some conservatives claim that what made us so vulnerable is our very openness - with the
inevitable conclusion lurking in the background that , if we are to protect our "way of life," we
will have to sacrifice some of our freedoms which were "misused" by the enemies of freedom .
This logic should be rejected tout court : i s i t n o t a f a c t t h a t o u r F i r s t Wo r l d " o p e n " c o u n t r i e s a r e t he m o s t c o nt r o l l e d c o u n t ri e s i n t he e n t i r e
h i s t o r y o f h u m a n i t y? In the United Kingdom, all public spaces, from buses to shopping malls, are
constantly videotaped, not to mention the almost total control of all forms of digital
communication .
10
Hamraie P. 11 of 74

A l o n g t h e s a m e l i n e s , R i g h t i s t c o m m e n t a t o r s l i ke G e o rg e Wi l l a l s o i m m e d i a t e l y p r oc l a i m e d t h e e n d o f t h e A m e r i c a n " h o l i d a y f r o m hi s t o r y " - t h e i m p a c t o f r e a l i t y s h a t t e ri n g
t h e i s ol a t e d t o w e r o f t he l i be r a l t o l e ra n t a t t i t u d e a n d t h e C u l t u r a l S t u di e s f o c u s o n t e xt u a l i t y. N o w, w e a r e f o r c e d t o s t r i ke b a c k , t o d e a l w i t h r e a l e ne m i e s i n t h e re a l w o r l d . . .
H o w e v e r, W H O M t o s t r i ke ? W ha t e ve r t h e re s p o n s e , i t w i l l n e v e r hi t t he R I G H T t a rg e t , b r i n g i n g u s f u l l s a t i s f a c t i o n . T h e ri d i c ul e o f A m e r i c a a t t a c ki n g A f g h a n i s t a n c a n n ot b u t
s t r i k e t h e e ye : i f t h e g r e a t e s t p o w e r i n t h e w o r l d w i l l d e s t r o y o ne o f t h e p o o re s t c o u n t ri e s i n w h i c h pe a s a n t ba r e l y s u r v i ve o n b a r r e n hi l l s , w i l l t h i s n o t be t h e ul t i m a t e c a s e o f
t h e i m p o t e n t a c t i n g o ut ? A f g h a ni s t a n i s o t he r w i s e a n i de a l t a rg e t : a c o u n t r y A L R E A D Y r e d uc e d t o r u b bl e , w i t h n o i n f r a s t r u c t u r e , r e pe a t e d l y d e s t r o ye d b y w a r f o r t h e l a s t t w o
d e c a d e s . . . o n e c a n n o t a v oi d t h e s u r m i s e t h a t t h e c h o i c e o f A f g h a n i s t a n w i l l be a l s o d e t e r m i n e d b y e c o n o m i c c o n s i d e ra t i o n s : i s i t n o t t h e b e s t p r oc e d u r e t o a c t o u t o n e ' s a n g e r
the possible choice of Afghanistan recalls the

a t a c o u n t r y f o r w h i c h n o o n e c a r e s a n d w h e r e t h e r e i s n ot h i n g t o de s t r o y ? U n f o r t u n a t e l y,
anecdote about the madman who searches for the lost key beneath a street light; when asked why
there when he lost the key in a dark corner backwards, he answers: "But it is easier to search
under strong light!" To succumb to the urge to act now a n d r e t a l i a t e m e a n s p re c i s e l y t o av o i d c o n f r o n t i n g t h e t r u e d i m e n s i o n s o f
w h a t o c c u r r e d o n S e p t e m b e r 11 - i t means an act whose true aim is to lull us into the secure conviction that
nothing has REALLY changed. The true long-term threat are further acts of mass terror in
comparison to which the memory of the WTC collapse will pale - acts less spectacular, but much
more horrifying. What about bacteriological warfare, w h a t a b o ut t h e u s e o f l e t ha l g a s , w h a t a b o u t t he p r o s p e c t o f t h e D N A t e r r o r i s m
( d e v e l o p i n g p o i s o n s w h i c h w i l l a ff e c t o n l y pe o p l e w h o s h a r e a d e t e r m i na t e ge n o m e )? I n s t e a d o f a q u i c k a c t i n g o u t , o n e s h o u l d c o n f r o n t t he s e d i ff i c u l t q u e s t i o n s : w h a t w i l l
There is a partial truth in the notion

" w a r" m e a n i n t he X X I s t c e n t u r y ? W h o w i l l be " t h e m ," i f t he y a r e , c l e a r l y, n e i t h e r s t a t e s n o r c ri m i na l g a n g s ?
of the "clash of civilizations" attested here - witness the surprise of the average American: "How
is it possible that these people display and practice such a disregard for their own lives?" Is the
obverse of this surprise not the rather sad fact that we, in the First World countries, find it more
and more difficult even to imagine a public or universal Cause for which one would be ready to
sacrifice one's life? W h e n , a f t e r t h e b o m bi n g s , e v e n t he Ta l i ba n f o r e i g n m i n i s t e r s a i d t ha t h e c a n " f e e l t h e pa i n " o f t h e A m e r i c a n c h i l d r e n , d i d he n o t t he r e b y
c o n f i rm t h e he g e m o ni c i de o l o g i c a l r ol e o f t hi s Bi l l Cl i n t o n' s t r a d e m a r k p h r a s e ?
It effectively appears as if the split between First World and Third World runs more and more
along the lines of the opposition between leading a long satisfying life full of material and
cultural wealth, and dedicating one's life to some transcendent Cause. H o w e v e r, t hi s n ot i o n o f t he " c l a s h o f
c i vi l i z a t i o n s " h a s t o be t h o r o u g h l y re j e c t e d: what we are witnessing today are rather clashes WITHIN each
civilization. F u r t h e r m o re , a b r i e f l o o k a t t h e c o m p a ra t i ve h i s t o r y o f I s l a m a n d C h r i s t i a n i t y t e l l s u s t h a t t h e " h u m a n ri g h t s r e c o r d" o f I s l a m (t o u s e t h i s a na c h r o n i s t i c

t e rm ) i s m u c h be t t e r t h a n t h a t o f C h ri s t i a ni t y : i n t h e pa s t c e nt u r i e s , I s l a m w a s s i g ni f i c a n t l y m o r e t ol e r a nt t o w a r d s o t h e r re l i gi o n s t h a n C h r i s t i a n i t y. N O W i t i s a l s o t h e t i m e t o
r e m e m b e r t h a t i t w a s t h r o u g h t he A r a b s t h a t , i n t he M i d d l e A g e s , w e i n t h e We s t e r n E u r o p e r e ga i n e d a c c e s s t o o u r A n c i e nt G r e e k l e g a c y. W h i l e i n n o w a y e xc u s i n g t o d a y ' s
h o r r o r a c t s , t h e s e f a c t s n o n e t he l e s s c l e a r l y de m o n s t r a t e t ha t w e a re n o t d e a l i n g w i t h a f e a t u r e i n s c r i b e d i n t o I s l a m " a s s u c h ," b u t w i t h t h e o u t c o m e o f m o d e r n s o c i o - p ol i t i c a l
conditions. Every feature attributed to the Other is already present in the very heart of the US:
murderous fanaticism? T h e r e a r e t o da y i n t he U S i t se l f m o re t h a n t w o m i l l i o n s o f t h e R i g h t i s t p o p ul i s t " f u n da m e nt a l i s t s " w h o a l s o p r a c t i c e t he t e r r o r o f
t h e i r o w n , l e g i t i m i z e d b y (t h e i r u n de r s t a n d i n g o f ) C h ri s t i a ni t y. Since America is in a way " harboring " them, should the US
Army have punished the US themselves after the Oklashoma bombing? And what about the way
Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson reacted to the bombings, perceiving them as a sign that God
lifted up its protection of the US because of the sinful lives of the Americans, putting the blame
on hedonist materialism, liberalism, and rampant sexuality, and claiming that America got what it
deserved? America as a safe haven? When a New Yorker commented o n h o w, after the bombings, one
can no l onger walk safely on the city's streets, the irony of it was that, well before the bombings,
the streets of New York were well- known for the dangers of being attacked or, at least, mugged -
if anything, the bombings gave rise to a new sense of solidarity, with the scenes of young African-
Americans helping an old Jewish gentlemen to cross the street, scenes unimaginable a couple of
days ago.
11
Hamraie P. 12 of 74

N o w, i n t h e d a y s i m m e di a t e l y f o l l o w i n g t h e b om b i n g s , i t i s a s i f w e d w e l l i n t h e u ni q u e t i m e be t w e e n a t r a um a t i c e ve n t a n d i t s s y m b o l i c i m pa c t , l i k e i n t h o s e b r i e f m o m e n t
a f t e r w e a r e de e p l y c u t , a n d be f o r e t he f u l l e x t e nt o f t h e pa i n s t r i ke s u s - i t i s o p e n h o w t h e e v e n t s w i l l b e s y m b o l i z e d , w h a t t h e i r s y m b o l i c e ff i c i e nc y w i l l be , w h a t a c t s t h e y
here, in these moments of utmost tension, this link is not automatic but
w i l l be e v o k e d t o j u s t i f y.E v e n
contingent. There are already the first bad omens, like the sudden resurrection, in the public
discourse, of the old Cold war term "free world": the struggle is now the one between the "free
world" and the forces of darkness and terror . The question to be asked here is, of course: who
then belongs to the UNFREE world? Are, say, China or Egypt part of this free world? The actual
message is, of course, that the old division between the Western liberal-democratic countries
and all the others is again enforced. T h e d a y a f t e r t h e b o m bi n g , I g o t a m e s s a g e f r o m a j o u r n a l w h i c h w a s j u s t a b o ut t o p u b l i s h a l o n g e r t e x t o f
m i ne o n L e ni n , t e l l i n g m e t ha t t he y d e c i d e d t o p o s t p o ne i t s p u b l i c a t i o n - t he y c o n s i d e re d i n o p p o r t u ne t o p u b l i s h a t e xt o n L e ni n i m m e d i a t e l y a f t e r t h e b om b i n g . D o e s t h i s n o t
p o i n t t o w a r d s t h e o m i n o u s i d e o l o gi c a l r e a rt i c ul a t i o n s w h i c h w i l l f ol l o w, w i t h a ne w B e r u f s v e r b o t ( p r o hi b i t i o n t o e m p l o y r a di c a l s ) m u c h s t r o n g e r a n d m o r e w i de s p r e a d t ha n
t h e o ne i n t he G e r m a n y o f t h e 7 0 s ? T he s e d a y s , o n e o f t e n h e a r s t he p h r a s e t ha t t he s t r u g g l e i s n o w t he o n e f o r d e m o c r a c y - t r u e , b ut n o t q u i t e i n t h e w a y t hi s p h ra s e i s u s u a l l y
meant.
A l r e a d y, s o m e L e ft i s t f r i e n d s o f m i n e w r o t e m e t h a t , i n t h e s e di ff i c ul t m om e n t s , i t i s b e t t e r t o ke e p o n e ' s he a d d o w n a n d n o t p u s h f o r w a r d w i t h o u r a g e n d a . A g a i n s t t hi s
t e m p t a t i o n t o d uc k o u t t he c r i s i s , o n e s h o u l d i n s i s t t h a t N O W t h e L e f t s h o u l d p r o v i de a b e t t e r a n a l y s i s - o t he r w i s e , i t c o n c e de s i n a d v a nc e i t s p ol i t i c a l A N D e t h i c a l d e fe a t i n
t h e fa c e o f t h e a c t s o f q u i t e g e n u i ne o r d i n a r y pe o p l e he r o i s m ( l i k e t he p a s s e n g e r s w h o , i n a m o de l o f r a t i o n a l e t hi c a l a c t , o v e r t o o k t h e k i d na p p e r s a n d p r o v o k e s t he e a rl y
c r a s h [t y p o f i x e d ] o f t h e p l a n e : i f o n e i s c o n d e m n e d t o di e s o o n , o n e s h o u l d g a t h e r t he s t r e n g t h a n d d i e i n s u c h a w a y a s t o p re v e n t ot h e r p e o pl e d y i n g . . . ) . S o w h a t a b o u t t he
p h r a s e w h i c h re v e r b e ra t e s e ve r y w h e r e , " N ot h i n g w i l l b e t he s a m e a f t e r S e pt e m be r 11 " ? S i g n i f i c a n t l y, t h i s p h r a s e i s ne v e r f u r t he r e l a b o r a t e d - i t j u s t a n e m p t y g e s t u re o f
s a y i n g s o m e t h i n g " d e e p" w i t h o u t re a l l y k n o w i n g w h a t w e w a n t t o s a y. S o o u r fi r s t r e a c t i o n t o i t s h o u l d be : R e a l l y? I s i t , r a t h e r, n ot t h a t t h e o nl y t h i n g t h a t e ff e c t i v e l y
c h a n ge d w a s t h a t A m e r i c a w a s f o r c e d t o r e a l i z e t h e ki n d o f w o r l d i t w a s p a rt o f ? O n t h e ot h e r h a n d , s u c h c h a n g e s i n pe r c e pt i o n a re n e v e r w i t h o u t c o n s e q ue n c e s , s i n c e t h e w a y
w e p e r c e i v e o u r s i t u a t i o n d e t e r m i ne s t h e w a y w e a c t i n i t . R e c a l l t h e p r oc e s s e s o f c o l l a p s e o f a p o l i t i c a l re g i m e , s a y, t h e c o l l a p s e o f t h e C om m u n i s t re g i m e s i n t h e E a s t e r n
E u r o p e i n 1 9 9 0 : a t a c e r t a i n m o m e n t , p e o pl e a l l o f a s u d d e n be c a m e a w a re t h a t t h e ga m e i s o ve r, t ha t t he C o m m u ni s t s a r e l o s t . T h e b re a k w a s p u r e l y s y m b ol i c , n ot h i n g
c h a n ge d " i n r e a l i t y" - a n d , n o n e t h e l e s s , f r om t h i s m om e n t o n , t h e f i na l c ol l a p s e o f t h e r e gi m e w a s j u s t a q u e s t i o n o f da y s . . . W h a t i f s o m e t hi n g o f t h e s a m e o r d e r D I D o c c u r o n
We don't yet know what consequences in economy, ideology, politics, war, this event will
S e p t e m b e r 11 ?
have, but one thing is sure: the US, which, till now, perceived itself as an island exempted from
this kind of violence, witnessing this kind of things only from the safe distance of the TV screen,
is now directly involved. So the alternative is: will Americans decide to fortify further their
"sphere," or to risk stepping out of it? Either America will persist in, strengthen even, the deeply
immoral attitude of " Why should this happen to us ? Things like this don't happen HERE!",
leading to more aggressivity towards the threatening Outside, in short: to a paranoiac acting out.
Or America will finally risk stepping through the fantasmatic screen separating it from the
Outside World, a c c e p t i n g i t s a r ri v a l i n t o t he R e a l w o r l d , m a ki n g t h e l o n g - o v e r d u e d m o v e f r o m " A t hi n g l i ke t h i s s h o u l d n o t ha p p e n H E R E !" t o " A t h i n g l i k e t h i s
s h o u l d n o t h a p pe n A N Y W H E R E ! " . T h e r e i n r e s i d e s t he t r u e l e s s o n o f t h e b o m bi n g s : t h e o nl y w a y t o e n s u r e t h a t i t w i l l n o t h a p pe n H E R E a ga i n i s t o p re v e n t i t g o i n g o n
America's "holiday from history" was a fake: America's peace was bought by the
ANYWHERE ELSE.
catastrophes going on elsewhere. These days, the predominant point of view is that of an innocent
gaze confronting unspeakable Evil which stroke from the Outside - and, again, apropos this gaze,
one should gather the strength and apply to it also Hegel's well-known dictum that the Evil
resides (also) in the innocent gaze itself which perceives Evil all around itself .
Zizek 02, WELCOME TO THE DESERT OF THE REAL!, South Atlantic Quarterly Zizek 101
(2): 385]
12
Hamraie P. 13 of 74

Their prioritizing of the symbolic catastrophe of terrorism implicitly forgoes an
understanding of global systems of structural violence. This is a racist attitude that
dehumanizes the entire third world
Murphy and Zizek 01 Proff U of Ljubljana(SLAVOJ ZIZEK ANSWERS PETER
MURPHY, 10/7/2001http://www.lacan.com/reflections2.htm)
the (relative) prosperity and peace of the "civilized" West was bought by the
F o r t h e l a s t f i v e c e n t u ri e s ,
export of ruthless violence and destruction into the "barbarian" Outside: the long story from
the conquest of America to the slaughter in Congo. . . . ( P M ) and West Africa was not a sink-hole of
predatory states before the West arrived , and the Incas et. al. were compassionate peace-loving
souls before the appearance of the Iberians? And Islamic states were not the major market for
African slaves long before the Europeans turned up? T h e s t o r y o f t he We s t = o ri g i n a l s i n i s s i m p l y t h e t he o l o g y o f t he a d o l e s c e n t
c u l t u r a l pe s s i m i s t . ( S Z ) D o y o u r h o m e w o r k ! T ha t I s l a m i c s t a t e s w e r e t h e m a j o r m a r k e t f o r A f r i c a n s l a v e s i s a w e l l - k n o w n fa c t (i n S u d a n , o n e o f t he f i r s t m e a s u r e s a f t e r t h e
I repeatedly warned
M a h d i u p r i s i n g de f e a t e d G e n e ra l G o r d o n a t t h e e n d o f t h e X I X t h c e nt u r y w a s t o l e ga l i z e a ga i n s l a ve t r a di n g , e t c . ) . I n m y p a s t w r i t i n g s ,
against grounding the analysis of our (white imperialist) historical crimes against other races in
any notion of their "nobility" and superiority with regard to us, in exactly the same way that I
reject feminism which refers to some alleged spiritual "superiority" of women (they are more
holistic, less inclined towards domination . . . ) . Any such reasoning is inherently anti-democratic,
since it legitimizes the right of some group of people in their specific qualities. S o , a g a i n , a n o n s e q u i t u r: in
exactly the same way the past wrongs done by Americans to Third World people in no way
justify the September 11 attacks, the past wrongs of Third World people in no way justifies the
First World crimes against them. Even if the Inca empire where a cruel despotic state (a n d i t u n d o u bt e d l y
WA S t ha t ) , this IN NO WAY diminishes or relativizes the horor of what Spaniards did to them in the
16th century - elementary ethics. C r u e l a n d i n d i ff e r e n t a s i t m a y s o u n d , w e s h o u l d a l s o , n o w m o r e t ha n e v e r, b e a r i n m i n d t h a t the actual

effect of these bombings is much more symbolic than real. . . . ( P M ) b u t t h a t i s t h e n a t u r e o f s u c c e s s f u l t e r r o r i s m . Te r r o r i s a
s y m b o l i c w a y o f c o n d u c t i n g p o l i t i c a l / r e l i g i o u s s t r u g g l e . T h e t e r r o r i s t g r o u p d o e s n o t p o s s e s s a r m i e s (c o n v e n t i o n a l w a r ) o r m o b i l i z e d c i v i l p o p u l a t i o n s ( a s i n a c i v i l w a r ) .
T h e i r m o s t p o t e n t w e a p o n s a re s y m b o l i c - a ff e c t i ve - v i o l e n c e t h a t de s t r o y s pe o p l e i n p l a c e s i n v e s t e d w i t h s y m b o l i c v a l u e . I t i s i r o n i c t h a t w e ha v e a c i n e m a - o b s e s s i v e
i m pl y i n g t ha t t he s y m b o l i c d o e s n o t m a t t e r, o r t ha t s y m b o l s a re n o t " r e a l " . . . a s a c a r t o g ra p h y o f e m ot i o n a l l i fe , I ' d s a y t ha t t he y a r e ve r y r e a l . ( S Z ) W h a t a s t u p i d l i n e o f
thought! Of course I am well aware that the symbolic matters, that it has real effects ( I ' ve w r i t t e n a d o z e n o r s o b o o k s
a b o u t t h i s ! ) - m y p o i nt i s t h a t , p r e c i s e l y when we are dealing with such "symbolic" terror, one should nonetheless
not forget that thousands are daily dying a horrible death , whose death is not noted because it
is not invested with enough "symbolic value "! To a v o i d a n y m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g h e re , l e t m e m a k e m y p o s i t i o n ve r y c l e a r . The
American patriotic narrative - the innocence under siege, the surge of patriotic pride - is, o f c o u r s e ,
vain ; h o w e v e r, i s t h e L e f t i s t na r r a t i v e ( w i t h i t s S c h a d e n f re u d e : t h e U S g ot w h a t t he y d e s e r v e d , w h a t t h e y w e re f o r d e c a d e s d o i n g t o ot h e r s ) r e a l l y a n y be t t e r ? T h e
p r e d o m i n a n t re a c t i o n o f E u r o pe a n , b u t a l s o A m e ri c a n , L e f t i s t s w a s n o t hi n g l e s s t h a n s c a n d a l o u s : a l l i m a gi n a b l e s t u p i d i t i e s w e r e s a i d a n d w r i t t e n , u p t o t h e " f e m i n i s t " p oi n t
t h a t t h e W T C t o w e r s w e r e t w o p ha l l i c s y m b o l s , w a i t i n g t o be d e s t r o y e d (" c a s t r a t e d " ) . A n d w h a t a b o u t t he f a c t t h a t C I A ( c o ) c re a t e d Ta l i ba n a n d B i n L a d e n , fi n a n c i n g a n d
h e l pi n g t h e m t o f i g ht t h e S o v i e t s i n A f g h a ni s t a n ? W h y w a s t h i s f a c t q u o t e d a s a n a rg u m e n t A G A I N S T a t t a c k i n g t h e m ? Wo u l d i t n o t be m u c h m o r e l o gi c a l t o c l a i m t h a t i t i s
The moment one thinks in the terms of "yes, the WTC collapse
p r e c i s e l y t he i r d u t y t o g e t u s r i d o f t h e m o n s t e r t h e y c r e a t e d ?
was a tragedy, but one should not fully solidarize with the victims, since this would mean
supporting US imperialism , " t h e e t h i c a l c a t a s t r o p h y i s a l r e a d y h e r e : t h e o nl y a p p r o p r i a t e s t a n c e i s t h e u n c o n di t i o na l s o l i da r i t y w i l l A L L v i c t i m s . L e t m e
m a ke a s i m pl e m e n t a l e x p e ri m e nt : if you detect in yourself any restraint to fully empathize with the victims of
the WTC collapse, if you feel the urge to qualify your empathy with "yes, but what about the
millions who suffer in Africa...", you are not demonstrating your Third World sympathize ,
but merely the mauvaise foi which bears witness to your implicit patronizing racist attitude
towards the Third World victims . The US just got the taste of what goes on around the world
on a daily basis, from Sarajevo to Grozny, from Rwanda and Congo to Sierra Leone. . . . ( P M ) s o b a r b a ri s m
s h o u l d b e u n i ve r s a l i s e d n o w ? I s t hi s t h e l a s t u n i v e r s a l l e ft t o i nt e l l e c t u a l s a ft e r p o s t m o de r n i s m ? " H e r e ' s a t a s t e o f p re d a t o r y vi o l e nc e , l e a r n t o e m b r a c e i t ? "
13
Hamraie P. 14 of 74

A n d w h y s h o u l d w e s u p p o s e t h a t t h e s e e x a m pl e s s t r u n g t o g e t h e r a re c o m pa r a b l e i n a n y c a s e ? T h i s s m a c k s o f t he p e a c e - e n v y o f t h e B a l k a n s i n t e l l e c t ua l . " Ge e w e h a ve h a d i t
h a r d , n o w i t i s y o u r t u r n t o e x pe r i e nc e s u ff e r i n g ." ( S Z ) A w e i r d n o n - s e q u i t u r ! A l l I c l a i m i s t h a t g o t t he t a s t e o f h o r r o r s g oi n g o n a r o u n d t he w o r l d o n a r e g ul a r b a s e - a p o i n t
w h i c h , I t hi n k , h a s t o b e m a d e t o a v o i d e l e va t i n g t h e W T C t o w e r s c o l l a p s e i nt o t h e ne w ve r s i o n o f A b s o l u t e C ri m e . To c o nc l u d e f r om t h i s s i m pl e s t a t e m e n t t ha t t e r r o r i s t
b a r b a ri s m S H O U L D be u n i v e r s a l i z e d , t h a t t h e re i s s o m e k i n d o f " j u s t i c e " i n t he f a c t t h a t t h e U S a l s o g o t t h e t a s t e o f i t ( " n o w i t i s y o u r t u r n . . . " ) , i s p re c i s e l y t h e l o g i c o f
m o r a l b a rg a i n i n g t o be u n c o n d i t i o n a l l y a v oi d e d . If one adds to the situation in New York snipers and gang rapes,
one gets an idea about what Sarajevo was a decade ago. . . . ( P M ) o h c o m e o n . N o w w e a re e q u a t i n g U S u r ba n b l i g ht a n d r a c i a l
p r o b l e m s w i t h B a l ka n s p ol i t i c s . T h i s i s a b s u r d . ( S Z ) I t i s m y c r i t i c ' s c o n c l u s i o n w h i c h i s a b s u r d ! F i r s t , a s i t s h o u l d be o b v i o u s t o a m i n i m a l l y a t t e n t i v e r e a d e r, I am
NOT referring to the New York "urban blight and racial problems" before the bombing, but to
New York ruins AFTER the bombing; the idea is simply to draw attention to the fact that the
situation in Sarajevo in the early 90s, when not only thousands died, but the city was the target of
artillery shells and shipers FOR YEARS, was much worse than today in New York. I s i t p o s s i bl e f o r a N e w
Yo r k e r t o i m a g i ne w h a t d o e s i t m e a n t o g o t o o ne ' s j o b a n d , da y a f t e r d a y, t o ri s k t h e t h re a t o f be i n g k i l l e d b y a s n i p e r ? To d i s m i s s t hi s a s " B a l ka n p o l i t i c s" i s , o f c o u r s e , j u s t
a n o t he r A m e ri c a n l i b e ra l r a c i s t o u t b u r s t .
14
Hamraie P. 15 of 74
Link- Utilitarianism/Catastrophe (1/2)

Characterizing their impacts as large, worst-case scenario, catastrophic events that
jeopardize our security immerses us into a spectral show of utilitarian fantasy construction
which influences the actions of government agents---contorting our understanding of
reality and portrays that we are threatened at all times by an ominous enemy.
Murphy and Zizek 01 Proff U of Ljubljana(SLAVOJ ZIZEK ANSWERS PETER

MURPHY, 10/7/2001http://www.lacan.com/reflections2.htm)
The ultimate American paranoiac fantasy is that of an individual living in a s m a l l i d y l l i c C a l i f o r n i a n c i t y, a

consumerist paradise, w h o s u d d e n l y s t a r t s t o s u s p e c t t h a t t h e w o r l d h e l i v e s i n i s a f a k e , a s p e c t a c l e s t a g e d t o c o n v i nc e h i m t h a t h e l i v e s i n a re a l w o r l d ,
w h i l e a l l pe o p l e a r o u n d h i m a r e e ff e c t i v e l y a c t o r s a n d e x t r a s i n a g i g a nt i c s h o w. T h e m o s t r e c e n t e xa m p l e o f t h i s i s P e t e r We i r ' s T h e Tr u m a n S h o w ( 1 9 9 8 ) , w i t h J i m C a r r e y
p l a yi n g t h e s m a l l t o w n c l e r k w h o g r a d ua l l y di s c o v e r s t h e t r u t h t ha t h e i s t h e h e r o o f a 2 4 - h o u r s pe r m a ne n t T V s h o w : h i s h o m e t o w n i s c o n s t r u c t e d o n a gi g a n t i c s t u d i o s e t ,
w i t h c a m e ra s f ol l o w i n g h i m p e r m a n e n t l y. A m o n g i t s p re d e c e s s o r s , i t i s w o r t h m e n t i o n i n g P h i l i p D i c k ' s Ti m e O u t o f J o i nt ( 1 9 5 9 ) , i n w h i c h a h e r o l i v i n g a m o d e s t d a i l y l i f e i n
a s m a l l i d yl l i c C a l i f o r n i a n c i t y o f t h e l a t e 5 0 s , g r a d ua l l y di s c o v e r s t h a t t h e w h o l e t o w n i s a f a ke s t a g e d t o k e e p hi m s a t i s f i e d . . . T he u n d e r l yi n g e x p e ri e n c e o f Ti m e O u t o f
J o i n t a n d o f T h e Tr u m a n S h o w i s t h a t t h e l a t e c a pi t a l i s t c o n s u m e r i s t C a l i f o r n i a n p a r a di s e i s , i n i t s ve r y h y p e r- re a l i t y, . . ( P e t e r M u r p h y ) a c t ua l l y i t w a s E u r o p e a n s (E i n s t e i n ,
M i n k o w s k i , D o e s b u rg , R o d c he n k o ) w h o fi r s t d e v e l o p e d t he a r t a n d s c i e nc e o f h y p e r s p a c e , n o t t h e A m e r i c a n s . S o w h y d o e s t h i s E u r o pe a n c om p l a i n s o m u c h ? I s i t b e c a u s e
A m e r i c a n s ( C a l i f o r n i a n s ) " st o l e " ( w h a t ? ) t h e c i n e m a . . . w h o s e fa u l t w a s t ha t ? T h e E u r o pe a n s w h o ha n d e d t he i r c i n e m a o v e r t o g o ve r n m e nt s w h o u s e d i t d u r i n g W W 1 f o r
p r o p a g a n da p u r p o s e s . . . ? ( S l a v o j Z i z e k ) W h a t a c o n f u s e d l i n e o f t h o u g h t ! W h a t ha v e t he l i s t e d E u r o p e a n b i g n a m e s t o d o w i t h t h e p a ra n o i a c i d e a t h a t t h e re a l i t y a r o u n d m e i s
a s p e c t a c l e s t a ge d f o r m e ? A n d a s i f i t m a t t e r s w h o i n v e nt e d a n i d e a ? I s i t n o t i n c o m pa r a b l y m o r e i m p o r t a nt , f o r a n a na l y s i s o f i d e ol o g i c a l t re n d s , w h e re d i d t hi s i d e a t a k e
r o o t s a n d a c q u i r e a s t r o n g p r e s e n c e ? A l l c a s e s k n o w n t o m e , f r o m a c o u p l e o f s c i - f i c l a s s i c n o v e l s ( B ri a n A l di s s ' S t a r s h i p , R o b e r t H e i n l e i n ' s T h e S t r a n ge P r o f e s s i o n o f
in a way IRREAL, substanceless, deprived of

J o n a t h a n H o a g ) t o G e o rg e S e a t o n ' s 3 6 H o u r s , a m o v i e fi l m f r om t h e e a r l y 6 0 s , a re A m e ri c a n .
the material inertia. So it is not only that Hollywood stages a semblance of real life deprived of
the weight and inertia of materiality - in the late capitalist consumerist society, "real social life"
itself somehow acquires the features of a staged fake, with our neighbors behaving in "real" life
as stage actors and extras . . . . ( P M ) s o w h y t he n a r e pe o p l e s o s u r p r i s e d w h e n a " r e a l l i fe " a t t a c k l o o k s s o m u c h l i k e t h e m o vi e s ? I s i t o nl y c o n t e m p o r a r y
i n t e l l e c t ua l s w h o ha v e d i ff i c u l t y d i s t i n g ui s h i n g b e t w e e n m o v i e f a n t a s y a n d l i fe o u t s i d e t h e m o vi e s ? C h i l d r e n a t a r o u n d 6 y e a r s ol d b e g a n t o m a ke a f i rm d i s t i nc t i o n be t w e e n
t h e t w o . ( S Z ) M a y be t h i s p o i nt i s d i ff i c u l t t o g r a s p f o r m y e s t e e m e d c r i t i c , b ut therein resides the most elementary paradox of the

psychoanalytic notion of fantasy : t h e g re a t e s t s h o c k i s w h e n t h a t w h i c h w e w e r e fa n t a s i z i n g a b o ut e ff e c t i ve l y t a k e s p l a c e . T he t h i n g ha s
N O T H I N G W H AT S O E V E R t o d o w i t h " d i s t i n g u i s h i n g b e t w e e n m o vi e f a nt a s y a n d l i f e o u t s i de t h e m o v i e s , " q ui t e t h e c o nt r a r y : i t i s P R E C I S E LY B E C A U S E w e a re w e l l a wa r e
h o w " i t ' s o nl y o u r f a n t a s y " t ha t its actualization is such a traumatic shock . A s i m i l a r p h e n o m e n o n i s k n o w n t o e v e r y p s y c h ol o g i s t : w h e n I

s e c r e t l y f a nt a s i z e a b o u t s o m e i n t e n s e i n t i m a t e e x pe r i e nc e , t he m o s t t e r r i f y i n g t h i n g t ha t c a n h a p p e n t o m e i s w h e n t h i s e x p e ri e n c e i s b r u t a l l y i m p o s e d o n m e f r om t h e o ut s i d e .
the ultimate truth of the capitalist utilitarian de-spiritualized universe is the de-
Again,
materialization of the "real life" itself, its reversal into a spectral show . A m o n g ot h e r s , C h r i s t o p h e r I s h e r w o o d g a ve
s t a t e m e nt t o t hi s u n re a l i t y o f t he A m e ri c a n da i l y l i f e , e x e m pl i f i e d i n t he m o t e l r o o m : " A m e r i c a n m o t e l s a r e u n re a l ! / . . . / t he y a r e de l i be r a t e l y d e s i g ne d t o b e u n re a l . / . . . / T he
E u r o p e a n s ha t e u s b e c a u s e w e ' ve r e t i r e d t o l i v e i n s i d e o u r a d ve r t i s e m e n t s , l i k e h e rm i t s g o i n g i n t o c a v e s t o c o nt e m pl a t e . " . . . ( P M ) A m e r i c a n m ot e l s a re u g l y, b u t i s t h a t
" u n re a l " ? I t h o u g ht t h a t w a s a c a s e o f e n d e m i c b a d t a s t e . ( S Z ) T h e a rt i f i c i a l " u n re a l " c h a ra c t e r o f t h e A m e r i c a n e n vi r o n m e nt i s a s t a n da r d s o c i o l o gi c a l t h e s i s - w h e r e a r e
a rg u m e n t s a g a i n s t i t ? P e t e r S l ot e r d i j k ' s n o t i o n o f t h e " s p h e re " i s he r e l i t e ra l l y re a l i z e d , a s t h e g i ga n t i c m e t a l s p h e re t h a t e n v e l o p e s a n d i s o l a t e s t he e n t i r e c i t y. Ye a r s a g o ,
a s e r i e s o f s c i e n c e - f i c t i o n f i l m s l i ke Z a r d oz o r L o g a n' s R u n f o re c a s t e d t o d a y ' s p o s t m o de r n p r e d i c a m e n t b y e xt e n d i n g t h i s f a n t a s y t o t h e c o m m u ni t y i t s e l f : t h e i s o l a t e d g r o u p
l i vi n g a n a s e pt i c l i f e i n a s e c l u d e d a re a l o n g s f o r t he e x p e ri e n c e o f t h e re a l w o r l d o f m a t e r i a l d e c a y. T h e Wa c h o w s k i b r o t he r s ' hi t M a t ri x ( 1 9 9 9 ) b r o u g h t t hi s l o g i c t o i t s
c l i m a x: t h e m a t e r i a l r e a l i t y w e a l l e x p e r i e n c e a n d s e e a r o u n d u s i s a vi r t u a l o n e , g e ne r a t e d a n d c o o r di n a t e d b y a g i ga n t i c m e ga - c o m p ut e r t o w h i c h w e a r e a l l a t t a c h e d; w h e n
t h e he r o ( p l a ye d b y K e a n u R e e v e s ) a w a k e n s i nt o t h e " r e a l r e a l i t y, " h e s e e s a d e s o l a t e l a n d s c a p e l i t t e r e d w i t h b u r n e d r u i n s - w h a t re m a i n e d o f C h i c a g o a ft e r a gl o b a l w a r. T h e
r e s i s t a nc e l e a d e r M o r p h e u s u t t e r s t h e i r o n i c g re e t i n g : " We l c o m e t o t h e de s e r t o f t he r e a l . " Wa s i t n o t s o m e t h i n g o f t h e s i m i l a r o r de r t h a t t o o k p l a c e i n N e w Yo r k o n S e pt e m be r
11 ? It s c i t i z e n s w e r e i n t r o d u c e d t o t he " d e s e rt o f t h e re a l " - t o u s , c o r r u pt e d b y H o l l y w o o d , t he l a n d s c a p e a n d t h e s h o t s w e s a w o f t h e c ol l a p s i n g t o w e r s c o u l d n o t b ut r e m i n d
u s o f t h e m o s t b re a t ht a k i n g s c e n e s i n t he c a t a s t r o p h e bi g p r o d u c t i o n s . W h e n w e h e a r h o w t h e b o m bi n g s w e re a t ot a l l y u n e x p e c t e d s h o c k , h o w t he u n i m a g i n a bl e I m p o s s i b l e
h a p p e ne d , o n e s h o u l d r e c a l l t h e ot h e r d e fi n i n g c a t a s t r o p he f r o m t he b e g i n ni n g o f t h e X X t h c e n t u r y, t ha t o f Ti t a n i c : i t w a s a l s o a s h o c k , b u t t he s p a c e f o r i t w a s a l re a d y
p r e p a re d i n i de o l o g i c a l fa n t a s i z i n g , s i n c e Ti t a ni c w a s t h e s y m b ol o f t h e m i g h t o f t h e X I X t h c e nt u r y i n d u s t r i a l c i v i l i z a t i o n . D o e s t h e s a m e n o t h ol d a l s o f o r t he s e
b o m b i n g s ? . . . ( P M ) y e s b u t p r e c i s e l y be c a u s e t h e t e r r o r i s t c h o s e t h e m f o r t h e i r s y m b ol i c va l u e - - t h a t i s t h e a rt o f t e r r o ri s t w a r - - i t i s a c o m m u n i c a t i ve w a r, w a r w a g e d b y a
s m a l l h a n d f u l w h o d e s t r o y t h i n g s a n d p e o pl e o f a ff e c t i v e a n d re p r e s e n t a t i ve v a l ue i n o r d e r t o g e n e ra t e pa n i c , fe a r, a n d d e m o r a l i z a t i o n , e t c . ( S Z ) T he p o i n t i s m i s s e d a g a i n :
it is not that the attack was part of a "communicative war," but that it actualized something
American media were for years fantasizing about! Not only were the media bombarding us all the
time with the talk about the terrorist threat; this threat was also obviously libidinally invested -
j u s t r e c a l l t h e s e ri e s o f m o v i e s f r om E s c a pe F r o m N e w Yo r k t o I n d e p e n de n c e D a y. T h e u n t hi n k a b l e w h i c h h a p pe n e d w a s t h u s t h e o bj e c t o f f a n t a s y : i n a w a y, A m e r i c a g o t w h a t
the modern imagination is

i t fa n t a s i z e d a b o ut , a n d t hi s w a s t he g r e a t e s t s u r p r i s e . . . . ( P M ) t h e r e i s s o m e t r u t h i n t h i s , b u t w h a t d o e s t h i s s a y - - t ha t
projective, it speculates about contingencies , it anticipates the worst , etc.

15
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It has been for centuries now, and Europeans are past masters of projective doom-saying .
Arguably the intellectuals preference for the eternal present is more "virtual reality" than that of
Pentagon planners and Hollywood producers. ( S Z ) A g a i n , w h a t a l a c k l u s t e r l i n e o f a rg u m e nt a t i o n ! M y p oi n t i s n o t t o p l a y a p s e u d o -
p o s t m o d e r n ga m e o f re d u c i n g t h e W T C c o l l a p s e t o j u s t a n o t he r m e di a s p e c t a c l e , r e a d i n g i t a s a c a t a s t r o p h y ve r s i o n o f t h e s n u ff p o r n o m o v i e s ; t h e q u e s t i o n w e s h o u l d h a v e
a s k e d o u r s e l ve s w h e n w e s t a r e d a t t h e T V s c r e e n s o n S e p t e m b e r 11 i s s i m p l y : W H E R E D I D W E A L R E A D Y S E E T H E S A M E T H I N G O V E R A N D O V E R A G A I N ? D o e s t h e f a c t
It is
t h a t w h a t w e s a w f o r t h e re a l o n S e pt e m be r 11 a l r e a d y ha d h a p p e ne d a g a i n a n d a ga i n i n o u r p o p ul a r c ul t u r e n ot t e l l u s s o m e t hi n g a b o u t o u r i d e o l o gi c a l c o n s t e l l a t i o n ?
precisely now, when we are dealing with the raw Real of a catastrophe , that we should bear in
mind the ideological and fantasmatic coordinates which determine its perception . I f t h e r e i s a n y s y m b o l i s m
i n t he c o l l a p s e o f t he W T C t o w e r s , i t i s n o t s o m uc h t h e ol d - f a s h i o n e d n ot i o n o f t he " c e n t e r o f f i n a nc i a l c a pi t a l i s m , " b ut , r a t he r, t h e n o t i o n t h a t t h e t w o W T C t o w e r s s t o o d f o r
t h e c e n t e r o f t h e V I RT U A L c a p i t a l i s m , o f fi n a n c i a l s p e c u l a t i o n s d i s c o n n e c t e d f r om t h e s p h e re o f m a t e r i a l p r o d u c t i o n . . . . ( P M ) w e l l a c t ua l l y, i t w a s i n e ff e c t a n a t t a c k o n
m u l t i n a t i o n a l ( A m e r i c a n , B r i t i s h , F r e n c h , G e r m a n , I n d i a n , J a pa n e s e , A u s t r a l i a n , N Z , e t c . ) - - d oe s t h i s m a n u n de r s t a n d a t a l l w h o w a s k i l l e d i n t h i s a t t a c k , a n d e ve n w h a t k i n d
o f i n s t i t u t i o n s a re c o n c e n t r a t e d i n t h e W T C ? A r e w e s a yi n g t h a t m u l t i - l a t e ra l f i na n c i a l a n d t r a d e s e r vi c e s h a ve n e v e r e x i s t e d be f o r e t he c u r r e nt e r a ? I n t h e 1 8t h c e nt u r y
s o m e t hi n g l i ke 2 5 % o f N e w Yo r k e r s w e re d o i n g t ha t t y pe o f m e rc a n t i l e l o g i s t i c a l b u s i ne s s ! ( S Z ) I s i t re a l l y s o di ff i c ul t t o u n de r s t a n d m y p oi n t ? I a m w e l l a w a r e t h a t t h e
l a rg e m a j o r i t y o f t h e k i l l e d w e re n o t " c a pi t a l i s t s " - m y p oi n t i s s i m pl y w h a t t he W T C t o w e r s s t o o d f o r i n t he p u b l i c s y m b o l i c u n i v e r s e , a n d m y c l a i m i s s i m p l y t h a t t h e y d i d
The shattering impact of the

n o t s t a n d s i m p l y f o r t he t r a di t i o na l " f i n a nc i a l c a pi t a l i s m , " b ut , m o r e s p e c i f i c a l l y, f o r t o d a y ' s " v i r t ua l c a p i t a l i s m ."
bombings can only be accounted for only against the background of the borderline which today
separates the digitalized First World from the Third World "desert of the Real." . . . ( P M ) c a n I re m i n d o u r
i n t e l l e c t ua l t ha t t he s e a r e t e r r o r i s t s w h o u s e e n c r y pt e d m e s s a g i n g , v i r t ua l s i m ul a t o r s , C D - R o m s f o r p r o m o t i o n a l vi d e o s , e t c . ( S Z ) Wo w ! A n d I t h o u g h t t h a t t h e A r a b t e r r o r i s t s
t r a n s p o r t t h e i r s e c r e t m e s s a g e s o n c a m e l s ' ba c k a c c r o s s t h e c o nt i n e nt s ! S e ri o u s l y, i s t h e f a c t t ha t t he M u s l i m f u n d a m e n t a l i s t s u s e v i rt u a l s i m u l a t o r s , e t c . , n ot s i m i l a r t o t h e
f a c t t h a t t h e U S " t e l e v a n g e l i s t s , " w h o d i s s e m i na t e t h e i r t r a d i t i o n a l f u n d a m e n t a l i s t m e s s a g e r e l yi n g o n t h e l a t e s t d i g i t a l m e a n s o f c om m u n i c a t i o n ? N o t t o m e n t i o n t h e a n t i -
! It is the
D a r w i n i a n c r e a t i o n i s t s w h o o f t e n u s e c o m p u t e r i z e d m o d e l s . . . T h e p a ra d o x o f t h e ol d i d e ol o g y r e l yi n g o n n e w t e c h n o l o g i e s i s a s o c i o l o gi c a l c o m m o n p l a c e
awareness that we live in an insulated artificial universe which generates the notion that some
ominous agent is threatening us all the time with total destruction .
16
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1NC
A. The 1ACs desire for Development is an attempt to fill the lack created by Developments
dual natureinscribing upon its subjects both hope and a trivialization of success. We have
a desire to give aid in order to fulfill the desire of the subjects of Development.
Unfortunately the nature of Development ensures this desire can never be fulfilled and that
it must ultimately fail so that we can endlessly keep alive Developments promise.
De Vries 07--Department of Rural Development Sociology, Wageningen University --(Pieter,

'Don't compromise your desire for development! A Lacanian/Deleuzian rethinking of the anti-
politics machine', Third World Quarterly, 01 February 2007, 28:1, 25 43, Routledge)
A Lacanian approach to the lack of development

My argument is that we have to scrutinise the disjuncture between the desire for development
and its banalisation in practice . In order to do this Lacanian psychoanalytical theory is very
useful . 12 In Lacanian terms it could be stated that the desire for development fills in a certain
lack in its actualisation ; it always points towards something else, for desire is always the desire
of the Other (for our purposes the development machine). 1 3 Desire then is the faculty to
produce dreams and utopias that are both evoked and betrayed by actual development projects . In
Lacanian terms desire is triggered by small objects of the other ( in Lacanese, petits objets a)
which operate as sublime objects of desire (sublime, in the psychoanalytic sense that they
sublimate, or give body to the faculty of desire). Examples of these small objects are the works or
obritas Andean people refer to when talking about the promises of development: the bridge , the
road, the irrigation canal, the school building, etc. The argument, then, is that development as a
desiring machine operates through the generation, spurring and triggering of desires, and by
subsequently doing away with them. It is this double movement of the generation and banalisation
of hope that constitutes the dialectics of desire.14 The critical point to be made is that the
mundane world of actual development intervention cannot subsist without its virtual supplement:
the fantastic images and promises that are evoked by a diversity of small objects that operate as
causes of desire . It is important to point out that this line of analysis entails a particular
conceptualisation of power and the subject. Here power functions through the simultaneous
generation and banalisation of the desire for development rather than through Foucauldian
processes of governmentality and the disciplining of subjects15. Contrary to Foucault, this
Lacanian approach does not dispense with the notion of the subject as a contingent outcome of
powerknowledge processes. The subject in Lacanian theory is the name for a void, or lack, that
gives body to the actual social order, and which stands for societys contradictions. The subject
therefore has no place in the positive (actual) order of society, yet paradoxically it is essential for
its functioning. It bears witness to, and masks, the impossible and antagonistic nature of society.
The subject of development is therefore an answer to the recurrent question what is it not to be
developed? and the hallmark of subjectivity is precisely this void of non-being . In other
words, the fantasies of development give rise to a subject that identifies herself in terms of that
which she is not. Accordingly, this lack in the subject transmutes itself into a subject of lack.
The subject of development is a de-centred subject , in the precise sense that she is subject to
endless desires that originate outside her (ie those fantastic small objects promised by the
development machine). And it is this radical decentredness as a subject of a lack that produces a
desiring subject who keeps searching for what is in development more than itself ; in other words
for the promise of development . I n t h e ne x t s e c t i o n I e x pl o r e t he s e i d e a s f u rt h e r b y p a yi n g s p e c i a l a t t e nt i o n t o t h e w o r k o f F e rg u s o n a n d E s c o b a r,
a s I a g r e e w i t h t he i r v i e w s , b u t a t t he s a m e t i m e e x p a n d m y t h e o re t i c a l a p p r o a c h i n a v e r y di ff e r e nt d i r e c t i o n .
17
Hamraie P. 18 of 74
1NC
B. Rather than subject communities to the western development apparatusa critical refusal
to compromise the desire of Sub-Saharan Africans by resisting the imposition western
development and aid upon them is a precondition to an Ethics of the Real. Our politics is on
of radical decisions that allows the benefits of development to occur by empowering citizens
and avoids the victimizing logic of the West.
However, not all Andeans chose to follow this path. Thus in some areas, rather than subjecting
themselves to the imperatives of the development apparatus, villagers chose to organise
themselves within their indigenous community organisations and thus to reinforce their own
structures of leadership and accountability . At the same time they pressed government
institutions to channel reconstruction money into tangible development structures (buildings,
roads, markets), rather than into intangible activities such as workshops in participatory planning.
The point not to be lost was that the villagers refused to compromise on their desire for
development . Rather than letting the promise of development be banalised by neoliberal
discourses of responsible citizenship and the latest fads in development thinking, they insisted in
demanding the real thing. They refused to become trapped in this perverse logic of victimisation
and instead pressed claims on the state to restitute land and build the infrastructure that had been
promised to them, thus persevering in their own fantasies of development. This example raises
important questions for an ethics of development, one based on peoples aspirations and dreams
that foregrounds their capacity to desire. This is what authors s u c h a s Z i z e k , Z u pa n c i c a n d B a di o u call the Ethics
of the Real, an ethics encapsulated by the L a c a n i a n maxim dont compromise your desire .33 If it is
true that the development apparatus sustains its hegemony through the generation and
banalisation of hope, then not compromising your desire means refusing to accept the betrayal of
development by the anti-politics machine. This is an ethics of sustaining the capacity to desire, of
demanding that what the development apparatus promises but is not capable of delivering .
This is an ethics that demands the realisation of the impossible through its insistence on the real
thing, a n e t hi c s t h a t b e l i e v e s i n t h e e xi s t e n c e o f m i ra c l e s . F o r, in the eyes of Andean villagers, there is nothing so
excessive and miraculous as development itself. This I t h i n k i s a g o o d e x a m p l e o f w h a t Z i z e k c a l l s a n E t h i c s o f t h e R e a l w h i c h , in
opposition to a depoliticised ethics of human rights, does not assume that there is any guarantee
for its existence in an external humanitarian gaze, or in universal norms of victimisation . 3 4 T h i s
e n t a i l s a ra d i c a l p o l i t i c i s a t i o n o f e t hi c s . An Ethics of the Real is an ethics of taking risks and making radical
decisions, of not compromising a fundamental desire. For Andeans this means holding to defined
images and practices of community institutions and fair access to land and other natural
resources, as against state programmes of land privatisation and neoliberal governance. This
stance of not compromising on the desire for development runs counter to the global consensus
that establishes that development is about the production of responsible and calculating individual
citizens subject to forms of governmentality epitomised by depoliticised notions such as cost-
sharing and financial transparency. A r e s u c h e x a m pl e s o f i n t ra n s i g e n c e , t h e n , n ot r e a l l y s m a l l m i r a c l e s , i n t he s e n s e t h a t t h e y a t t e s t t o t he
c a pa c i t y o f d e v e l o p m e nt s u b j e c t s t o i n s i s t o n t he i r o w n u t o p i a n i m a g i n a t i o n s o f d e v e l o p m e nt , a n d t o a c t u p o n s u c h de s i r e s ?
18
Hamraie P. 19 of 74
2NC- Overview
Regardless of whether development is good or bad---the western impulse to develop Africa is
based on a collective desire to continually re-exerperience the enjoyment we get through
helping the third world---causing violence and the subordination of entire groups to the
western model of ethics---preventing successful development and ensuring conflict.
This mindset ensures continual violence for the rest of eternity---only an alternative form of
ethical calculus that allows for an empowerment of individuals instead of a continual
investment into the structures of desire authorized by Western Aid can solve their case.
19
Hamraie P. 20 of 74
2NC- Perm Block

1. Perm Fails and has no net benefit---the reason why an Ethics of the Real that empowers
individuals is so effective is its free of the Western politics of Developmentany inclusion of
the Aff corrupts the alternative by injecting the Western desire to continually re-experience
development---preventing an empowerment of individuals by forcing them to remain reliant
of the West to fulfill the promises of development---Thats both Devries Cards.
2. Any reason the perm doesnt link means its severance---the alternative is a refusal to
authorize West-based development by voting negative---makes them a moving target---
allowing them to spike out of links---voter for fairness.
3. Links harder---the politics of the affirmative would mask the insidious motives of the
affirmative and make western intervention in the name of satiating our continual appetite
for development easier.
4. Combining psycho-analytical and post-colonial approaches corrupts the alternatives

ability to interrogate the colonial context of human unhappiness. The alternative alone
exposes the Wests misrepresentation of its Otherwhile the perm corrupts both plan and
perm.
Zyl 98 Department of Applied English Language Studies(Susan Van, The Other and Other Others: Post-
colonialism, Psychoanalysis and the South African Question, American Imago 55.1 (1998) 77-100,
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_imago/v055/55.1van_zyl.html)
I n F r e u d t h i s d i vi s i o n t a ke s t h e f o r m o f a g a p b e t w e e n t he p r e c o n di t i o n s f o r p a t h o l o g y o f t he m e nt a l ( re f l e c t e d i n t h e m e t a p s y c h o l o g y ) a n d t h e n e c e s s a r i l y hi g h l y p a rt i c ul a r
The result is that, as a critique, psychoanalysis can

p a t h ol o g i e s o f i n di v i d u a l s a n d t h e p ra c t i s e o f c u r e re c o u n t e d i n t he c a s e hi s t o r i e s .
present the conditions of possibility of pathologies of the Other in colonial contexts, but only
specific cases can provide the particular details required to explain equally particular
circumstances. W h a t i s m o r e , a s s o c i a l p s y c h o l o gi c a l m o v e m e n t s i n S o u t h A f r i c a a n d e l s e w h e re o f t e n f o rg e t , psychoanalysis is finally
concerned, not with societies and the varieties of ordinary ( o r e v e n e xt r a o r d i na r y ) human unhappiness they
give rise to, but with culture ( c o r r e c t l y w i t h a c a p i t a l C i n t h i s i n s t a nc e ) and those particular conditions it defines as
neurotic misery which the very fact of culture makes possible.
What psychoanalysis can legitimately tell post-colonialism about the foundations of the West's
misrepresentations of its Other is, l i t e r a l l y, o f f u n da m e nt a l i m p o r t a n c e . B ut there are many Others and many kinds
of othering which means that much about t h e S o u t h African --or any other specific configuration [E n d
P a g e 9 8 ] --can, and I be l i e v e should, only be explained by means of a subtle combination of appropriately
specific economic, political or historical accounts. Like the middle road's relation to Rome,
wanting it both ways as post-colonialism so often does, seldom leads to success in either
direction.
20
Hamraie P. 21 of 74
2NC- Perm Block

5. The Ethics of the Real is completely contradictory to the Aff s desire for western
development
An Ethics of the Real is an ethics of taking risks and making radical decisions, of not
compromising a fundamental desire. For Andeans this means holding to defined images and
practices of community institutions and fair access to land and other natural resources, as against
state programmes of land privatisation and neoliberal governance. This stance of not
compromising on the desire for development runs counter to the global consensus that
establishes that development is about the production of responsible and calculating individual
citizens subject to forms of governmentality epitomised by depoliticised notions such as cost-
sharing and financial transparency . Are such examples of intransigence, then, not really small
miracles, in the sense that they attest to the capacity of development subjects to insist on their
own utopian imaginations of development, and to act upon such desires?
6. Recognizing the space our alternative opens up is only possible through a persistent
insistence of refusing the incorporating the discursive lens of developmental utilized by the
affirmative.

As Zizek puts it, the truly traumatic thing is that miracles not in the religious sense but in the
sense of free actsdo happen, but its very difficult to come to terms with them .36 Perhaps we
should search for such miracles in the capacity of those who refuse to subordinate themselves to
the gaze of the development apparatus , who persist in and act upon their desire for
development. Perhaps the Za`patista uprising of 1 January 1994 in Mexico, occurring on the same
day that the North American Free Trade Association treaty was installed, was just such an
example of a miraculous, yet traumatic, event that came to symbolise the spurious universality of
the global neoliberal project.
**Spurious = inauthentic: intended to deceive; "a spurious work of art"
21
Hamraie P. 22 of 74
Link- Development
Development has a virtual nature rooted in desire that necessitates self-perpetuation. This
system is parasitic on the dreams of its subjectsdooming them to an eternity of suspended
in a state of continuous desire to fill the gap left by developments impossible realization.

the utopian promise of development involves a negative dialectics that goes further than
M y p oi n t i s t ha t
imagining (a) different world (s) or for that matter alternative modernities in the precise sense
that it points to the possibility of a radical break with the present . I a rg u e i n t h e c o nc l u d i n g s e c t i o n o f t h e a rt i c l e t ha t
such utopian, impossible, desire for development has important ethical implications, as it
harbours the promise of such a radical break. T h u s m y p o i nt i s t h a t development has a virtual or fantastic
side, as manifested in particular ways of desiring that are part of the collective unconscious. T h u s
the above-mentioned perspectives do not acknowledge the fact that development generates the
kinds of desires that it necessitates to perpetuate itself , that it is a self-propelling apparatus that
produces its own motivational drives, that the development industry is parasitic on the beliefs and
dreams of the subjects it creates. I n ot h e r w o r d s , development lies at the same plane of immanence as the
subjects it produces . 7 A s a rg u e d , the idea of development relies on the production of desires, which it
cannot fulfil . I n ot h e r w o r d s f o l l o w i n g a L a c a n i a n pe r s p e c t i v e there is a certain excess in the concept of
development that is central to its functioning. Development t h u s points to a utopian element that is
always already out of place. Since it is constitutively impossible, it functions as its own critique .
The question t o b e a n s w e r e d t h e re f o r e is why people in the Third World persist in desiring development in
spite of all its failures. My answer t o t hi s q ue s t i o n is that the desire for development fills the gap
between the promises and their meagre actual realisations , thus giving body to a desiring
machine that a l s o operates in between the generation and banalisation of hope. I n o r de r t o i l l u s t r a t e t hi s di a l e c t i c
o f t h e ge n e r a t i o n a n d ba n a l i s a t i o n o f de s i r e , w e c a n t a ke t h e e x a m pl e s o f p a r t i c i pa t i o n i n d e v e l o p m e nt a n d t he M i l l e n n i u m D e ve l o p m e n t G o a l s .
22
Hamraie P. 23 of 74
Link- Civil Society/Social Capital (1/2)

The fantasy of development disguises itself behind attempts to establish social capital and
promote civil society through international aid. This conceals the authoritarian project of
the affirmative, which creates a desire to maintain the third-worlds position as the object of
our system of security and global governanceused to fulfill of our phantasy

Conventional views in the media and in policy documents see development intervention as
oriented towards purportedly postcolonial societies whose nation-states have followed different
trajectories from Western industrialised countries and which suffer from endemic wars and
humanitarian disasters. Societies , i n s h o r t , that are the other of modernity. M a r k Duffield deftly shows
how present representations of the Third World as spaces of excess and abjection interrelate with
a new political economy in the South and that, rather than examples of failure, they should be
seen as creative responses to neoliberal structural adjustment policies . 1 0 H i s l i n e o f re a s o n i n g i s a s f o l l o w s . A c c o r d i n g
t o m uc h c o n t e m p o r a r y t h i n k i n g , Third World societies with failed states have fallen into a perverse cycle of
poverty, war and social regression, thus becoming marginal or borderland regions that reflect the
failure of modernity in much of the South . But, s a y s D u ff i e l d , such representations of failure and
images of regression provide the justification and legitimacy for new kinds of intervention , a
new will to govern the unstable areas of the global margins . L i k e w i s e , mainstream thinking about
failed states makes a neat distinction between metropolitan areas and the borderlands, the latter
exhibiting t r a i t s s u c h a s barbarity , e x c e s s a n d irrationality in contrast to the civility, re s t r a i nt and rationality of
the former. These representations , D u ff i e l d e m p h a s i s e s , are imaginary, or ideological in the sense that they
operate as legitimisations of this new will to govern . F o r, the borderlands are . . . imagined spaces
of b r e a k d o w n , excess and want that exist in and through a reforming urge to govern, t h a t i s t o r e o r d e r the
relationship between people and things, including ourselves to achieve desired outcomes . 11 M a r k
D u ff i e l d ha s de v e l o pe d a n i nt e r e s t i n g l i ne o f t h i n ki n g i n w h i c h he c o n j oi n s a F o u c a u l di a n p e r s p e c t i ve o n t h e de v e l o pm e n t m a c hi n e w i t h a r e a l i s t a c c o u n t o f re f l e xi v e
m o d e r ni s a t i o n i n t h e S o u t h . H e s h o w s e x pl i c i t l y h o w the reinvention and radicalisation of development goes together

with all sorts of images of the Third World as a phantasmic obscene space , representing
everything that the West is not. Development t h u s is reimagined as a form of global risk
management aimed at finding the solution to the ungovernability of the South. This is a good
example of how the desires for development of Third World people are banalised through the
construction of fantastic images of the other. D e v e l o pm e n t w i t h i n t hi s re f o r m e d p ol i c y di s c o u r s e h a s b e e n a b l e t o t r a n s f o r m i t s e l f
a n d o v e rc o m e c r i t i c i s m s d i re c t e d t o i t s l a c k o f s u c c e s s , l e a d i n g t o a r a di c a l i s a t i o n o f t h e c o n c e pt . I t s h o u l d b e c l e a r, h o w e v e r, t h a t this new form of
governance directed to the reconstruction of entire societies in the South is in essence an

extremely authoritarian kind of project , as manifested in large-scale interventions to build
social capital and create civil societies . Here we see the actualisation of the promise of
development in the guise of neocolonial programmes of civilisation and containment of
barbaric Southern populations . Development t h u s becomes part of a wider apparatus of rule
aimed at managing risks and governing distant and unruly populations.
<Continues Without Deletion>
23
Hamraie P. 24 of 74
Link- Civil Society/Social Capital (2/2)

<Continued Without Deletion>
The development apparatus has become part of an illiberal system of global governance and
securitisation intended to stop the spread of irrationality of the South. In the process it constitutes
networks of complicity between international aid agencies, warlords, NGOs, military interests ,
drug and weapon mafias, etc. Yet, while the discourse of development continuously changes and
its field of governmentality has expanded, Third World peoples desire for development persists.
Thus the gulf between the promise of development and its actualisation has never in history been
so large.
De Vries 07, 'Don't compromise your desire for development! A Lacanian/Deleuzian rethinking
of the anti-politics machine', Third World Quarterly]
24
Hamraie P. 25 of 74
Link- Development
Subjectivity in terms of development is constructed as the interplay between to master
signifier of promoting development and the individual carrying its symbolic stake that
creates the desiring subject which is caught

A s w e a l l k n o w, a p p l i e d development theory t o d a y consists of an array of methodologies , o f which rapid rural

appraisals and stakeholder analysis are perhaps the most prominent . Ta k i n g t h e l a t t e r a s a n e xa m p l e , i s the
proverbial stake t h a t t h e actors are supposed to carry, a n d b y w h i c h t he y c a n m a r k t he i r i nt e r e s t s a n d de m a n d t h e i r ri g h t t o be h e a r d , n ot a
g o o d e x a m p l e o f a s i g n i f i e r t h a t permits the subject to recognise herself, as an actor implicated in a complex
network of relations ? The point is that actors come to define themselves as interested beings
competing and negotiating with other stakeholders for the sake of development. I n o t h e r w o r d s , what
they share is their common desire for development. We obtain, t h e n , the image of an individual who
becomes a subject by virtue of holding a stake. The subject of development can decide to hold
another stake, s/he even can trade stakes ; in fact, the subjects subjectivity is predicated on the
fact that her/his identity is defined in terms of her/his status as a holder of a place within a closed
economy of stakes. T h u s we encounter a subject who functions solely as the placeholder of the
ever- changing discourse of development by which actors come to recognise themselves as
subjects of the crazy development machine / s t r u c t u r e . It is this d i s t a nc e , o r gap, between the stake as a
master signifier of development and the individual holding the stake that produces the subject of
development. As argued, the subject of development is a desiring subject, a subject that engages
with the impossibility of development and the inability of the development industry to believe in
its own promises.
25
Hamraie P. 26 of 74
Link- Development
Development is a grand, never ending narrative that operates because of the desire to sustain
its utopian ideal. We subscribe to a virtual world of development because of the enjoyment
its virtual simulation generateswhich its actualization and reality lacks. The 1AC is part
of this running serial of imagination---functioning to fill the lack of its own impossibility.

I w o u l d l i ke t o a d d a third instrumental effect: the generation and banalisation of the desire for
development. A l r e a d y i n t h e 1 9 7 0 s A l be r t Hirschmann had pointed out that the very desire for development
was in itself the driving force in the unfolding of the process. P u t t i n g i t i n L a c a ni a n / D e l e u z i a n t e r m s , the virtual
world of development generates forms of excess enjoyment ( pa s s i o n s , d r e a m s a n d i m a g i na t i o n s ) that
retroactively produce the rationalisations and justifications that the planning process itself lacks.
28 This idea of the lack resonates very well with the eternal lamentations about the
impossibility of planning, the fact that the planning process is always limited , that the blueprint
always falls short of reality, and that something else, outside of it, has to be added in order to
supplement it (eg participatory planning , e t c ) . 2 9 W h a t i s c r u c i a l i s t h a t the desiring machine functions through
the constitution of this lack (of knowledge, social capital, resources, etc), which as a void gives
body to all sorts of f a d s , theories and rationalisations. The desire for development , t h u s , persists
through failure, that is by sliding from one object to the other and thus masking its constitutive
impossibility . A c c o r d i n g l y , the metonymic desire for development both masks its impossibility and
reveals a utopian dream . I a rg u e t h a t the promise of development is constitutive of a subject who stands
for this impossible , utopian side . It s h o u l d b e n o t e d t h a t t h i s p o s i t i o n d i ff e r s w i d e l y f r o m F o u c a ul d i a n n ot i o n s o f t h e s u b j e c t a s c o n s t i t ut e d b y t he
i n t e r p l a y be t w e e n p o w e r a n d r e s i s t a nc e . A c c o r d i n g t o a L a c a n i a n a p p r o a c h , t h e subject, rather than a subject of governmentalityie
the subject of the truth effects of power-knowledgeis a desiring subject. The desiring
development subject is a response to the lack in the development apparatus. It is the failure to
satisfy the desire for development and the impossibility of bringing about the promises of
development that produce a subject that always already eludes the grasp of power. Development
i n t e r v e n t i o n a l w a y s a l r e a d y misses its target and keeps on creating new lacks, in this way inspiring new
desires. I s t h i s n o t a nice example of Hegels cunning of reason, of how a bureaucratic rationality

works through the irrationality of hope, in which an object of knowledge (development) is
constituted through a succession of failures to resolve the problems it supposedly reflects ?
26
Hamraie P. 27 of 74
Link- Aid/Development
The 1AC revives the narrative of Andean villagers who were prescribed development to cure
their perceived discrepancy of economic progression. Their emphasis of alleviation creates
a discourse of western intervention where the indeginous adopt the identity of victimized
Africans in order to be eligible for that aid.

A case in point concerns the villagers in the Andes referred to above. 32 In the 1980s the area
was the centre stage of an uprising provoked by the Maoist guerrilla movement Sendero Luminoso
(Shining Path). The Peruvian military reacted in an utterly repressive way, treating villagers as
potential subversives and establishing peasant vigilante groups in order to counter the threat of
the Shining Path. After the end of the conflict all sorts of NGOs and government organisations
flooded the area with programmes aimed at introducing democratic forms of governance with the
help of methodologies of participatory planning, organisational development and capacity
building. Much emphasis was a l s o placed on the need to develop new forms of accountable
leadership. An underlying assumption in these programmes was the idea that poverty and lack of
modern forms of social organisation had given the subversives the possibility to gain a foothold
among traditional indigenous people . With this line of thought new governance structures and
forms of democratic participation had to fill the void created by the conflict. T h e r e i s n o d o u bt t h a t the
new discourse of democracy and institution building provided a precious opportunity to the
development apparatus to expand its field of operations, thereby legitimating new kinds of
intervention that were to function in a therapeutic and precautionary mode. A rg u a bl y , such discourses
establish a natural relation between poverty, subversion and displacement , while representing
Andean people as passive victims of such processes . A n d i n d e e d many villagers and refugees did adopt
such new identities so as to be eligible for aid.
27
Hamraie P. 28 of 74
Link- Failure Dev

Whether they solve or not---both success and failure reifies development into a discursive
cleansing tool of experts in their quest to construct a more humane world.

Another consequence which Ferguson analyses is the way in which development interventions
transform the essentially political nature of development into a sanitised object of (expert)
knowledge complemented by an arsenal of toolkitsas in the case of participatory appraisals.
The apparatus of development thus produces a reified world of (discursive) practices dissociated
from the actual struggles and aspirations of the subjects involved, yet exhibiting an intelligibility
of its own. It is Fergusons crucial insight that this coexistence between these two different
realms the actual life-ways, dreams and aspirations of local populations and the virtual realm of
development rhetoric , routines and proceduresis something to be analysed on its own terms, not
something to be reduced to some external logic of capital , or to the institutionalisation of some
liberal desire to construct a humane world. It is not that the development apparatus has no
impacts or effects on the real world of the subjects of development (ie on peoples life-ways).
On the contrary, as Ferguson shows, the effects are highly disappointing, if sometimes not
outright disastrous. The point, however, is that these effects dont matter for the functioning of
the development industry. Rather than deterring the expansion of the apparatus, failure operates as
the motor for its reproduction. At the same time failure produces instrumental effects, such as
depoliticisation and bureaucratic penetration, that are crucial to the preservation of certain forms
of governmentality and domination. It is this coincidence of instrumental effects and the
reinvention of new technologies of intervention that makes the development apparatus so
effective as an instrument of domination.
28
Hamraie P. 29 of 74
Link- Humanitarian Ethics

Humanitarian ethics assumes we have an authentic ability to empathize the with suffering.
This logic of victimization creates a passive subject and an outsider constructed as the West,
who must intervene on behalf of the victim. Rejecting this form of ethics is necessary for our
alternative.

The Lacanian Ethics of the Real differs greatly from the ethics currently dominant in development
circles, one that invites us to have soliditarity with the suffering of the victimised other on the
basis of a presumed universal human capacity to empathise . This is a logic of victimisation
that is correlative with a passive subject, a subject who is satisfied with the right to narrate her
suffering. This, as Zizek argues, is the position of a spurious universality, one which presupposes
the existence of an outsider (the West, NGOs , humanitarian organisations, etc) who is entitled to
determine who the victims are. In other words, it presumes the existence of a development
apparatus with the right to ascertain this status of victim .35 Contrary to this spurious human
rights ethics, I have argued for an ethics that takes as its point of departure the viewpoint of those
who refuse to play the game of victimisation, an ethics that refuses to engage in the banalisation
of the promises of development.
29
Hamraie P. 30 of 74
Link- Selfish Motive (1/2)

Interaction with Africa is rooted in psychological drives and satisfaction---the 1AC
represents cultural suppression rooted in the Wests psyche that justifies the violence of the
affirmative and past western domination as necessary to achieve the prioritized utilitarian
justifications for the plan. This dehumanizes the Africans they claim to help and mimics the
logic of colonial violence used by the French to condone genocide.
Lane 02-- Proff of English at Northwestern University( Christopher, Psychoanalysis and
Colonialism Redux: Why Mannoni's "Prospero Complex" Still Haunts Us , Journal of Modern
Literature 25.3-4 (2002) 127-149, Project Muse)
M a n n o n i ' s t he s i s a b o u t i n fe r i o r i t y a n d d e pe n d e n c e i n P r o s p e r o s t e m s d i re c t l y f r o m w h a t he c a l l s " a fa i l u re i n a da p t a t i o n" ( p . 1 0 2 ) , a n A d l e r i a n i d e a i m p l yi n g p a t h ol o g y,
a l t h o u g h a l s o o n e w i t h p o w e r f u l L a c a ni a n i m p l i c a t i o n s , s u g g e s t i n g t h a t o u r o n l y r e p ri e v e f r om t h e e n s u i n g m a l a i s e i s t h r o u g h p s y c h o s i s . A t h i s m o s t A d l e r i a n , a s F a n o n l a t e r
observed , Mannoni views colonial structures as fixed, even predetermined. A t hi s m o s t L a c a n i a n , b y c o n t ra s t , h i s t h e s i s

Mannoni's two complexes apparently predate colonialism, he
a d d r e s s e s p s y c h o s o c i a l p a t t e r n s t h a t f l o u n d e r a n d m i s f i re . A s
suggests that the colonizer's inferiority complex is "already in existence in a latent and repressed
form in the European's psyche" ( p . 9 7 ) . H e i s di s c u s s i n g p ri m a ri l y E u r o pe a n m e n h e r e a n d ( l i ke F a n o n ) h a s l i t t l e t o s a y a b o ut w o m e n . B u t a s H u s s e i n
A b d i l a hi B u l h a n p oi n t s o u t , [ E n d P a ge 1 3 6 ] M a n n o n i i s c hi e f l y c o n c e r ne d w i t h t he m e a n s b y w h i c h "the Europeans and the colonized were
psychologically conditioned for colonial relations long before colonization occurred . " 3 9 W h i l e a rg u i n g t ha t
the social tie in Europe responds to the infant's need for attachment , M a n n o n i a d d s t ha t this tie "exerts a
certain pressure on the individual" ( p . 9 7 ) , its effects generally registering on foreign soil, where
hitherto undetectable traits in Europe can flourish as domination, c r u e l t y, a n d m i s a nt h r o p y, each granting
significant "emotional satisfactions" ( p . 9 8 ) . 4 0 A l t h o u g h M a n n o n i ' s t he s i s i s q ui t e i n t e re s t i n g , i t e v i de n t l y be t r a y s s i g n s o f a " r e p r e s s i v e
h y p o t h e s i s" a n e x pe c t a t i o n t h a t cultural suppression translates into psychic repression, in such a way that the
former's removal permits the latter's emancipation. T h i s i s a n o n - F r e u d i a n a c c o u n t o f r e p re s s i o n , h o w e ve r, a s i s c l e a r w h e n M a n n o ni

i n v o k e s A d l e r, K a r l A b r a h a m , a n d C a r l J u n g i n o r de r t o d e s c ri b e t he c h i l d ' s g u i l t a t b re a k i n g t i e s w i t h hi s pa r e n t s ( p . 3 3 ) , a n a rg u m e nt t h a t c o m e s c l o s e t o re p r e s e n t i n g
an
c u l t u r e a s t he t r o u b l e d o u t c om e o f u n r e s o l ve d p s y c h i c a n t a g o ni s m . E l s e w h e re , e s p e c i a l l y t o w a r d t he e n d o f P r o s p e r o , t h e s e h y d ra u l i c a s s u m p t i o n s r e c e d e , a n d
antiessentialist perspective on colonial failure and what is "barely accessible to the conscious
mind" replaces them ( p . 8 2 ) . A s J o c k M c C u l l o c h p u t i t , r e fe r r i n g t o t h e t he s i s o f P r o s p e r o a n d C a l i ba n , " M a n n o n i i s e m p h a t i c t h a t t h e r e i s n o c o n s t i t ut i o n a l
i m pe r a t i v e g o v e r ni n g t h e M a l a g a s y ' s d e pe n d e n c e c o m pl e x . I f a M a l a g a s y w e r e b r o u g ht u p i n E u r o pe h e w o u l d e x hi b i t i n f e r i o ri t y a n d n ot d e p e n de n c e ." 4 1 L a t e r s t i l l , t he
f u n c t i o n a l di m e n s i o n o f ra c i s m f u rt h e r t ra n s f o r m e d M a n n o n i ' s u n de r s t a n d i n g o f t h e s y m b o l i c a n d p ra c t i c a l c o l l a p s e o f c ol o n i a l i d e a l s . S i n c e M a n n o ni r e f u s e d t o " d r a w a
h a r d - a n d - fa s t d e m a r c a t i o n l i n e b e t w e e n t he c i vi l i z e d a n d t h e n o n - c i v i l i z e d" ( P r o s p e r o , p . 1 9 ) , h e e n de d u p f o r m u l a t i n g t w o a c c o u nt s o f de p e n d e nc y. We c o ul d c a l l t he s e " t h e
e v i de n t i a l ," b a s e d o n m a t e ri a l i s t p e r s p e c t i v e s o n c ol o n i a l i s m , a n d " t h e c o u n t e ri n t u i t i v e ," w h i c h hi g h l i g ht s t h e u n c o n s c i o u s s a t i s f a c t i o n s t h a t b e c om e a t t a c h e d t o c o l o n i a l
s t r u c t u re s . W h e n M a n n o n i ' s s t u d y c o m e s c l o s e s t t o t he l a t t e r a p p r o a c h , t h e s y m m e t r y b i n di n g " P r o s p e r o " t o " C a l i b a n" b r e a k s d o w n , e x p o s i n g t h e c om m i t m e nt o f E u r o p e a n s t o
u n f a i r s o c i a l a r r a n g e m e n t s , i nc l u d i n g t h o s e r e s u l t i n g i n p e r s o n a l a n d c ol l e c t i ve h a r m . 4 2 A t s u c h m o m e n t s , M a n n o n i d e s t r o y s s u g g e s t i o n s o f i nt e r p e r s o n a l a n d i nt e r r a c i a l
c o m pl e m e n t a ri t y, a rg u i n g t h a t u n c o n s c i o u s a g g re s s i o n a n d r e s i s t a nc e s m e di a t e b o t h . To m a n y c r i t i c s , t h i s c o nc l u s i o n b l oc k s t r a n s f o r m a t i o n a n d di s c r e d i t s p s y c h oa n a l yt i c
p e r s p e c t i v e s o n c ol o n i a l i s m . 4 3 B u t t h e p o i nt i s b e t t e r p u t t h e o t he r w a y : t he f a i l u r e o f M a n n o n i ' s A d l e r i a n c l a i m s a b o ut c o m pl e m e n t a ri t y i n fa c t m a d e r o om f o r h i s m o r e
Mannoni's
s o p h i s t i c a t e d pe r s p e c t i v e s o n e n m i t y a n d re l a t i o n a l i t y, i n c l u di n g o n e s b a s e d o n c ul t u r a l l y - a n d p s y c hi c a l l y - c o nt i n g e nt t r a i t s . C o n s e q u e n t l y,
argument focuses on the unpredictable drives composing individuals, regardless of race. This can
tilt into a de-historicizing gesture , t o b e s u r e , in which policies [E n d P a g e 1 3 7 ] manifest as personae . B ut M a n n o n i
u s e s t h i s l a s t t e r m t o r e f e r t o " t h e s u m t ot a l o f be l i e f s , ha b i t s , a n d p r o pe n s i t i e s t h a t m a k e t h e i n di v i d u a l a m e m b e r o f hi s g r o u p ." 4 4 He wants to implicate
Europeans in a structure from which they "derive . . . some inner solace," pa r t l y to establish why
they are "greedy for certain other psychological satisfactions," including but not reducible
to profit ( P r o s p e r o , p p . 8 8 , 3 2 ) . Rather than fixing Europeans and Africans in predetermined roles , i n o t h e r w o r d s ,
he views their "emotional satisfactions" relative to drives that are culturally sanctioned, including
domination, and ones that are harder to understand, such as the impulse to rid the world of other
people (p. 98). I n " P s y c h o l o gi e d e l a r v ol t e m a l ga c h e ," f o r i n s t a nc e , M a n n o n i e m p h a s i z e s the French attempt to " justify " the
genocide they had caused, the fact that they remained so "sanguine " about their brutality, and
their conviction that their behavior had been neither fierce nor especially racist , but necessary,
even inevitable . A s h e s t a t e s i n b i t t e r i r o n y , this feat allowed them to "pose as untroubled torturers, without
a sense of wrongdoing, while responding to needs that in reality they wouldn't have dared give up
[ b e s o i n s a u x q u e l s e l l e s n' a v a i e n t pa s o s c d e r e n r a l i t ] " (" P s y c h ol o g i e ," p . 5 9 2 ) . T h e p s y c h ol o g i c a l t r ui s m t h a t m a n i s , i n F r e u d ' s w o r d s , " a w o l f t o m a n " i s s o o b v i o u s i n
t h i s c o nt e x t t h a t hi g h l i g ht i n g t he g a p b e t w e e n E nl i g h t e n m e nt r h e t o ri c a n d t h e F r e n c h ( o r ot h e r E u r o pe a n s ' ) b e ha v i o r " a s u nt r o u b l e d t o r t u r e r s" m i g ht s e e m w i l l f u l l y n a i ve . 4 5

30
Hamraie P. 31 of 74
Link- Selfish Motive (2/2)

A s F r e u d r u e f ul l y c o nc e d e d i n 1 9 2 1 , i n a de v a s t a t i n g i n di c t m e n t o f h um a n c r ue l t y, " We a r e n o l o n ge r a s t o n i s h e d t h a t g re a t e r d i ff e r e n c e s s h o u l d l e a d t o a n a l m o s t i n s u p e r a bl e
r e p u g n a nc e , s u c h a s t he G a l l i c p e o pl e f e e l f o r t he G e r m a n , t h e A r y a n f o r t h e S e m i t e , a n d t h e w h i t e r a c e s f o r t h e c o l o u r e d ." 4 6 M a n y p o s t c ol o n i a l c r i t i q u e s t r u nc a t e t h e s e
p s y c h i c e m p h a s e s , a s F a n o n d i d , b y vi e w i n g t he m a s p o l i t i c a l l y c i rc u m s c r i be d . B y c o n t ra s t , M a n n o n i t ri e d t o i n v e r t t h i s e x p e c t a t i o n , t h u s r e ve a l i n g t h e e x t e nt t o w h i c h
p s y c h i c l i f e e x e r c i s e s o b s c u re b u t d e t e r m i n i n g e ff e c t s o n c ol o n i a l a c t s . A n y fe a r t ha t t he F r e n c h a l l o w e d t he m s e l ve s t o e x p e ri e n c e w a s , he a rg u e s , a t e r r o r o f t h e i r o w n
e n m i t y, p r o j e c t e d o n t o t he M a l a ga s y, a n d t h e n re c a s t a s a f o r m o f p e r s e c u t i o n , be f o r e w h i c h t h e F r e n c h s e e m e d he l p l e s s v i c t i m s . " T h e da n g e r i s a b o ve a l l i m a g i n a r y," h e
s t r e s s e s , " a s i n a n i g h t m a r e , i n w h i c h a m a n f i g ht s a g a i n s t hi m s e l f" ( p p . 5 9 1 - 9 2 ) . M a n n o n i d o e s n o t t r i v i a l i z e t hi s a rg u m e nt a b o u t p s y c hi c c o n fl i c t , a s C s a i re l a t e r i m p l i e d .
the French sustained a treacherous illusion that helped them ignore the collapse of all
47 He insists that
trust, government, and colonial rule. We could call this an "investiture crisis" on a mass scale, in
which the "enemy," the colonial neighbor, is perceived as inhuman . 4 8 By identifying with the
plight of their supposedly persecuted fellow nationals, the rest of France managed , a s M a n n o n i p u t s i t , to
"disavow not only a specific colonial situation, but a l s o , implicitly, everything that is colonial about
our politics concerning the population o f M a da g a s c a r" ( p . 5 9 5 ) . 4 9 Only a crude mischaracterization could
represent these arguments as apolitical, indifferent to cultural and ethnic differences . [E n d P a g e 1 3 8 ]
[Lane 02 Psychoanalysis and Colonialism Redux: Why Mannoni's "Prospero Complex" Still
Haunts Us , Journal of Modern Literature 25.3-4 (2002) 127-149]
31
Hamraie P. 32 of 74
Impact- R eturn of the Repressed

Development ensures the return of the repressed object of African suffering that the
affirmative claims to solve because of our vested desire to continually experience the promise
that development entails

the development apparatus is both instrumental in the production of the desire for
T h i s a rt i c l e h a s a rg u e d t h a t
development and of its banalisation, and that the disavowal of the promise of development has its
price in the return of the repressed object in the guise of all sorts of spectral apparitions :
images of famished populations in drought areas, of violent youth in the rainforests taking
Rambo as their example, of massacres and mutilated bodies, of genocide and ethnic cleansing and
of irrational fundamentalist movements . A s D u ff i e l d a rg u e s , development was rediscovered in an utterly
opportunistic and cynical way as a project of deep social transformation by the international
community as a means of making an end to the irrationalities of the South . T h e L a c a ni a n E t h i c s o f t he R e a l
d i ff e r s g r e a t l y f r om t h e e t h i c s c u r r e n t l y d o m i na n t i n de v e l o pm e n t c i r c l e s , o n e t ha t i n vi t e s u s t o h a ve s o l i d i t a r i t y w i t h t he s u ff e r i n g o f t h e v i c t i m i s e d o t he r o n t he b a s i s o f a
p r e s u m e d u ni v e r s a l h um a n c a p a c i t y t o e m p a t h i s e .
32
Hamraie P. 33 of 74
Impact- Reproduction of Harms

The notion of development has structural concerns that necessitate that problems must exist
so that development can be embraced as a cure. This Problem/Panacea dichotomy
empirically fails and leaves beneficiaries more dependent on that aid.

Continuing failure of rural development projects brought Ferguson to a discursive governmental

analysis of development at the beginning of the 1990s . In his now classical study on the anti-
politics machine, Ferguson sets out to analyse the workings of what he coins the development
apparatus the set of institutions, agencies and ideologies that structure development thinking
and practiceas a machine-like kind of entity that reproduces itself by virtue of the unintended,
unplanned, yet systematic side-effects it brings about. He takes as a case study one large rural
development project in Lesotho funded by the World Bank and the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA) that sadly but quite unsurprisingly ends up in the dustbin of failed
projects in Africa. The reality of project failure, Ferguson argues, does not lead to a critical re-
evaluation of the principles and conceptualisations that underpin the identification, planning and
implementation of rural development activities . On the contrary, in a perverse way the same
cures are prescribed for the same diagnosis and new, more ambitious projects, with more
sophisticated planning techniques are initiated .17 As Ferguson puts it, again and again
development projects . . . are launched, and again and again they fail; but no matter how many
times this happens there always seems to be someone ready to try again with yet another
project .18
Fergusons argument is that development interventions hardly bring about any social and
economic transformation in the lives of people in the Third World . In most cases production
structures are not transformed , technologies are not transferred and, after the whirlwind of
development propaganda and the massive presence of experts and bureaucrats, local people in the
end just continue to live their lives as if nothing important has happened . It is his argument that
development interventions are anything but inconsequential or innocent, since there is a clear
pattern in the outcomes of these interventions: there are unintended consequences that occur in a
systematic way, behind the backs of the actors involved. In other words, there is a hidden
intentionality in programmes and projects that cannot be explained by, or reduced to, the
intentions, desires or calculations of the actors involved. In putting this argument forward
Ferguson is not denying that good intentions exist or that interests play no role in development
projects and programmes, but these should not be taken as the explanatory variables in trying to
understand how institutions reproduce themselves.
33
Hamraie P. 34 of 74
Impact- Domination
Psychological colonialism creates an urge to dominate and necessitates a mindset to reject
respect for the Other.

Moreover, Fanon mentions once, almost in passing, Mannoni's theory of colonial violence "The
Prospero Complex" and has, we stress, nothing critical to say about it. " What is interesting in
this part of his book ," he says, "is the intensity with which M. Mannoni makes us feel the ill-
resolved conflict s [conflits mal liquids] that seem to be at the root of the colonial vocation "
(Black Skin, pp. 107; 89). He then reproduces Mannoni's interesting account of colonial
misanthropy , the suggestion that the colonial wants "a world without men" and so rejects " a
world in which Others have to be respected . . . because he cannot accept men as they are.
Rejection of that world is combined with an urge to dominate , an urge which is infantile in
origin and which social adaptation has failed to discipline" (Prospero, p. 108, also qtd. in Black
Skin, pp. 107-08). Rejection of a world of other people, we might say, is an impulse surpassing
adaptation .
34
Hamraie P. 35 of 74
Alternative- Opens Up Space

Rejecting the Affirmatives outside intervention in the name of development opens space for
self-efficiency by the subjects of development which is key to a successful model of
development that can escape the affirmatives politics of desire.

we can take the examples of participation in

I n o r d e r t o i l l u s t ra t e t h i s d i a l e c t i c o f t h e g e ne r a t i o n a n d b a na l i s a t i o n o f d e s i re ,
development and the Millennium Development Goals. The former concept has a long pedigree ( e g
n o t i o n s o f p o p u l a r p a r t i c i pa t i o n i n t h e 1 9 6 0 s a n d 1 9 7 0 s ) , but in the 1980s it was re-deployed by a u t h o r s s u c h a s R o b e rt Chambers, as
a way of bringing development closer to the people after disenchantment with comprehensive
forms of planning .8 Topics concerning local knowledge, empowerment and ownership were
central in this rediscovery of participation. D e ve l o p m e n t projects were deemed to be owned by the
beneficiaries rather than imposed from outside , their knowledge about natural resources and
their own livelihoods had to be taken advantage of for purposes of design and implementation
and, rather than strengthening bureaucracies, interventions were to empower local peoples
organisational capacities. Today, however , pa r t i c i p a t o r y development is being heavily criticised for
having spurred a veritable industry of participatory methodologies aimed at achieving a visible
kind of outcome capable of convincing donors that their money will be spent in accordance
with the capacities and needs of the beneficiaries in what have become shameful rituals of
legitimation. 9 S u c h rituals of legitimation are not only very time-costly but also generate
expectations and demands that are branded as unrealistic or even politically subversive. I n o t h e r w o r d s ,
the promise of participatory development and empowerment has been banalised into simplistic
technologies for the management of change . Yet imagine what would happen if participation by
the target group were really taken seriously and were no longer constrained by the conditions set
by the development agency. W h a t i f t h e p o o r c o u l d r e a l l y ha v e c o nt r o l o v e r t h e d o n o r r e s o u r c e s a n d d e c i d e o n i t s u s e ? We could imagine
that not compromising on the desire of participation would lead to a different kind of
development project , o n e that would change the v e r y meanings of development in unexpected ways,
creating new notions and practices of empowerment , l o c a l k n o w l e d g e a n d o w n e r s h i p . H o w e ve r , we can also surmise
that such a naive approach would not be acceptable to the donors and the new professionals,
for it would lead to the corruption of their notions of development as encapsulated in capacity-
building guidelines and principles of financial transperancy
The other example is that of the Millennium Development Goals, which purport to resolve the
basic material needs of Third World populations through massive investment in social
infrastructure and s e r vi c e s f o l l o w i n g a s e c t o r a l a p p r o a c h (i e water, health, education, e t c ) . S u c h a c a l l f o r a c o n c e rt e d g l o ba l e ff o r t t o
a c hi e v e a r a t he r m i ni m a l i s t s e t o f a i m s c a n b e a n yt h i n g b u t di s p u t a b l e . H o w e v e r , the very fact that such a call has to be made after
five decades of development proclamations is scandalous .
35
Hamraie P. 36 of 74
Alternative- Universalizing
Universalizing the symptomatic abject position of the subject of development exposes the
lack and discrepancy in the promises of developmental capitalism and its actualization by
showing that the guarantee of development is false.

The subject, rather than a being contingent side-effect of the workings of the development
apparatus (the Foucauldian definition of the subject) is a desiring subject which the apparatus
cannot gentrify, something which eludes the grasp of power-knowledge. I argue later that this
conceptualisation of the subject has important ethical implications. But let me note that this view
accords with the classic Marxist position: the issue is not that of developing forms of social
justice in response to capitals drive for profits , e t c , but that of surpassing or overcoming the very
bourgeois notion of social justice. The issue is not that of providing development subjects with
new languages for imagining (alternative) modernities, but that of interrogating how different
stakeholders deal with the very void behind the stakes, ie their reduction to a simple development
category by development discourse . 3 0 The issue , t h e n , is not that of hiding the void by imagining
new subject positions (thus a proliferation of development categories and identities), but that of
exposing this void as a constitutive lack in the development apparatus as much as possible .
F o l l o w i n g S l a v oj Z i z e k i t c a n be a rg u e d t h a t the subject of development stands for the truth of our current historical
situation. B y t h i s h e m e a n s t h a t the truth of contemporary forms of capitalist globalisation is the increasing

exclusion and marginalisation of the majority of the worlds population. The only way to
understand the workings of capitalist globalisation is by identifying with this excluded abject
position. A s h e p u t s i t , the abject position stands for the lie of the existing universality as represented
by universal narratives of progress and human rights. I n fa c t , the abject position of the subject of
development embodies what is false in the existing universality by not having any positive
content .31 In contradistinction to this spurious universality he posits the concrete universality of
the abject position . I n m y v i e w this c o n c r e t e universality stands for the faculty of the subject of
development to desire.
36
Hamraie P. 37 of 74
Psychoanalysis Key to Interrogate Other

Our alternative is key infiltrate and analyze colonial representations of the other.
And it is this concern which most directly connects it to psychoanalysis. We need perhaps only to
remind ourselves that Freud's most important discoveries concern the complex destinies of
repressed material revealed in the psychoanalytic symptom and that it is these concerns which
remain psychoanalysis's major contribution to a set of wider social and aesthetic questions. The
field of possible transformations of the wish, of disguised satisfaction and ambivalence, is the
special province of psychoanalysis, and there is, therefore, every reason why psychoanalysis
should be central to an understanding of the ingredients of this kind which regularly infiltrate
colonial representations of the Other.
Psychoanalysis, which takes the divided and opportunistic nature of psychic apparatus for
granted, has , for example, little difficulty in accounting for the psychic underpinnings of
ambivalence--or the secondary gains attached to entertaining that very idea which seems most
abhorrent to the person who entertains it. Many of the paradoxical figures and qualities which
haunt colonial texts- -the puritan and the dissolute, pleasure in pain, eroticism mixed with
repulsion--are characteristically psychoanalytic. A world filled with causes and effects of an
unsuspected variety calls for explanations of the kind that psychoanalysis alone seems able to
offer. Or, to put it another way, no represented world seems more in need of psychoanalysis than
that of the Other.
37
Hamraie P. 38 of 74
Psychoanalysis Solves Failures in

Colonial reps of other
Psychoanalysis is key to interrogate the representations of the Other which are misconstrued
by the post-colonial criticisms preoccupation with
H o w e v e r, i f t h i s i m pl i e s t ha t p s y c h o a na l y s i s c a n m a k e n o m o r e c o nt r i b u t i o n t o p o s t - c ol o n i a l i s m t ha n t h o s e g e ne r a l i n s i g h t s o f t h e t y p e s u r r o u n d i n g L a c a n' s O t he r, t he n I h a v e
psychoanalysis can also contribute answers of more direct relevance to the question of
s u g g e s t e d h e re t h a t
colonial misrepresentation of the Other. The colonial preoccupation with bodily difference and the
complex play of desiring and phobic relations manifest in colonial writing can both, for example,
be explained in terms of an account of Freud's Oedipus. As important, considered together, Freud
and Lacan make it clear that there is no need, or justification, for turning to Western
metaphysics--to the obscurities of difference and critiques of the sign--to explain what is basic to
colonial Othering. Whether Oedipus remains an indigenously psychoanalytic problematic, or is
subject to historical , anthropological or political analysis, is an important and controversial
question which cannot be discussed here. H o w e v e r w h a t i s , i n m y o pi n i o n , q u i t e a p pa r e n t i s t h a t ne i t he r O e d i p u s i t s e l f , n o r a n y o f i t s
s u b s e q u e n t v i c i s s i t u d e s , s h o u l d b e re c o n s t r u e d i n m e t a p h y s i c a l t e r m s . To t h e e xt e n t t h a t t h e q u e s t i o n o f t h e re l e va n c e o f p o s t - c o l o n i a l i s m t o S o u t h A f r i c a i n p a rt i c ul a r t u r n s
o n i t s p s y c h o a na l y t i c a ff i l i a t i o n s , t hi s e s s a y m u s t r e t u r n a p r e d o m i n a n t l y [ E n d P a g e 9 7 ] ne g a t i v e a n s w e r. H o w e v e r, t he p o i n t s m a d e a l s o s u g g e s t t h a t t h i s n e g a t i v e c o n c l u s i o n
In my view the
i s n o t s p e c i f i c t o S o u t h A f r i c a - - o r t o p o s t - c ol o n i a l i s m - b u t e x t e n d s t o a l l c a s e s o f w h a t c o ul d b e c a l l e d a p p l i e d p s y c h o a na l y s i s .
application of psychoanalytic concepts to social, political or historical questions must always be

subject to epistemological considerations--considered , that is, in terms of what it means to use a
critique which has psychopathology as its object, as an intellectual resource beyond its own
domain.
38
Hamraie P. 39 of 74
Psychoanalysis Solves Fantasies/

Hierarchies
Psychoanalysis focus on impersonal otherness is key to evaluating the structures that create
racial enmityany other approach recreates hierarchal colonial fantasies of domination.
Instead of " deluding " himself with the fantasy of society's and his own complete transformation,
then, Mannoni returned to claims made more rigidly in Prospero, including his suggestion that an
irrevocable self-strangeness determines our relationship colonial or otherwise to other
people. W h i l e c o nt i n u i n g t o a d v a nc e t he o r i e s o f r a c i s m " b e y o n d t he i m a g i n a r y l e v e l " ( q t d . i n L a c a n , S e m i n a r I I , p . 7 8 ) , h e a l s o u s e d t h e p ri n c i pl e o f " d i s l o c a t i o n" t o
h i g h l i g h t f o r m s o f i de n t i fi c a t i o n a n d fa n t a s y t ha t e s c a p e S a r t re ' s c r u d e " Ma n i c he a n a l l e g o r y" o f s e l f a n d O t h e r. This accent on impersonal
otherness is crucial to understanding racial enmity, for it not only rids colonial critique of all
remaining vestiges of essentialism but also compels us to redefine what we take to be postcolonial
reciprocity and relationality, which inadvertently or perhaps even deliberately may replicate
colonial hierarchies and fantasies. While refusing to equate the colonized with otherness , i n o t he r w o r d s ,
M a n n o n i ' s l a t e r a rg u m e nt s s h a t t e r t h e n o t i o n t h a t E u r o p e a n s a r e l oc k e d i n t h e c a t e g o r y o f s a m e n e s s a n d t he c o l o ni z e d i n a p o s i t i o n o f o t h e r ne s s . Yet by avoiding
the poststructuralist and new historicist fallacy that the psychic is largely an effect of cultural-
political forces, he exposes aspects of the colonial scene to which we are all unconsciously
attached. A d d i t i o n a l l y, M a n n o n i s t r e n gt h e n s t h e ne e d f o r a n d t h e d i ff i c ul t y o f a t t a i n i n g a f ul l e r re a l i z a t i o n o f e m a n c i p a t i o n , a s u n d e r s c o r e d b y hi s e p i g r a p hi c
c o m m e n t , " D i s l o c a t i o n c a n d o t he j o b o f a na l y s i s [ L e d p a y s e m e n t f a i t o ff i c e d ' a na l y s e ] ." 8 7 " D i s l o c a t i o n" m a k e s c l e a r, t h a t i s , w h e re c o l o ni a l a n d p s y c h i c s t r uc t u r e s p r o v e
u n s u s t a i n a bl e ; i t h e l p s u s " d e c a t h e c t " t h e s e a t t a c h m e nt s a n d i n d i c a t e s h o w w e m i g h t l i v e w i t h o ut t h e m . T h e M a rt i n i c a n p h i l o s o p h e r- p o e t R e n M ni l s u m m e d u p t h e
c o m pl e x i t y o f t h i s t ra n s i t i o n i n h i s r e c e n t f r a gm e n t " P s y c h a n a l y s e d e l ' hi s t o i r e " w h e n c l a i m i n g e l o q u e n t l y t h a t " t he m y s t e r y o f o u r i m p o s s i b l e hi s t o r y l i e s n ot i n t he a b s u r d i t y
o f t h e pa s t b u t i n t h e i nc o h e r e nc e a n d i n c o n s i s t e nc y o f o u r c u r r e nt s o c i a l c o n s c i e n c e ." 8 8 I f o u r c u r re n t b e l i e f s a re b o u n d t o a n " i m p o s s i b l e h i s t o r y, " i n t h e s e n s e t h a t i t i s
t r a um a t i c a n d u n re c o v e ra b l e , t h e n i g n o ri n g t h e s e be l i e f s a l m o s t g ua r a n t e e s t h a t p a s t a t r o c i t i e s w i l l b e r e pe a t e d . We re c a l l M a n n o n i ' s s i m i l a r p oi n t a b o ut o u r f a i l u r e t o
u n d e r s t a n d t h e p a s t a n d e a c h o t h e r, " a s t h o u g h t h e m e e t i n g b e t w e e n b l a c k a n d w h i t e . . . w e r e a d i s t i l l a t i o n o f t he d i ff e r e n c e be t w e e n t h e m a d i ff e r e n c e de v o i d o f a n y
i n t ri n s i c m e a n i n g w h i c h b e c om e s t h e [E n d P a g e 1 4 9 ] s y m b o l , a t o n c e o b v i o u s a n d a b s u r d , o f w h a t g oe s w r o n g i n h um a n r e l a t i o n s , a n d . . . o f w h a t g o e s w r o n g i n t he w h i t e
w o r l d " (" D e c o l o ni s a t i o n ," p . 3 3 3 ) . We he a r t he e c h o o f F a n o n he r e " w o r k [i n g ] o n t h e p s y c h oa n a l yt i c l e v e l . . . t h e l e v e l o f t h e ' fa i l u re s ' [ d e s ' r a t s ' ] " ( B l a c k S k i n , p p . 2 3 ;
2 0 ) b u t w i t h o ut t h e a c c om p a n y i n g p r om i s e o f r e pa r a t i v e t ri u m p h , t he o p t i m i s t i c d r e a m o f " a w h i t e m a n a n d a b l a c k m a n ha n d i n h a n d" ( p . 2 2 2 ) . U n l i k e F a n o n' s c o n c e pt i o n ,
"de-imaginarizing" colonial relations, according to Mannoni, entails relinquishing their hidden

( a l t h o u g h h a r d l y s e c r e t ) attractions . F o r M a n n o n i , t h e n , what psychoanalysis gives colonial critique is neither
certainty nor mandate or procedure, but, on the c o n t ra r y , a politics built on the collapse of European
and American hubris. Both culturally specific and politically astute, this argument surely puts to
rest the fallacy that otherness is a simple abstraction of social relations and that Lacanians begin
from the principle that they need "[n]ever historicize, never explain." 89
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Unconscious Reps of Africa Shapes

Actions
The position of Africa in the Western Consciousness constitutes Western identity and
exclusionary practices
Mbembe 01 --senior researcher at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg(Achille, On the Postcolony , 2001, Questia, pg 1)
There is no single explanation for such a state of affairs. We should first remind ourselves that, as
a general rule, the experience of the Other, or the problem of the I of others and of human
beings we perceive as foreign to us, has almost always posed virtually insurmountable difficulties
to the Western philosophical and political tradition. Whether dealing with Africa or with other
non-European worlds, this tradition long denied the existence of any self but its own. Each time
it came to peoples different in race, language, and culture, the idea that we have, concretely and
typically, the same flesh, or that, in Husserl's words, My flesh already has the meaning of being
a flesh typical in general for us all, became problematic. 4 The theoretical and practical
recognition of the body and flesh of the stranger as flesh and body just like mine, the idea of a
common human nature, a humanity shared with others, long posed, and still poses, a problem for
Western consciousness. 5
But it is in relation to Africa that the notion of absolute otherness has been taken farthest. It is
now widely acknowledged that Africa as an idea, a concept, has historically served, and continues
to serve, as a polemical argument for the West's desperate desire to assert its difference from the
rest of the world. 6 In several respects, Africa still constitutes one of the metaphors through which
the West represents the origin of its own norms, develops a self-image, and integrates this image
into the set of signifiers asserting what it supposes to be its identity . 7 And Africa, because it was
and remains that fissure between what the West is, what it thinks it represents, and what it thinks
it signifies, is not simply part of its imaginary significations, it is one of those significations . By
imaginary significations, we mean that something invented that, paradoxically, becomes
necessary because that something plays a key role , both in the world the West constitutes for
itself and in the West's apologetic concerns and exclusionary and brutal practices towards others.
8
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Framework- Desire before Discourse

Framing development in terms of the desire it generates rather than on a discursive model
allows the only possible interrogation of the inner workings of its continuous reproduction.

Towards a Lacanian approach to the development machine

Although I agree with much of Fergusons and Escobars approach, I differ over their emphasis on
governmentality and instead give more weight to the ideological and imaginary effects of the
anti-politics machine. Focusing more on desire than on discourse leads to a different view of
the workings of the development apparatus, one which centres on the disjuncture between the
virtual side of development and the actuality of practice and the dialectical role of desire in
bridging this disjuncture. F o l l o w i n g D e l e u z e the development apparatus can be visualised as a social body
constituted by the assembling of heterogeneous desires . Such an assembled and assembling body
of desires is a body without organs; 2 5 it does not presuppose the existence of functional
differentiation within an organism, in which several organs are hierarchically positioned vis-a`-
vis each other to the benefit of the whole. We can then visualise the development apparatus as a
body without organs, for Deleuze and Guattari deny any notion of society that emphasises its
centralisation, cohesion or complexity. 26 It is important to point out that this description of the
development apparatus as a desiring machine is very much opposed to the ways in which we
commonly think about institutions, and to the way the development institutions present
themselves. Rather than being a rational , legal bureaucratic and hierarchical order, the
development apparatus functions as a crazy , expansive machine, driven by its capacity to
incorporate , refigure and reinvent all sorts of desires for development . It cannot be emphasised
enough that the logic of this machine is not that of organic functional differentiation but that it
operates through the construction of a smooth institutional space in which buzzwords, forms of
expertise and methodologies can be replicated over and over. 2 7 Ferguson discerns two kinds of
instrumental effects of development interventions: de-politicisation and bureaucratic
institutional penetration . I w o u l d l i ke t o a d d a t h i r d i n s t r u m e nt a l e ff e c t : t he g e n e ra t i o n a n d b a n a l i s a t i o n o f t h e de s i r e f o r d e ve l o p m e n t .
41
Hamraie P. 42 of 74
AT- Psycho Primitivism

Their argument is a contortion of Freuds philosophy---He specifically rejected the
conflation of Privitism in context of raceand he cautioned against the association of
infancy and the primitive.
Bertold 98Department of Comparative Literature( Andreas, Oedipus in (South) Africa?:

Psychoanalysis and the Politics of Difference, American Imago 55.1 (1998) 101-134,
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_imago/v055/55.1bertoldi.html)
Specifically Freud rejects the idea of the "primitive" as being characterized by unrestrained
libido, and reveals primitive society as complex and highly repressive. For Freud the "primitive"
has nothing to do with race, but rather relates in the final instance to a characterization of mental
functioning and ways of viewing the world. Freud himself cautions against pushing the "analogy
of neurotics" and children too far ( 1 9 1 3 , 2 2 4 ) . E r n e s t Jones has argued that the equation between primitive
and infant has been misconstrued . W h a t i s a t s t a k e i s n o t t h e p r i m i t i v e a c t i n g l i k e a c h i l d , b u t r a t h e r a di ff e r e nc e " b e t w e e n t w o m o d e s o f t hi n k i n g
w h i c h a re p r e s e n t i n b o t h ( a d ul t a n d c h i l d )" ( Q u o t e d i n R o s e 1 9 9 6 b , 5 1 ) . A l l o f t h i s o f c o u r s e s i m pl y b e g s t h e q ue s t i o n a s t o w h e t h e r o r n o t A f r i c a n s i n t h e t w e nt i e t h c e nt u r y
u n d e r c ol o n i a l i s m o r a pa r t h e i d c a n l e g i t i m a t e l y b e [ E n d P a ge 1 2 0 ] d e f i ne d a s " p ri m i t i v e " a c c o r d i n g t o a F r e u d i a n s c he m a - - I s u g g e s t n ot , b u t w i l l n o t p u r s u e t hi s i d e a f u rt h e r
here.
In addition to Freud's own caution and specific views on the "primitive," there is good evidence
to suggest that Freud strongly opposed any racial use of the term. At stake is the extent to which
psychoanalysis, and especially its Freudian version, relies on an explicit or implicit racism. In the
more extreme arguments against psychoanalysis in Africa, the post-colonial criticism has
extended itself to the claim that psychoanalysis contains a racial hierarchy in spite of, or rather,
because of, its universalism.
42
Hamraie P. 43 of 74
AT- Psychoanalysis = Racist

Even though Freuds argument originally fell victim to the racist notions of that area---
Freud later reformed his understanding and rejected these ideas.

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_imago/v055/55.1bertoldi.html )
Stewart (1976) has suggested that we should read psychoanalysis, and Freud's pursuits, against
the moralistic currents of his age--especially the idea of moral degeneracy as being inherent in
madness . Tr a c i n g t h e e m e rg e nc e o f p o s t - D a r w i n i a n t h o u g h t i n b i o l o g y a n d F r e n c h n e u r o p s y c h ol o g y, n o t a bl y i n F r e u d ' s e r s t w h i l e t e a c h e r, C h a r c ot , Stewart
observes how Freud was initially seduced by Charcot's ideas concerning the etiology of hysteria
and "nervous disease"--locating its origins entirely in heredity--the idea of "degeneration." But by
1893, Freud was questioning Charcot's hereditary theory. S t e w a r t ' s s u g g e s t i o n i s f i r s t l y t h a t t h e i ni t i a l r e j e c t i o n o f F r e u d i n
E u r o p e , a n d i n G e r m a n y e s p e c i a l l y, c a n be u n d e r s t o o d a s b e i n g i n l i n e w i t h t h e d o m i n a n t vi e w o f t h e o rg a n i c a n d h e r e di t a r y o ri g i n s o f " ne r v o u s di s e a s e , " a n d w a s b ol s t e r e d
Freud's own rejection of the idea of the hereditary

b y t h e o ri e s o f r a c i a l a n d f a m i l y d e ge n e r a c y i n v o g u e a t t he t i m e . S e c o n dl y
origins of mental disease can be understood as a reaction to the racial theories prevalent at the
time. A s S t e w a rt p o i n t s o u t , i t w a s a t t h e t i m e t h a t F r e u d w a s i n P a ri s , i n 1 8 9 6 , t h a t G u s t a v L e B o n p u bl i s h e d a pa p e r o n t he i n h e ri t a nc e o f p s y c h o l o gi c a l r a c i a l
a t t r i b u t e s . A s S t e w a rt ( 1 9 7 6 ) c o m m e n t s ,
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Hamraie P. 44 of 74
AT- Psychoanalysis = Racist

Rejection of the racial undertones that link hereditary disposition and the occurrence of
neurosis was crucial to Freuds theory of the oedipus complex

Sometimes, one must be reminded that Freud did not conceive of his sexual etiology in a social
vacuum. When one considers the environment in which Freud developed his criticism of
hereditary disposition, it becomes clear that any concept of organic degeneracy, given its [ E n d P a g e 1 2 1 ]
racial undertones, was totally unacceptable to him . [ . . . ] The rejection of the idea that the neuroses
were based primarily on a hereditary disposition was the key to Freud's discovery of sexual
etiology. Such sexuality was found to exist within the family, in particular through the Oedipus
complex, and therefore sexual etiology was an alternative, rather than contradictory, hypothesis to
that expressed by the Charcot school. Hence, sexuality still had a parallel organic element
however limited. (221; 227)
44
Hamraie P. 45 of 74
AT- Psychoanalysis
Bad/Racist/Eurocentric
No Link and TurnTheir indicts rely on a straw-man of psychoanalysis and are a paradox
because they instill a mind-set of difference which lies at the heart of racist assumptions.

H o w e v e r i t d oe s l e a d t o t h e q ue s t i o n , what is at stake in the universality of Oedipus? My response would be, not

just the v e r a c i t y o r applicability of psychoanalysis, but an ethical stance. An ethical stance as matter
of choice and politics, rather than as an inherent feature of universalism . Thus the current post-
colonial argument is rather paradoxical. On the one hand psychoanalysis and psychoanalytically
inclined critics are attacked for their ethnocentrism and even racist assumptions, while on the
other hand these post-colonial critics wish to see an acknowledgment of difference--and claim this
recognition in the name of a "right"-- a r i g ht t h a t I s u g g e s t c a n o nl y b e a u ni v e r s a l i f i t i s t o h a v e a n y m e a n i n g .
Ye t b e f o re I p r o c e e d w i t h t he e t hi c a l a n d p o l i t i c a l i s s u e s , I think that the overall attack on psychoanalysis is misguided and
in fact relies on a straw-man of psychoanalysis . What can be shown is that psychoanalysis, a t l e a s t

i n i t s F r e u di a n v a ri e t y , is fully aware that all cultures are not identical. However psychoanalysis does not
posit these based on a hypostatization [E n d P a g e 1 2 4 ] of "culture," "race," etc., but rather seeks to
reduce them to their universal ontogenetic origins- - p r i m a r i l y I w o u l d a rg u e t he d i ff e r e n t i a l re s o l u t i o n o f O e di p u s . It is in
Oedipus rather than anywhere else that we can in fact see this at work.
Tambiah ( 1 9 9 0 ) r a i s e s s o m e i n t e re s t i n g q u e s t i o n s c o n c e r ni n g t h e q ue s t i o n o f r e l a t i v i s m r e ga r d i n g t he p s y c h i c u ni t y o r d i ve r s i t y o f m a n k i n d ( h u m a n u n i v e r s a l s ) a n d t h e
u n i t y o r di v e r s i t y o f c u l t u re s a n d s o c i e t i e s . H e argues that the "doctrine of the psychic unity of mankind or human
universals and the doctrine of diversity of cultures/societies are not contradictory dogmas" (112).
Tambiah lists a range of basic human capacities a n d o p e ra t i o n s t ha t s h o u l d b e c o n s i d e r e d u ni v e r s a l : sensory and motor
skills, cognitive structures and processes a s s o c i a t e d w i t h l e a r n i n g , a n d m e m o r y a n d l a n g u a g e . T h e s e h u m a n u n i v e r s a l s , he s u g g e s t s , a r e
e n t i r e l y c o n s i s t e n t w i t h t h e fa c t t h a t t h e r e e x i s t a di v e r s i t y o f c u l t u re s / s o c i e t i e s . The diversity of cultures , h e a rg u e s , can be accounted
for as a result of adaptation to environmental conditions and what he terms the capacity for
"meta-learning" (113).
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Hamraie P. 46 of 74
AT- Oedipus Bad/Racist/Eurocentric

We access their frameworkthe concept of Oedipus is both a universal principle that
accounts for particular cultural differencesolving their politics of difference arguments
without devolving into cultural relativism and denying the nature of our subjectivity.

Tambiah goes on to argue against strong cultural relativism, a position that he claims contains a
logical contradiction in "that it makes a non-relativistic general claim about a relativistic
assertion" (128). In other words it is an attempt to extract a universal principle out of the facts of
difference/relativism. Furthermore as Tambiah argues, few would want to endorse the ethical
implications of such a position, which would in essence negate any international universal
human rights programme or opposition to injustice. This does not however entail a vulgar
universalist (anti-relativist) position. What has happened in post-colonial criticism is that ethical
and political claims have been tied to essentialist identities. However universalism must
necessarily entail a critical stance in regard to these essentialist notions (especially from a
psychoanalytic perspective). In addition what is often forgotten is that a claim to difference,
usually based on a human rights discourse, rests precisely on an abstract universalism. As such
the very recognition of the particular rests on the assumption of a universal.
Although it may seem absurd to some, I would argue that Oedipus is precisely a mechanism which
is at once universal [End Page 125] and particular , in that on the one hand it sets out
universally applicable ontogenetic features which reveal the "unity of humankind," while at the
same time accounting for particular social/cultural difference.
This becomes clearer when we understand Oedipus not as some European, Victorian sexual myth,
but rather as the fundamental mechanism that ensures the transition from nature to culture . In
short Oedipus exists as a result of the opening of the gap between sexuality in its instinctual form
and its cultural outcome. To close the nature/culture gap would in essence be to argue against the
necessity for Oedipus (and the incest prohibition). However (and this all anthropologists seem to
agree on), there is no culture that does this, i.e. all cultures expend a great deal of energy on
reproducing themselves both materially (species) as well as culturally. As Laplanche and Pontalis
(1973) summarize the debate,
The Oedipus complex is not reducible to an actual situation . [ . . . ] Its efficacy derives from
the fact that it brings into play a proscriptive agency (the prohibition of incest) which bars the
way to naturally sought satisfaction and forms an indissoluble link between wish and law . [ . . . ]
Seen in this light, the criticisms first voiced by Malinowski and later taken up by the "culturalist"
school lose their edge. The objection raised was that no Oedipus complex was to be found in
certain civilizations where there is no onus on the father to exercise a repressive function . In its
stead, these critics postulated a nuclear complex typifying one or another given social structure.
In practice, when confronted with the cultures in question, psycho-analysts have merely tried to
ascertain which social roles--or even which institution--incarnate the proscriptive agency, and
which social modes specifically express the triangular structure constituted by the child, the
child's natural object and the bearer of the law.
< C a r d C o n t i n u e s Wi t h o u t D e l e t i o n >
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Hamraie P. 47 of 74

< C a r d C o n t i n u e d Wi t h o u t D e l e t i o n >
Such a structural conception of the Oedipus complex conforms to the thesis put forward by
Claude Levi-Strauss who . . . makes the prohibition against incest the universal law and the
minimal condition of the differentiation of a "culture" from "nature ." (286) [End Page 126]
Thus it seems incontrovertible that there is a necessity for an Oedipus as a result of the
nature/culture distinction . The question then becomes one of the details or ingredients making up
the culturally specific forms of Oedipus . Freud's particular account involves the Oedipus complex
located in the nuclear family. He however does not endorse this Oedipus nor does he suggest that
this specific form is universal (but no sustained argument to this effect is really present in his
work). For Freud the Oedipus complex is fundamental and constitutive of our very subjectivity .
Oedipus explains how the body in nature becomes the body in culture and how the psychic
apparatus is divided--a division that transforms sexual instincts into culturally determined drives.
In short Oedipus for Freud is essential to the process of enculturation or "civilization" (in its non-
pejorative usage). Thus post-colonial criticism's suggestions that Oedipus does not exist fail to
take into account the implications of this non-existence of Oedipus in Africa--in effect the
supposition (at least in Freudian terms) that Africans are not enculturated and have no super-
ego. Freud suggests that the heir to Oedipus is necessarily the super-ego, and thus like Oedipus,
the super-ego must be a universal feature of the psychic apparatus. However the issue is far from
clear, especially as Freud himself will write that, " one gets the impression that the simple Oedipus
complex is by no means its commonest form, but rather represents a simplification or
schematization" (1923, 372)--in other words it has variable forms and thus variable outcomes . But
Freud (1923) does write:
[Bertold 98, Oedipus in (South) Africa?: Psychoanalysis and the Politics of Difference, American Imago 55.1
(1998) 101-134]
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Hamraie P. 48 of 74

Their stance is dehumanizing and robs Africans of a super-ego, i.e. a morality principle that
forms the division between man and animal.

The differentiation between ego and id must be attributed not only to primitive man but even to
much simpler organisms, for it is the inevitable expression of the influence of the external world .
The super-ego, according to our hypothesis, actually originated from the experiences that led to
totemism. (378) This suggests that the super-ego is indeed a universal feature of humanity. T h e s e
c o m m e n t s s h o u l d b e re a d t o ge t h e r w i t h F r e u d ' s s u g g e s t i v e i d e a s o f " t h e s e c ul a r a d va n c e o f re p r e s s i o n i n t he e m ot i o n a l l i fe o f m a n ki n d " ( 1 9 0 0 , 3 6 6 ) a n d t h e [E n d P a g e 1 2 7 ]
a rg u m e n t s p u t f o r w a r d i n hi s " T he F u t u r e o f a n Il l u s i o n " ( 1 9 2 7 ) , w h e re F r e u d w r i t e s : It i s n o t t r ue t h a t t h e h um a n m i n d h a s u n d e rg o n e n o d e v e l o p m e nt s i n c e t h e e a r l i e s t
t i m e s a n d t ha t , i n c o n t r a s t t o t h e a d v a n c e s o f s c i e n c e a n d t e c h n o l o g y, i t i s t he s a m e t o d a y a s i t w a s a t t he b e g i n ni n g o f h i s t o r y. We c a n p o i nt o u t t he s e m e nt a l a d v a n c e s a t
o n c e . It i s i n k e e p i n g w i t h t h e c o u r s e o f h um a n d e ve l o p m e n t t ha t e xt e r n a l c o e rc i o n g r a d ua l l y be c o m e s i n t e r na l i z e d ; f o r a s p e c i a l m e n t a l a g e nc y, m a n ' s s u p e r- e g o , y o k e s i t
o v e r a n d i n c l u de s i t a m o n g i t s c om m a n dm e n t s . E ve r y c h i l d p r e s e n t s t hi s p r oc e s s o f t r a n s f o r m a t i o n t o u s ; o nl y b y t h a t m e a n s d oe s i t b e c o m e a m o r a l a n d s o c i a l b e i n g . ( 1 9 0 )
Although Freud does not say so explicitly, the upshot of his argument is that there have been
changes in the organization of the psychic apparatus, and the outcomes of Oedipus and super-ego
formation are culturally variable . In this regard, Sprio (1985), has argued in light of the
anthropological debates and evidence, that the Oedipus complex has three important dimensions--
structure, intensity and outcome--and can display cross-cultural variability in all three . He writes:
Cross-cultural variability in the outcome of the Oedipus complex is anthropologically
important because its outcome has social and cultural consequences. [ . . . ] The latter differences are
especially marked when we compare societies in which extinction and repression are the dominant
outcomes with those in which incomplete repression is dominant. [ . . . ] Those societies in which
incomplete repression is the dominant outcome of the Oedipus complex are societies in which
the implementation of the taboos on mother-son incest and father-son aggression by the
enculturation and socialisation techniques . . . is not entirely successful in achieving their
internalisation. T h i s b e i n g t h e c a se , r a t he r t h a n re l y i n g o n t h e b o y s o w n p s y c h ol o g i c a l r e s o u r c e s - - e x t i nc t i o n , re p r e s s i o n a n d r e a c t i o n f o r m a t i o n - - t o e n s u r e
c o m pl i a nc e [ E n d P a ge 1 2 8 ] w i t h t h o s e t a b o o s , m a n y o f t h o s e s o c i e t i e s a c h i e ve c o m pl i a nc e b y m e a n s o f s o c i a l a n d c ul t u r a l r e s o u r c e s , a s w e l l . ( 4 5 8 )
What all of this suggests is that we may very well concede to the universality of Oedipus, but
attribute a historically contingent status to the particular form of resolution that a specific culture
calls for, and thus the historical and cultural variability of the form and structure of the super-ego.
Or in the words of Juliet Mitchell (1975):
48
Hamraie P. 49 of 74

The AFF's particularism and focus on a politics of difference is exactly the separate
developments that originated Apartheid.

VI. Some Conclusions - Universalism and Politics
As suggested earlier, the interrelationship between universality and particularity is complex and
its formulation has a long history. What the current literature suggests, which I would like to
endorse, is that there is no clear dividing line between the two. As such post-colonial claims for
difference are in fact misguided and fail to acknowledge their complicity in universalism. As
Ernesto Laclau (1992) has put it,
An appeal to pure particularism is no solution to the problems we are facing in contemporary

societies [we may add post-colonial ones]. The assertion of pure particularism, independent of
any content and of any appeal to a universality, is a self-defeating enterprise. [ . . . ] If [E n d P a g e 1 2 9 ]
particularity asserts itself as mere particularity, in a purely differential relation with other
particularities, it is sanctioning the status quo in power relations between groups. This is exactly
the notion of "separate developments" as formulated in apartheid . . . . ( 8 7 - 8 )
There can never be any pure difference or particularity independent from any universal
assumptions. The concept "the universal" is fundamentally "equivocal" rather than "univocal"
( B a l i b a r 1 9 9 5 , 4 8 ) , a n d thus any a rg u m e n t o r discussion cannot proceed from a simple opposition between u n i v e r s a l i t y
o r universalism and its supposed "other," p a r t i c u l a r i t y o r particularism , di ff e r e nc e , s i n g u l a r i t y. U n i ve r s a l i s m i s t h u s n ot a " s i m p l e "

n o t i o n , a s t h e v e r y fa c t t h a t ra c i s m c a n b e a f o r m u n i ve r s a l i s m s u g g e s t s ( s e e B a l i ba r 1 9 9 4 f o r t h i s a rg u m e n t ) . F o r w r i t e r s s u c h a s B a l i ba r t h i s a m b i g u i t y a n d d i ff i c ul t y, a s w e l l
a s t h e p r o bl e m a t i c h i s t o r y o f e nl i g h t e n m e nt t h o u g h t , s h o u l d n ot l e a d t o t he t o t a l d i s m i s s a l o f u n i v e r s a l i s m , b u t ra t h e r i t s r e t e n t i o n a s a n i d e a l .
49
Hamraie P. 50 of 74

Their post-colonial criticism forecloses any grounds for ethical calculus because it shifts
focus way from universal application of morality towards particular ethical judgments

Having said this, Balibar is adamant that "universality as symbol/ideal," which he sees as part of
the struggle for freedom and equality--general emancipation--also "introduces the notion of the
unconditional into the realm of politics" ( 1 9 9 5 , 6 5 ) . He terms this "equaliberty"--to suggest that human
rights, equality and liberty are ultimately inseparable. This "equaliberty " he posits, is an " all-or-
nothing notion : i t c a n n o t be r e l a t i vi z e d , a c c o r di n g t o h i s t o ri c a l o r c u l t u r a l c o n d i t i o n s , b ut it is there or it is not there, it is
recognised or ignored (a s a p r i n c i p l e , o r be t t e r, a s a de m a n d )" ( 1 9 9 5 , 6 5 ) . J u s t a s a s i m p l e a n d n a v e p r e s e nt a t i o n o f u n i v e r s a l i s m a s " t h e G o o d " c a n n o t be
s e t f o r w a r d , s o the generalised and uncritical celebration of difference cannot be entertained in ethical
or political considerations. This is pe r h a p s where post-colonial criticism reaches its own limit --its
incapacity to ground any ethical stance or truly liberating political action. T h i s p a ra d o x h a s b e e n s u m m a r i s e d
e x t re m e l y w e l l b y Ca r u s i ( 1 9 9 1 ) :
The fundamental contradiction . . . is that which exists between theories of post-colonialism as

ethical discourses, [End Page 130] and the retention of the category of otherness. An ethical
gesture informs both the critiques of imperialist discourse undertaken by these theories, and the
attempts to define what reconstitutive discourse would and should look like. Universalisability is
characteristic of an ethical or moral judgement, in that the principle of universalisability is a
formal feature thereof. In other words, when making an ethical judgement, which yields norms for
social and political behaviour, this judgement and these norms must in principle be universally
valid. This is so because in making a valid ethical judgement the person or people doing so must
firstly be prepared to put themselves in the position of the other: that is, they must be prepared to
universalise the judgement and the norms it yields so that it is equally applicable to themselves
and others. This is not possible unless there is some way in which others can be recognised as the
same as the person or people making the judgement.
50
Hamraie P. 51 of 74
AT- Heath and Gates

Heath and Gates unsubstantiated criticism of Lacan is based on a misunderstanding of
psychoanalysis and assumes a limited conception of politics that forecloses the ability to
resolve psycho-political issues

There is no shortage of critics arguing that these arguments, apparently ignoring diversity and
history, amount to little more than allegory. Mannoni and Lacan are often viewed as delinquent
historicists universalizing political conflicts in order to suit their own ends . Just as Bloch makes
this charge against Mannoni, so, surprisingly, given his thoughtful work on psychoanalysis and
film, Stephen Heath voices the same complaint against Lacan, arguing that the "idea of the Other
and the symbolic is crucial to Lacan exactly because it allows him to abstract from problems of
socio-historical determinations." 62 Such misperceptions of Lacan's arguments about causation,
deferred action, and the symbolic order have, in turn, spawned ever more general and
unsubstantiated [End Page 142] claims, including Henry Louis Gates's suggestion, in an essay
citing nothing by Lacan, that the analyst's "motto [sic] would turn out to be: Never historicize,
never explain ." 63
Ironically, Heath's and Gates's mischaracterizations of Lacan betray a faulty grasp of

psychoanalysis and an ahistorical understanding of its complex development
mischaracterizations , ironically, that Lacan came to view as emblematic of North America after
encountering some of its scholars' hostility to theories of the unconscious. From such
mischaracterizations, one would never know that Lacan's "family played its role in the fight
against colonialism," Lacan's step-daughter, Laurence Bataille, being imprisoned briefly for
aiding the FLN (Front de Libration Nationale) after her visit to Algeria, or that Lacan himself
was, in Jean-Franois de Sauverzac's opinion, "one of the only [intellectuals] to sound misgivings
about the renewal of racism in the period following May 68." 64 For Lacan, as for Mannoni, the
conflict between symbolic and real orders is inescapably specific to language and history, yet
irreducible to both phenomena. This irreducibility frees up the psychopolitical deadlock that
opposing critical models inadvertently strengthen. Moreover, it is Heath and Gates who advance
an oddly limited conception of politics , which bereft of psychic effects can tolerate only
empirical and practical considerations. We should add that throughout his career, F a n o n n e v e r c o u n t e na n c e d
t h i s i de a o f p o l i t i c s n ot e v e n w h e n he s e e m e d m o s t d i s t a n t f r o m p s y c hi a t r y. 6 5
51
Hamraie P. 52 of 74
AT- Post-structural/Colonialist Ks of
Psychoanalysis
Their criticism destroys any possibility for challenging the social order

I wish to argue for the more radical status of

A l t h o u g h n o t " i n n oc e n t " o r f r e e o f c o n t a m i n a t i o n b y t he c o l o ni a l s i t u a t i o n ,
psychoanalysis, to defend a form of universalism, and to present some of the problematic

implications of such post-colonial positions on "difference." Such strategies most often arise from
a conflation of a sociology of psychiatric practices in colonial institutions and the theory of
psychoanalysis--i.e. psychoanalytic theory and its components are dismissed as a consequence of
its perceived institutional practice (t h i s c r i t i c i s m [ E n d P a g e 1 0 7 ] most often proceeds via an application of
Foucault; s e e Va u g h a n 1 9 9 1 , 8 - 1 2 , f o r a d i s c u s s i o n o f s o m e o f t h e i s s u e s ) . U n l i k e (e t h n o ) p s y c h i a t r y, p s y c h o a na l y s i s i n S o u t h A f r i c a h a s n e ve r h a d a n y s t r o n g
i n s t i t u t i o na l s u p p o r t o r i n v ol v e m e n t , b u t p s y c h oa n a l y s t s i n t h e i r i n d i v i d ua l c a p a c i t i e s a s m e d i c a l o ff i c e r s ( p h y s i c i a n s ) o f t e n w o r k e d i n s t a t e h o s p i t a l s , e t c . N e ve r t h e l e s s I
psychoanalytic positions under colonialism and apartheid cannot simply be reduced to

hope to show that
the attributions of post-colonial criticisms. Instead what emerges is a complex attempt by

psychoanalysis to deal with a "psychopathogenic" social order--a social order whose foundations
could only be challenged on the basis of universalist arguments. I I I . C u l t u ra l A n t h r o p ol o g y a n d S e g r e ga t i o n i n S o u t h A f r i c a
T h e ra d i c a l p o s i t i o n s o f p s y c h oa n a l y s i s c a n o n l y r e a l l y be u n d e r s t o o d b y w a y o f c o nt r a s t t o t h e p o s i t i o n s t a k e n u p b y t h e e t h n o p s y c h i a t r i s t s , a n d i n re l a t i o n t o t h e d o m i n a n t
a n t h r o p ol o g i c a l i de a s i n e a r l y t w e nt i e t h c e nt u r y S o u t h A f r i c a .
52
Hamraie P. 53 of 74
AT- Post-Structural Development

Alternatives to development are bad because it neglects that the subject is constituted by
development and the never-ending promises of modernity.

Although I agree to a large extent with Escobars analysis, I differ with respect to the role of the
desire for development. This also leads us to question whether his emphasis on the dissemination
of other knowledges is a political programme that corresponds with the desires and dreams of the
subjects of development. Lets go back to the example of Andean villagers, who, rather than
development alternatives or alternatives for development would opt for the real thing since,
as they themselves put it, they have learnt to desire development . Is Escobars post-structuralist
programme not again a disavowal of the promises of development, and of the utopian fantasies it
generates? Is there not a danger that such a programme ends up colluding in the banalisation of
such promises? As argued, this reality of development, is evoked by those small objects (what
Andeans call obritas). In my view the challenge for a leftist critique of development is that of
engaging with this constitutive lack in development, hence assuming the radical position of taking
its promise seriously. Of course, post-structuralist critiques of development would argue that
individuals and communities can imagine themselves in other ways and devise strategies for
combating or undermining the hegemony of development. Such strategies are usually presented or
formulated in terms of alternative modernities. But one could argue that this is just another way
of disavowing the very fact that the subject constituted by development is a split entity, a void
concealed through the ongoing promises of modernity . In other words, Foucauldian post-
structuralist theory fails to interrogate the very lack in development itself, its inability to engage
with the dreams and fantasies it triggers.
53
Hamraie P. 54 of 74
AT- Postructuralism Dev Ks

Their criticism ignores the virtual dimension of development that is created by desire.

all these approaches suffer from a serious shortcoming. They all focus on
T h o u g h p o l e s a p a r t , f r om m y p o i nt o f v i e w,
the actuality of development, on the effects of development interventions on peoples lives . M y

a rg u m e n t , h o w e v e r, i s t ha t the actuality of development is supplemented by a virtual dimension , as
manifested in the desire for, and imagination of, development . O f c o u r s e , current debates have
produced diverse and interesting positions, some taking extreme anti-development positions,
others weighing the merits and disadvantages of de v e l o pm e n t a l t e r n a t i v e s o r alternatives for development.
The literature o n t h i s d e b a t e i s h u g e a n d t h i s i s n o t t h e p l a c e t o r e v i e w i t , b u t i t suffices to point out that it all revolves around
the question of the extent to which development is a foreign and ethnocentric construct . L a be l s s u c h a s
a l t e r n a t i v e , e n d o g e n o u s , b o t t om - u p , g r a s s r o o t s o r a ut o n o m o u s d e ve l o p m e n t a re b u t d i ff e r e n t w a y s o f a n s w e r i n g t h i s q u e s t i o n . T h e re i s a l s o a va s t b o d y o f w o r k o n
i n d i ge n o u s a n d l o c a l k n o w l e d ge t h a t s e t s o u t t o p r o p o s e b ot t o m - u p o r g r a s s r o o t s d e ve l o p m e n t a l t e r na t i ve s . M u c h re c e nt w o r k o n gl o b a l i s a t i o n f r om b e l o w i s r e m i n i s c e nt
they rarely touch upon the work of imagination involved in the thinking on
o f t h e s e di s c u s s i o n s . H o w e v e r,
development, and if they do they centre on individual aspirations or expectations, not on

collective dreams and desires as manifestations of a collective unconscious . A s I a rg u e l a t e r, this is not
merely a theoretical question, as it raises important ethical issues . A case in point is the debate
among post-structural critiques of development, especially concerning the right of development
thinkers to legislate on the relevance of development to poor peoples lives. Many authors have
pointed out that it is poor people themselves who want development and that arguing against it
amounts to assuming that they are under the spell of false consciousness .
54
Hamraie P. 55 of 74
AT- Development Good

Their expectation that their plan will have a visible outcome of progress in Africa is a lie.
Development is a ritual of legitimation where the image of empowerment and participatory
progress masks the first-world management of populations.

D e v e l o pm e n t p r oj e c t s w e re d e e m e d t o be o w n e d b y t h e b e n e fi c i ar i e s r a t h e r t h a n i m p o s e d f ro m o u t s i d e , t h e i r k n o w l e d g e a b o u t n a t u r a l re s o u r c e s a n d t he i r o w n l i ve l i h o o d s
h a d t o be t a ke n a d v a nt a g e o f f o r p u r p o s e s o f d e s i g n a n d i m pl e m e n t a t i o n a n d , r a t h e r t h a n s t re n g t h e ni n g b u r e a uc r a c i e s , i n t e r v e n t i o n s w e re t o e m p o w e r l oc a l p e o p l e s
Today, however , p a r t i c i pa t o r y development is being heavily criticised for having spurred

o rg a n i s a t i o n a l c a pa c i t i e s .
a veritable industry of participatory methodologies aimed at achieving a visible kind of

outcome capable of convincing donors that their money will be spent in accordance with the
capacities and needs of the beneficiaries in what have become shameful rituals of legitimation. 9
S u c h rituals of legitimation are not only very time-costly but also generate expectations and
demands that are branded as unrealistic or even politically subversive. I n ot h e r w o r d s , the promise of
participatory development and empowerment has been banalised into simplistic technologies for
the management of change . Ye t i m a g i ne w h a t w o u l d h a p pe n i f p a rt i c i p a t i o n b y t h e t a rg e t g r o u p w e r e r e a l l y t a k e n s e ri o u s l y a n d w e r e n o l o n g e r
c o n s t r a i n e d b y t he c o n d i t i o n s s e t b y t he d e v e l o p m e nt a g e nc y. W h a t i f t he p o o r c o u l d re a l l y h a v e c o n t r o l o ve r t h e d o n o r re s o u r c e s a n d d e c i d e o n i t s u s e ? We c o u l d i m a gi n e t ha t
n o t c om p r o m i s i n g o n t h e d e s i re o f p a r t i c i pa t i o n w o u l d l e a d t o a d i ff e r e n t ki n d o f d e v e l o p m e nt p r o j e c t , o n e t h a t w o u l d c h a n g e t h e v e r y m e a ni n g s o f de v e l o pm e n t i n u n e x p e c t e d
w a y s , c r e a t i n g n e w n o t i o n s a n d p r a c t i c e s o f e m p o w e r m e n t , l oc a l k n o w l e d g e a n d o w n e r s h i p . H o w e v e r, w e c a n a l s o s u r m i s e t ha t s u c h a na i v e a p p r oa c h w o u l d n o t be
a c c e p t a b l e t o t h e d o n o r s a n d t h e n e w p r o f e s s i o n a l s , f o r i t w o u l d l e a d t o t h e c o r r u pt i o n o f t he i r n o t i o n s o f de v e l o pm e n t a s e n c a p s u l a t e d i n c a pa c i t y - b u i l di n g g u i d e l i n e s a n d
The other example is that of the Millennium Development Goals, which

p r i n c i p l e s o f f i na n c i a l t ra n s p e r a n c y
purport to resolve the basic material needs of Third World populations through massive
investment in social infrastructure and s e r vi c e s f o l l o w i n g a s e c t o r a l a p p r o a c h (i e water, health, education, e t c ) . S u c h a c a l l
f o r a c o nc e r t e d g l o b a l e ff o r t t o a c hi e v e a r a t he r m i ni m a l i s t s e t o f a i m s c a n b e a n yt h i n g b u t di s p u t a b l e . H o w e v e r , the very fact that such a call has
to be made after five decades of development proclamations is scandalous .
55
Hamraie P. 56 of 74
AT- AFF Solves Relation with the Other

Their view is flawedour relationship with the Other is structured through language
rather than a direct relationship. Only the framework of psychoanalysis can engage this task
better.
2 . T h e s o u r c e , o r m a j o r e x p o n e nt o f t h e O t he r i n t he p s y c h o a n a l y t i c t r a di t i o n i s , o f c o u r s e , J a c q u e s L a c a n . A s h i s i s a l s o t h e c o nc e p t w h i c h i s m o s t c om m o n i n c o n t e m p o r a r y
t h o u g h t , b ut i s m o s t d i ff i c u l t t o a p pl y t o p o s t - c ol o n i a l i s m ( o r a n y ot h e r n o n - a na l y t i c f i e l d f o r t ha t m a t t e r ) , I t h i n k i t i m p o r t a nt t o b e gi n w i t h a fa i r l y de t a i l e d a c c o u nt o f
L a c a n ' s o w n O t h e r. L a c a n h i m s e l f r e g u l a r l y p o i nt e d o u t t h a t m u c h t ha t i s c e n t r a l t o h i s w o r k c a n o nl y b e g r a s p e d i n r e l a t i o n t o t h a t o f [ E n d P a g e 8 2 ] F r e u d , a n d t h e pa r t
the Other is best explicated in terms of the central part it plays

p l a ye d b y t h e O t he r i n h i s t h o u g ht i s n o e x c e p t i o n . I n fa c t ,
in Lacan's linguistic project, one which can, in turn, be understood as installing language into the
heart of Freud's metapsychology. W h i l e t h e l i n g u i s t i c p l a y s a m a j o r p a r t i n F r e u d ' s u n de r s t a n d i n g o f t h e n a t u r e o f t he p s y c h o a n a l y t i c s y m p t o m - - a n d
the destiny of linguistic material is essential to the question of interpretations in the
psychoanalytic clinic--much that is central to Freud's metapsychology is not itself understood in
linguistic terms. F o r L a c a n , h o w e v e r, language (crucially, the language of the Other) is of such importance
that it is inseparable from an understanding of the genesis and structure of the psychic apparatus
itself. In other words, language is essential to an understanding of the origins of what Lacan, and
post-colonialism, call the Subject. The significance of the linguistic in Lacan is attributable to the
influence of Freud hi m s e l f and , o f c o u r s e , to Saussure a n d w h a t i s o f t e n d e s c r i be d a s " t he l i n g ui s t i c t u r n . " B ut it is probably
Lacan's debt to Hegel which explains the vital connection between language and the Other. I n fa c t
m a n y c o n s i d e r t he l a n g ua g e o f t he O t h e r- - t h e O t h e r a s S p e a k i n g S u b j e c t - - t o be a l m o s t d e f i ni t i ve o f L a c a n . M a l c o l m B o w i e , w h o s e c l e a r a n d a s t ut e s t u d y o f L a c a n ( 1 9 9 1 )
m a de t h i s a c c o u n t p o s s i b l e , p o i n t s o u t t h a t L a c a n u s e s t w o r o ut e s o u t o f H e g e l . F i r s t l y, L a c a n d re w o n t h a t a s pe c t o f H e ge l w h i c h ha s w h a t m i g ht b e c a l l e d m e t a p s y c h o l o gi c a l
r e s u l t s - - t ha t i s , o n t he " c o n s t i t ut i v e r ol e t ha t o t he r p e o p l e h a v e a b i n i t i o i n t h e f o r m a t i o n o f t h e s u b j e c t . " S e c o n d l y, i n w h a t w o u l d i n p s y c h o a na l y t i c t e r m s b e t ha t c o nc e r n e d
w i t h c l i n i c a l a p p l i c a t i o n s , L a c a n t u r n s t o H e g e l ' s a n a l y s i s o f pa r t i c u l a r " d e s i r i n g re l a t i o n s b e t w e e n i n d i vi d u a l s" o f w h i c h t he d i a l e c t i c o f m a s t e r a n d s l a v e i s t h e m o s t
r e n o w n e d ( 1 9 9 1 , 9 6 - 9 9 ) . D e l i n e a t i n g t he s e t w o r o u t e s o u t o f H e ge l i s , I t hi n k , i m p o rt a n t be c a u s e i t i s t he i r r e l a t i o n s h i p - - a n d t he r e s u l t i n g p o s s i b i l i t y o f c o n f u s i o n b e t w e e n
t h e t w o - - t h a t ha s p r o ve d s o p r o bl e m a t i c a l f o r p o s t - c o l o n i a l i s m . F o r L a c a n i t i s t he v e r y g e ne r a l i t y o f t he f i r s t , o r " a b i ni t i o" a c c o u n t , w h i c h g ua r a n t e e s i t s m e t a p s y c h ol o g i c a l
s i g n i f i c a n c e , [ E n d P a g e 8 3 ] w h i l e a p pl i c a t i o n s o f t he m o r e s p e c i f i c a c c o u n t s o f d e s i r e i n H e g e l i n f l u e nc e L a c a n' s vi e w o f t h e re l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n a na l y s t a n d a n a l y s a n d - - t h e
d e s i r i n g c o u p l e - - i n t h e c l i ni c . L a c a n , t h a t i s , k n o w s a b o u t , a n d c o r r e c t l y, i n m y o p i ni o n , k e e p s o p e n t h e c e n t r a l s p a c e i n p s y c h o a n a l y t i c e p i s t e m o l o g y o pe n e d u p b y F r e u d - -
t h a t b e t w e e n t h e f o rm a l p ri n c i pl e s o r p r e c o n di t i o n s o f p s y c h o a na l y t i c t h o u g ht ( a f t e r a l l L a c a n h i m s e l f r e fe r s t o o n l y f o u r f u n d a m e n t a l p r i nc i p l e s ) a n d t h e ri g o r o u s
post-colonialism, like the

c o m m i t m e n t t o p a r t i c u l a r i t y de m a n de d b y e v e r y a c t ua l a na l y s i s w h i c h i s r e ve a l e d i n e ve r y F r e u d i a n c a s e h i s t o r y. H o w e v e r
ego psychologies, will fail its analytic connections when it takes on the necessarily uneasy task of
characterising the West's relations to its Others in a way which tries to be general enough to
encompass colonizers as a whole, and specific enough to distinguish this particular class of
Others from all the other significant Others. The fact that, whatever the difficulties with Lacan's
Other might be , they do not stem from failing this task ( o n e w h i c h , t o b e f a i r, F o u c a ul t i n T h e O r d e r o f T h i n g s ( 1 9 7 0 ) s e e s a s
c o n f r o n t i n g a l l t h e h um a n a n d s o c i a l s c i e n c e s ) , but from the position which the linguistic Other occupies in his
thought. The Lacanian Other functions not so much as an influence upon the Subject but as one of
the conditions of possibility for its very existence . It is the pre-existing position of the (and
any) Other, not any particular set of features it may possess, which accounts for its constitutive
power. A s B o w i e a s t ut e l y p oi n t s o u t , i n t h e h a n d s o f L a c a n the Other emerges as no less than the new Logos of
psychoanalysis. For Lacan it is correct to say that in the beginning there was the Other. O n c e m o r e I t h i n k
i t he l p f u l t o l o c a t e L a c a n ' s p r o j e c t i n re l a t i o n t o t h a t o f F r e u d . T h e o r i s t s o f p s y c h o a na l y s i s t r a di t i o na l l y de s c r i b e F r e u d ' s m e t a p s y c h ol o g y i n t e r m s o f t h r e e c o m p o ne n t s : T h e
t o p o g r a p hi c s , w h i c h c o nc e r n s t h e di v i s i o n o f t he m i n d i n t o t he s u b - s t r uc t u r e s o r p a rt s w h i c h F r e u d c a l l e d a g e n c i e s ; t he e c o n om i c s , w h i c h c o n c e r n s t he n a t u re a n d d i s t ri b u t i o n
o f p s y c h i c e n e rg y ; a n d t h e d y na m i c s , w h i c h e x a m i n e s t he r e l a t i o n s o f e xc h a n g e be t w e e n a g e n c i e s a n d t y pe s o f e n e rg y - - e s pe c i a l l y t h o s e e x c ha n g e s w h i c h i n v ol v e c o n fl i c t .
56
Hamraie P. 57 of 74
AT- Universalism absorbs culture into

West
Universalism prevents the homogenizing of culture into the West

This is not possible unless there is some way in which others can be recognised as the same as the
person or people making the judgement. Theories of post-colonialism will immediately point out
that the principle of universalisability is imperialist because it absorbs others into homogeneity
with the West, and ignores their specificity. This can be countered by the fact that the principle of
universalisability, by its very structure and its formal necessity, makes its Western provenance
irrelevant. The principle of universalisabilty lends itself to being appropriated by all, and in fact
is implicitly appropriated in all forms of anti-imperialist action. (146) How this is best to be done
remains open to question. What I would like to suggest is that in the light of the intellectual,
social and political context, the psychoanalytic interventions of Wulf Sachs must be seen as
radical beyond the confines of his time. His universalist procedure effectively presents a counter-
argument to the theorists of "difference," without implying a necessary homogenizing or
"colonizing" attitude.
57
Hamraie P. 58 of 74
AT- AFF Solves Subjectivity

A psychoanalytical interrogation is key to understand the way that subjectivity is actually
constructed by language and an mental processes that form the precondition to the Subject.
the Other, the bearer of language, is implicated [ E n d P a g e 8 4 ] in all these metapsychological

For Lacan
components. F i r s t l y, in the Lacanian equivalent of the topographics, language and Other play, as we
have seen, a primary part in the construction of the Subject . The Other is described as the locus
or site where the "treasure of the signifier" is to be found and in which the Speaking subject is
constituted in conjunction with the one who hears. The Other is the principle of the Subject's
truth, that which "even my lie invokes as a guarantor of the truth in which it subsists " ( B o w i e 1 9 9 1 , 8 1 ) .
The crucial role of language in Lacan's understanding of the agencies is apparent in his renowned
dictum which characterises the unconscious as "structured like a language." But it is no less
important to recall that its discourse, or that actualization of structure in real speech, is that of the
Other ( B o w i e 1 9 9 1 , 3 ) . The result-- a n d i t i s o n e t ha t d i ff e r e n t i a t e s F r e u d a n d L a c a n s h a r p l y --is that even the structures or
agencies supposedly most remote from the Ego and experience are inhabited by the language of
the Other . S e c o n d l y, the significance Lacan attributes to the Other extends beyond the topographics
to the Lacanian equivalent of the economics. The Other is not merely instrumental in determining
key features of the psychic apparatus, it is also the prime source of psychic excitation. I n f a c t the
radical delimitation of the role of the Freudian instincts and their replacement with language as
the discourse of the Other, may well be one of the reasons that Lacan has had such widespread
influence outside the analytic field. I n c o n t r a s t t o o t h e r m a j o r c o n t r i b ut i o n s t o p s y c h o a na l y s i s ( s u c h a s t h a t o f M e l a ni e K l e i n w h o d oe s j u s t t h e
o p p o s i t e ) , L a c a n r e d u c e s t h e i nc r e a s e d t e r r i t o r y g i v e n t o t h e i n s t i n c t s b y t h e l a t e F r e u d a n d i n s o d o i n g i n s t a l l s l a n g u a g e a n d t h e O t he r- - t he c u l t u r a l - - de e p i nt o t h a t w h i c h
for Lacan it is the speech of the Other which acts where the Freudian
F r e u d k e e p s a s t he p r e s e r v e o f t h e n a t u r a l . I n fa c t ,
instinct was. The significance of the instincts and their relative autonomy is thus undercut and
replaced by an account in which the language/Other conjunct is responsible for the constitution of
the drives as well as for much that remains definitive of them. It may be that language is the site
of desire, the "supreme [ x ` P a ge 8 5 ] mechanism for its production and transformation," but this is so
only because it takes the Other as its source of action ( B o w i e 1 9 9 1 , 8 3 ) . T h u s t h e O t he r i s a l s o r e s p o n s i b l e f o r o n e o f t he m o s t
d i s t i nc t i ve a n d c o u nt e r- i n t u i t i v e fe a t u re s o f L a c a n ' s l a n g u a ge - - i t s a ff e c t i v e a n d e v o c a t i ve a s p e c t - - t h a t w h i c h , h e a rg u e s , t a ke s p re c e de n c e o ve r i t s i n f o rm a t i v e f u n c t i o n . T he
man's desire is the desire of the Other n o t s o m u c h be c a u s e t h e O t h e r

L a c a n i a n S u b j e c t s p e a k s t o l u re r a t he r t h a n i n f o r m t he O t h e r, a n d
h o l d s t h e ke y t o t he o b j e c t d e s i re d , a s because the first object of desire is to be recognised by the Other (Bowie 1991, 80).
F i n a l l y, y i e l d i n g w h a t i s p r o ba b l y t he o n l y a s p e c t o f h i s m e t a p s y c h ol o g y w h i c h i s s p e c i f i c e n o u g h t o b e re l e va n t t o p o s t - c o l o n i a l t h o u g ht , L a c a n c ha r a c t e r i s e s t he
S u b j e c t / O t h e r re l a t i o n s u p o n w h i c h s o m u c h t u r n s a s a m b i va l e nt , c o n f l i c t ua l a n d c o m p r o m i s e d . T h e d y na m i c s o f S u b j e c t / O t h e r i nt e r a c t i o n s i n L a c a n s e e m t o t a ke t h e pl a c e o f
i n t e r a g e nc y r e l a t i o n s i n F r e u d a n d a r e j u s t a s p r o b l e m a t i c a l . T h e L a c a n i a n " d y n a m i c s , " w i t h i t s c ha r a c t e r i s t i c m e t a p h o ri c s o f n e g a t i o n , a l i e na t i o n a n d l a c k , h a s i t s o r i gi n i n a
. Desire is inaugurated, n ot b y t h e f ul l f a t h e r b u t , t o u s e F o u c a u l t ' s p h ra s e , by the "Father's

p r i n c i p l e o f ne g a t i o n b r o u g h t a b o ut b y t h e O t he r
No." For Lacan desire is that which results from the desiring Other's intervention, so that all
relations to the Other are always uneasily poised between acquiescence to the Other's law and an
envious appropriation of his desire ( B o w i e 1 9 9 0 , 1 6 2 ) . W h a t t h e S u b j e c t be a r s i s t h e O t he r ' s m a r k , w h a t t h e s u b j e c t f e a r s i s t h e O t h e r' s re v e n g e a s
h e t ri e s t o a p p r o p ri a t e t h a t w h i c h t he O t h e r s o j e a l o u s l y g u a r d s ( B o w i e 1 9 9 1 , 1 9 0 ) . T h e s e a re t h e fe a t u re s o f de s i r e w h i c h c o n n e c t L a c a n t o H e ge l v i a t h e s e c o n d r o u t e , t h a t
Lacan's is in essential respects

w h i c h c o nc e r n s t h e de s i r i n g r e l a t i o n s be t w e e n i n d i v i d ua l s . I n a w a y u n d e r s t a n d a b l y a t t ra c t i v e t o t h e p o s t - c ol o n i a l i s t ,
a politics of desire , in which the differences between desiring regimes are attributable to the fact
that the Other as law-maker may just as easily become tyrant. I n fa c t m u c h t ha t i s d i s t i n c t i v e i n L a c a n ' s p s y c h o pa t h o l o g y, a s
r e v e a l e d i n h i s r e a di n g o f F r e u d ' s S c h r e b e r c a s e f o r [ E n d P a ge 8 6 ] e x a m p l e , s t e m s f r o m d i s t u r ba n c e s o f t he b a l a n c e o f p o w e r be t w e e n S c h re b e r a n d hi s O t he r. M u c h t ha t i s t he
c a u s e o f hi s ( S c h re b e r ' s ) d e l i r i um m a y be t r a c e d b a c k t o a n i n i t i a l m i s p o s i t i o ni n g o f S u b j e c t a n d O t h e r: t h e O t he r s h o u l d b e i nt r i n s i c t o t h e s i g ni f y i n g c ha i n b u t ha s be e n
moved to a position outside it.
<Card Continued without deletion>
58
Hamraie P. 59 of 74
AT- AFF Solves Subjectivity

<Card Continued without deletion>
The Other should be exercising its legislative authority silently and invisibly in human speech . . .
but instead has relocated itself beyond speech, over and against the Subject "in the Real." ( B o w i e 1 9 9 0 ,
1 0 9 ) I n t h e s a m e w a y t he I m a gi n a r y, L a c a n ' s s y m p t om a t i c r e gi s t e r, h a s i t s o r i gi n i n t h o s e e a r l y i d e n t i f i c a t o r y p r o c e s s e s i n w h i c h t h e S u b j e c t s e e k s n ot s i m p l y t o p l a c a t e t h e
O t h e r b u t t o d i s s o l v e i n hi s O t he r n e s s . T h e S y m b o l i c , a s B o w i e p oi n t s o u t , i s a dm i r e d b y c o n t r a s t be c a u s e i n i t l a n g u a ge a n d O t h e r re m a i n o t h e r ( 1 9 9 0 , 9 2 ) . F r o m t h i s a c c o u n t
I h o p e i t i s c l e a r w h y L a c a n ' s O t h e r i s s o o f t e n m i s u s e d . L i k e t he s y m p t o m i t s e l f , i t i s p e r s i s t e n t , e l u s i v e a n d , i n i t i a l l y a t l e a s t , gl a m o r o u s . I t i t s e l f de m a n d s i nt e r p r e t a t i o n
a n d , f o r t h o s e w h o t he m s e l ve s s e e k t h e gl a m o r o u s ( e ve n i f o n l y o n t h e l e v e l o f s t yl e ) , i t i s t e m p t i n g t o w r i t e w i t h t h e O t he r a s a s e c o n da r y g a i n . B ut i t i s , i n m y v i e w,
i m p o rt a n t f o r t h i s v e r y r e a s o n t o k e e p t h e L a c a ni a n O t h e r i n i t s p r o p e r pl a c e , c o n s t r a i n e d t o t h e t e r r i t o r y i n w h i c h i t b e l o n g s a n d d oe s s u c h i m p o r t a n t w o r k . L a c a n , i t i s t r u e ,
his central interest in the Other stems from it as

i s s o m e t i m e s c o nc e r n e d w i t h t h e vi c i s s i t u de s o f a p a r t i c u l a r S u b j e c t - O t h e r c o u pl e , b u t
the source of language, of the instinct-to-drive transformation it effects and, thus, as the formal
and actual precondition of the Subject itself .
59
Hamraie P. 60 of 74
AT- AFF Solves Racism

Psychoanalysis is better at interrogating impediments to empathy with people we perceive as
physically differentthan their approach to what constructs and motivates the Subject.
What is problematic, in my view, is not the fact of turning to psychoanalysis but the particular
aspects post-colonialism turns to. If what must be explained is ambivalence, and the marked
preoccupation with physical differences which is characteristic of the colonial, then other parts of
Freud are better suited to the purpose a n d l e s s d e f o rm i n g t o b o ot . R a t he r t h a n b y w a y o f L a c a n ' s m e t a p s y c h o l o g y o f ot h e r i n g o r F r e u d ' s f e t i s h ,
post-colonial questions are , i n m y v i e w, better served by reconsidering the key ingredients in Oedipus
and the additions to it made by Freud's late work . 4 . I n t h e j u s t l y f a m o u s o p e ni n g o f T h r e e E s s a y s o n t h e T he o r y o f S e x u a l i t y F r e u d
w r i t e s : P o p u l a r o p i n i o n ha s q ui t e de f i n i t e i de a s a b o u t t h e n a t u r e a n d c h a r a c t e ri s t i c s o f t he s e x u a l i n s t i n c t . I t i s g e ne r a l l y [ E n d P a g e 9 2 ] u n de r s t o o d t o b e a b s e n t i n c h i l d h o o d ,
t o s e t i n a t t h e t i m e o f p u be r t y i n c o n n e c t i o n w i t h t h e p r o c e s s o f c om i n g t o m a t u ri t y, a n d t o b e r e ve a l e d i n t he m a ni f e s t a t i o n s o f a n i r re s i s t i b l e a t t r a c t i o n e xe r c i s e d b y o ne s e x
u p o n t h e ot h e r ; w h i l e i t s a i m i s p re s u m e d t o be s e x u a l u ni o n , o r a t a l l e v e n t s a c t i o n s l e a d i n g i n t h a t d i r e c t i o n . We h a ve e v e r y re a s o n t o b e l i e ve , h o w e v e r, t h a t t h e s e v i e w s
g i v e a v e r y f a l s e p i c t u r e o f t he t r u e s i t u a t i o n . ( 1 9 0 5 , 4 5 ) I n o p p o s i t i o n t o e a c h o f t h e i n g r e d i e n t s w h i c h m a k e u p t hi s , t h e p o p u l a r v i e w, F r e u d a rg u e s t h a t s e x ua l i t y, o r m o r e
a c c u r a t e l y t he s e x u a l i n s t i n c t , d o e s n o t o n l y e m e rg e i n a d ul t h o o d , n o r i s i t n a t u ra l l y he t e r o s e x ua l o r g e ni t a l l y f o c u s e d . I n s t e a d o b s e r v a t i o n m a k e s i t c l e a r t h a t , a s a n i n s t i n c t ,
i t a r i s e s i n c hi l d h o o d , i s a r o u s e d i n a n d b y t he o r a l a n d a n a l z o n e s i n a d d i t i o n t o t he g e n i t a l , a n d i s d i r e c t e d t o p a r e nt s a n d s i b l i n g s o f e i t h e r o r b ot h s e x e s . I n o t h e r w o r d s
F r e u d ' s s e x u a l i n s t i n c t , u n l i ke t h a t o f p o p u l a r o pi n i o n , i s i n fa n t i l e , b i s e x ua l , p o l ym o r p h o u s l y p e r v e r s e a n d , c r u c i a l t o t h i s p a rt i c ul a r a c c o u n t , i n c e s t ua l i n c h a r a c t e r. W h a t i s
c o n s i d e re d t o b e t h e n o r m a l s e x u a l p o s i t i o n i s he r e n o l o n ge r c o n c e i v e d o f a s t h e s p o n t a ne o u s p r o d uc t o f i n g re d i e nt s gi v e n b y n a t u r e , a n d i n a d d i t i o n t h o s e w h i c h d o c o m e
w i t h t he b o d y a r e n ot a u t om a t i c a l l y i n t h e i nt e r e s t s o f e i t h e r s p e c i e s o r c ul t u r a l r e p r o d u c t i o n . T he r e s u l t , c e n t ra l t o p s y c h oa n a l y s i s , i s t ha t i n s t e a d o f e x pl a i ni n g t h e c a u s e s o f
s e x u a l pa t h o l o gi e s , F r e u d n o w ha s t o e x p l a i n h o w t h e n o rm a t i v e f o r m c o m e s a b o ut , w h i c h i n t u r n e n a bl e s h i m t o t h i n k o f t h e s y m p t om a s t h e re s u l t o f f i xa t i o n i n , o r
r e g r e s s i o n t o , t h e e a r l i e r n a t u ra l o r u n t ra i n e d f o rm s . To e x pl a i n , a s he n o w m u s t , h o w i t i s t ha t n o r m a l i s e d s e x ua l i t y a r i s e s , F r e u d p r o v i de s t w o s o c i a l o r c u l t u ra l " m a s t e r
n a r r a t i v e s" - - t h o s e o f t he s o - c a l l e d z o ne t h e o r y a n d O e d i p u s . A l t h o u g h t h e s e t w o a c c o u n t s o v e rl a p , t he z o n e t h e o r y i s p r e d om i n a nt l y r e s p o n s i b l e f o r h o w s e x ua l i t y b e c om e s
g e n i t a l , o r m o r e a c c u r a t e l y ge n i t a l l y l e d , w h i l e O e d i p u s ( w h i c h i s o f g r e a t e r i m p o r t a n c e he r e ) a c c o u n t s f o r h o w i t be c o m e s he t e r o s e x ua l a n d n o n - i n c e s t ua l . A s O e d i p u s i s a
c o n t r o ve r s i a l a s pe c t o f F r e u d' s w o r k w h i c h i s o ft e n m i s re p r e s e n t e d , I t h i n k i t i s i m p o r t a nt t o g o t h r o u g h [E n d P a g e 9 3 ] s o m e o f t h e d e t a i l s o f hi s o w n a c c o u n t . F r e u d ' s
O e d i p u s , t h e na r r a t i v e o f t he c h i l d ' s l o v i n g a n d a g g r e s s i v e fe e l i n g s t o w a r d s i t s p a r e nt s , ha s a s i t s e s s e n t i a l s t a rt i n g p o i nt t h e vi e w t h a t t h e c h i l d o f e i t he r s e x d e v e l o p s a
s t r o n g a t t a c hm e n t t o t h e m o t h e r a n d s u b s e q u e n t l y t o t h e fa t h e r c o u p l e d w i t h t h e (a t t he t i m e ) n o v e l a s s u m p t i o n t h a t t h e s e a t t a c h m e nt s a r e i n e s s e nc e n o d i ff e r e n t i n c h a ra c t e r
f r o m t h o s e u s u a l l y d e s c ri b e d a s s e x u a l . A s a r e s u l t , t w o c h a n g e s , o n e w h i c h m i g ht b e c a l l e d p o s i t i ve a n d t he o t h e r ne g a t i v e , a re e s s e n t i a l i f t h e c hi l d i s t o a c q u i re t h e
c u l t u r a l l y d e s i r a bl e f o r m o f s e x ua l i t y - - i t m u s t c o m e t o t a k e b o t h t h e s e x ( i t s h o u l d b e o p p o s i t e t o i t s o w n ) a n d fa m i l i a l p o s i t i o n (t h e p e r s o n s h o u l d n o t be a m e m b e r o f i t s
f a m i l y ) i nt o a c c o u n t w h e n m a k i n g a s e x ua l o b j e c t c h o i c e . A s ne i t he r t h e ge n d e r n o r t he f a m i l i a l p o s i t i o n o f a n i n di v i d u a l n a t u ra l l y (t h a t i s , o n t h e b a s i s o f t he n a t u re o f t h e
i n s t i nc t i t s e l f ) i n fl u e n c e s t h e c hi l d ' s s e x u a l c h o i c e s , t h e t a s k o f s h a p i n g t he i n s t i nc t ( o f t u r ni n g i t i n t o i t s c u l t u ra l r e p re s e n t a t i v e - - t h e d r i ve ) i s a c ul t u r a l o r s o c i a l o n e .
F r e u d ' s a c c o u n t o f O e d i p u s , e s p e c i a l l y f e m a l e O e d i p u s , e m p ha s i s e s t h a t t h i s p r o c e s s o f e n c ul t u r a t i o n i s a l o n g a n d s t r e n u o u s b u s i n e s s w h i c h r e g ul a r l y g oe s a w r y. B e c a u s e t he
c h i l d d o e s n o t r e a d i l y a b a n d o n i t s fi r s t f a m i l i a l o b j e c t s , n o r f o r e c l o s e o n s e x u a l i t y' s na t u r a l l y p o l ym o r p h o u s a n d b i s e x u a l c h a ra c t e r, F r e u d ' s O e d i p a l a c c o u n t m u s t i n c l u de t h a t
o f t h e r ol e o f t he c o e rc i v e f o rc e s w h i c h a re i n s t r u m e n t a l i n a c h i e vi n g t h e de s i r e d g o a l s - - t h a t i s , i n a c hi e v i n g a n O e d i p a l r e s o l u t i o n . F r e u d a rg u e s t ha t t he m o s t i m p o r t a nt o f
t h e s e i n g r e d i e n t s a r e ri v a l r y a n d t h e t h r e a t o f c a s t ra t i o n t h a t ri v a l r y gi v e s r i s e t o , ba c k e d b y t h e p r o m i s e o f a r e w a r d - - t h e p r o m i s e t h a t a f t e r a d e l a y i n g ra t i fi c a t i o n t he s e x u a l
a i m w i l l be a c hi e v e d . T h e b o y c hi l d , f o r e xa m p l e , i s p e r s u a d e d t o g i v e u p t h e m ot h e r a s a s e x ua l o b j e c t , n ot o n l y b e c a u s e h e i s t h r e a t e n e d w i t h t h e l o s s o f h i s p e ni s - - t h e
s o u r c e o f s e x u a l p l e a s u r e - - b u t , c r uc i a l l y, b e c a u s e i s h e pe r s u a d e d t o i d e n t i f y w i t h h i s f a t h e r, a s m a l e , i n o r d e r t o g e t a m o t he r ( a f e m a l e s e x u a l o bj e c t ) o f h i s o w n . T h e c hi l d
m u s t , a s D e l e u z e a n d G u a t t a r i p u t i t , b e c o m e l i k e i t s d a d d y o r m um m y i n o r de r t o o n e da y h a v e a d a d d y o r m um m y o f i t s o w n ( 1 9 8 3 ) . O e d i p u s t h u s c o nc e r n s t h e na t u r e a n d
d y n a m i c s o f a [ E n d P a ge 9 4 ] s u b s t i t u t i o n p r o c e s s - - o n e i n w h i c h t h e c h i l d gi v e s u p i t s f i r s t s e x ua l o b j e c t s ( m ot h e r s , f a t he r s , s i bl i n g s ) a n d r e pl a c e s t h e m w i t h c u l t u r a l l y
a p p r o p r i a t e s u b s t i t u t e s - - t ha t i s , w i t h he t e r o s e x ua l a n d n o n - fa m i l i a l o b j e c t c h oi c e s .What is most important about Freud's explanatory

narrative, and, I suggest, directly relevant to post-colonial questions, is the logic of this process.
If Freud assigns two essential and simultaneous tasks to Oedipus--the stabilisation of sexual
orientation and the acquisition of a gender identity--his account also demonstrates that an
underlying binary logic is responsible for their achievement. O e d i p u s c a n t h u s be c o n s t r u e d i n t e rm s o f a v i t a l a n d s i n gl e r u l e
o r p r e s c r i pt i o n - - t ha t w h i c h s p l i t s i d e nt i f i c a t i o n a n d d e s i re , o n e , t ha t i s , w h i c h e n j o i n s t he c h i l d n o t t o de s i r e a n d i d e n t i f y i n t he s a m e pl a c e . Fundamental to
the constitution of what is now commonly called the Subject , is a process which requires
identification and desire to be in a relation of exclusion and exchange. In a way already relevant
to post-colonialism, difference thus becomes desirable and gender-based identification the basic
means by which the Subject is constructed. While the simple but important implication of the
identification/desire opposition is that it explains the positive relationship between sexual desire
and difference (the colonial obsession with "miscegenation" is the result of the fact that colonials
find the very thought of it so tempting), this opposition explains , b y e x t e n s i o n , how difficult it is to
identify with those that are physically different from oneself . T h i s g e ne r a l p oi n t i s g i ve n g r e a t e r p r e c i s i o n w h e n t he
n a t u re o r m e c h a n i c s o f i d e n t i f i c a t i o n a r e c o n s i de r e d i n de t a i l . E ve n o r d i n a r y, e v e r y d a y o b s e r va t i o n m a k e s i t c l e a r t ha t i n i t s e a rl i e s t a n d m o s t f o r m a t i ve s t a g e s i de n t i fi c a t i o n
t a ke s t h e f o r m o f a f o c u s u p o n r e s e m bl a n c e - - i s o r i e nt a t e d t o w a r d s a c hi e v i n g s e n s o r y, p r e d om i n a nt l y v i s u a l , l i ke n e s s .
60
Hamraie P. 61 of 74
AT- AFF Solves Neo-Colonialism

Psychoanalysis shatters the fantasies that uphold the colonial mindsetthe plan leaves our
unconscious motivation intact

During analysis, a type of "dislocation" occurs that permanently alters the "relation between the
organism and its reality ," Mannoni provocatively likening the result to decolonization. 34
Although some critics might balk at this metaphor, deeming it opportunistic, arguably it shows
that psychoanalysis , strictly conceived, is integral to postcolonial critique. As Mannoni explains,
the enigmas fueling the interpretive path of psychoanalysis transform even "decolonize"
external reality, because "it's undoubtedly the unconscious that pushes [us] on toward rupture
[originally: l'inconscient qui me pousse vers la rupture]" (p. 145 ). Shattering many of
colonialism's psychic and political structures, such crises of meaning are essential to any lasting
transformation of society since they break up colonial patterns, including the fantasies that invest
them with meaning.
61
Hamraie P. 62 of 74
Psychology Bad
Psychology is racist in context of Africa and emphasizes physical distinctions that instilled
eugenics
Bertold 98Department of Comparative Literature( Andreas , Oedipus in (South) Africa?:

Most recent books and articles (including McCulloch's) on colonial psychology have in fact
focused attention on the role of (neuro) psychiatry and its institutions in the colonies.
Specifically, this approach has been one concerned with a sociology of power and psychiatry in
the service of colonial rule and all that accompanies this--notably public health systems.
Neuropsychiatry in general sought the underlying organic causes of mental illness and thus easily
accommodated itself to eugenicist, social Darwinist, and, by implication, racial accounts of
society. Its focus was on the study of the brain, through EEG, intelligence and aptitude tests--
often seeking linkages been the purported smaller brain size, lack of intelligence and an aptitude
for manual labour of the "native mind"!
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Hamraie P. 63 of 74
Psychoanalysis = Racism
The negatives application of psychoanalysis in context of Africa fails and devolves into an
ethno-psychiatry of racism and violence

Politically motivated action

We ne e d t o s e a r c h f o r v a l u e - f r e e a n d c ul t u r e - f re e u n i ve r s a l s , a s w e l l a s re c o g n i z e t he n e e d f o r c u l t u re - s p e c i fi c c o n s t r uc t s .
research is acceptable, provided it does not bias empirical research procedures in declaring
certain topics taboo, e.g., genetic explanations. Our society needs research into values,
aggression, and violence but psychology can be more immediately useful by concentrating on
short-term studies of cross-cultural attitude m e a s u r e m e nt , c o n f l i c t m a n a ge m e nt , m e di a c e n s o r s h i p , l e a de r s h i p d e v e l o p m e nt , a n d e a r l y
l e a r n i n g p r o g r a m m e s f o r e n vi r o n m e nt a l l y d i s a d v a nt a g e d c h i l d re n . ( 1 9 8 7 , 1 ) T h e s u b - t e x t o f t hi s s t a t e m e n t i s , I h o pe , r a t he r t r a n s p a re n t ! B i e s h e u v e l ' s re m a r k s s e t t h e s t a ge
f o r t h e de v e l o pm e n t o f m y a rg u m e n t s i n t hi s pa p e r, w h i c h s e e k t o i n t e r r o g a t e s o m e o f t he i s s u e s s u r r o u n d i n g p s y c h oa n a l y s i s s p e c i f i c a l l y ( ra t h e r t h a n p s y c h o l o g y ) i n S o u t h
A f r i c a n hi s t o r y. A s s u c h i t w i l l n o t b e e x h a u s t i ve o f t h i s r e l a t i v e l y u n de r- r e s e a r c h e d a r e a , b ut r a t he r t h e p re s e n t a t i o n o f a ra n g e o f p r o b l e m s a n d t e n s i o n s a r o u n d
p s y c h o a n a l y s i s a n d t h e p ol i t i c s o f d i ff e r e n c e . T h e s e i s s u e s a re a l re a d y r e fl e c t e d i n B i e s h e u v e l ' s s t a t e m e n t s : t h e p r e s u p p o s i t i o n o f g r o u p s (t r i b e s , r a c e s e t c . ) , t h e l a t e n t a n d
s o m e t i m e s e x pl i c i t r a c i s m o f p s y c h o l o gi c a l a p p r o a c h e s , t h e i d e a s o f c ul t u r e o r g r o u p c o n f l i c t , d e c u l t u ra t i o n a n d a c c u l t u ra t i o n t h e o r y, a n d t h e v e xe d i s s u e s o f u ni v e r s a l i s m i n
p s y c h o a n a l y s i s - - i s s u e s p r e s e nt , I s u g g e s t , s i n c e t h e v e r y fi r s t v e n t u re s i n t o p s y c h o a na l y s i s i n S o u t h A f r i c a i n t h e 1 9 2 0 s . T h e hi s t o r y o f p s y c h o l o g y a n d p s y c h oa n a l y s i s i n
S o u t h e r n A f r i c a s p e c i f i c a l l y, a n d A f r i c a m o r e ge n e r a l l y, i s a ra t h e r [E n d P a g e 1 0 2 ] d u b i o u s a ff a i r. T h a t t h e r e w a s c ol l u s i o n b e t w e e n p s y c h i a t r y a n d t h e c ol o n i a l a p p a ra t u s i s
i m p o s s i b l e t o d e n y. T h e o u t l i n e s o f t hi s ha v e a l r e a d y be e n p r e s e nt e d i n t e x t s s u c h a s M e g a n Va u g h a n' s C u ri n g T h e i r I l l s : C ol o n i a l P o w e r a n d A f r i c a n I l l ne s s ( 1 9 9 1 ) , a n d t h e
r e c e n t l y p u bl i s h e d C o l o ni a l P s y c h i a t r y a n d ' T h e A f r i c a n M i n d ' ( 1 9 9 5 ) , b y J o c k M c C ul l o c h , w h i c h p r o v i d e s a c o m p r e he n s i v e o v e r vi e w o f t h e hi s t o r y a n d w r i t i n g s o f
e t h n o p s y c hi a t r y a n d i t s i m b r i c a t i o n i n t h e c o l o n i a l e nt e r p r i s e . T h e s e e t h n o p s y c h i a t r i c w r i t i n g s w e r e p r e d om i n a nt l y c l i n i c a l i n n a t u re , a n d a l t h o u g h t he y d i d d r a w o n b o t h
To a certain extent psychoanalysis has escaped critical

p s y c h o a n a l y s i s a n d e t h n ol o g y, w e r e m o s t l y b a s e d o n m e d i c a l d i s c o u r s e .
scrutiny due to its relatively marginal position on the African continent m o r e g e ne r a l l y, a n d S o u t h A f r i c a s p e c i fi c a l l y .

However in most critical investigations into the role and function of psychology under
colonialism and apartheid, psychoanalysis has to a large measure simply been included within that
category--an inclusion that I wish to challenge and problematise. Central to ethnopsychiatry was
the shift from an older racism concerned with the "native's body" to a racism concerned with the
"native's brain." M c C u l l oc h ( 1 9 9 5 ) s u g g e s t s t h a t ethnopsychiatry "shifted over time from physical to cultural
modes of explanation," but that these modes were often mixed and usually contained "some notion
of the imperfectability of Africans" ( 5 ) . The history o f s o c i a l a n t h r o p o l o g y a n d e t h n o p s y c hi a t r y cannot easily be
disentangled from theories about race and human diversity--and in particular suggests McCulloch,
the "science of eugenics ." B i e s h e u ve l w h o w a s t o b e c e n t r a l i n t he " s c i e n t i f i c a p p r o a c h" t o p s y c h i a t r y u n d e r a p a r t he i d , e x p re s s e s t he r a c i a l u n de r p i n n i n g s
c l e a r l y: O f a l l t h e c o n fl i c t s be t w e e n g r o u p s , t ha t b e t w e e n r a c e s i s p r o b a b l y t h e m o s t s t u b b o r n . I n a d d i t i o n t o s u c h e c o n o m i c a n d p o l i t i c a l c a u s e s a s t h e e x p l o i t a t i o n o f
c h e a p l a b o u r, t h r e a t s t o s t a n da r d s o f l i v i n g o r t o t h e p ol i t i c a l c o n t r ol o f a d o m i n a n t m i n o r i t y, a l l o f w h i c h a re c o m m o n t o g r o u p c o n fl i c t s o f m a n y k i n d s , t he r e i s a n ot h e r
f a c t o r u n d e r l yi n g r a c e a n t a g o n i s m , n a m e l y t h e u n d e ni a b l e , o v e r t a n d u n a l t e r a bl e f a c t o f b i ol o g i c a l d i ff e r e n c e . [ E n d P a g e 1 0 3 ] [ . . . ] T h e i n d i v i d ua l c a n s h e d f a i t h ,
n a t i o n a l i t y o r c l a s s ; b u t h e c a n n o t s h e d hi s ra c e . [ . . . ] Re c o g n i s i n g t h e e xi s t e n c e o f a c o n fl i c t o f i n t e r e s t b e t w e e n t he t w o r a c e s , a p a r t he i d s e t s o u t t o r e d u c e t h e s o u r c e s o f
f r i c t i o n a n d f r u s t ra t i o n b y p r o vi d i n g o p p o r t u ni t i e s f o r s e pa r a t e d e v e l o p m e nt . ( 1 9 5 9 , 2 - 3 ; i t a l i c s i n o r i gi n a l ) H o w e v e r, o f i m m e d i a t e c o n c e r n he r e i s t he p o s i t i o n o f
p s y c h o a n a l y s i s w i t h i n t hi s c o m p l e x . T h e q ue s t i o n a ri s e s a s t o t h e r ol e a n d p r o d uc t i o n o f p s y c h oa n a l y s i s ( f o r o u r p r e s e nt c o n c e r n r e s t r i c t e d t o p r i m a r i l y F r e u di a n
p e r s p e c t i v e s ) i n t h e c ol o n i a l S o u t h A f r i c a n s p a c e . M c C ul l o c h i n h i s b o o k a rg u e s t ha t i t i s i m p o rt a n t t o d i ff e r e n t i a t e b e t w e e n t w o d i s t i nc t m e d i c a l p h i l o s o p h i e s i n t he c o l o n y:
n e u r o p s y c h i a t r y c o nc e r n e d w i t h " b ra i n d y s f u n c t i o n " a n d p s y c h oa n a l y s i s c o nc e r n e d w i t h " a d y s f u n c t i o n o f a p s y c h i c na t u r e " ( 1 9 9 5 , 9 ) . M o s t re c e nt b o o k s a n d a r t i c l e s
, this
( i n c l u d i n g M c C u l l o c h ' s ) o n c ol o n i a l p s y c h o l o g y h a ve i n f a c t f o c u s e d a t t e n t i o n o n t h e r o l e o f ( n e u r o ) p s y c h i a t r y a n d i t s i n s t i t u t i o n s i n t h e c ol o n i e s . S p e c i f i c a l l y
approach has been one concerned with a sociology of power and psychiatry in the service of
colonial rule and all that accompanies this--notably public health systems . N e u r o p s y c h i a t r y i n g e ne r a l s o u g h t t h e
u n d e r l yi n g o rg a n i c c a u s e s o f m e n t a l i l l n e s s a n d t h u s e a s i l y a c c o m m o da t e d i t s e l f t o e u g e ni c i s t , s o c i a l D a r w i ni s t , a n d , b y i m p l i c a t i o n , r a c i a l a c c o u nt s o f s o c i e t y. It s f oc u s w a s
o n t h e s t u d y o f t h e b r a i n , t h r o u g h E E G , i n t e l l i ge n c e a n d a p t i t u d e t e s t s - - o f t e n s e e k i n g l i n k a g e s b e e n t h e p u r p o rt e d s m a l l e r b ra i n s i z e , l a c k o f i n t e l l i g e n c e a n d a n a p t i t u d e f o r
m a n ua l l a b o u r o f t h e " n a t i v e m i n d " !
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Hamraie P. 64 of 74
Their argument make zero sense in context of Africa because the Oedipus complex is non-
applicable to the cultural and family based dynamic. Their assertion that psycho-analysis
perfectly fits African culture is Euro-centric racism.

II. Post-Colonial Criticisms of Psychoanalytic Theory
S p e c i fi c a l l y p o s t - c ol o n i a l i n t e r r o g a t i o n s ha v e b e e n s c a t hi n g i n t he i r c ri t i c i s m o f t he r o l e o r s i l e n c e o f p s y c h o a n a l y s i s u n de r c o l o ni a l i s m a n d i t s t h e o r e t i c a l p r e s u p p o s i t i o n s .
T h i s c ri t i c a l s t ra i n c a n b e t ra c e d ba c k t o F r a nz Fanon , h i m s e l f a p s y c h o a na l y s t , and his famous objection in Black Skin, White

Masks ( 1 9 6 7 ) that in Africa, "The Oedipus complex is far from coming into being among the
Negroes " ( 1 9 6 7 , 1 5 1 - 1 5 2 ) . This is read as a criticism of the perceived Euro/ethno-centrism of
psychoanalysis and its claim to universal applicability . I n i t s m o s t f a v o ra b l e c u r r e n t s these criticisms add up to
the suggestion that psychoanalysis is culture and time bound, while in its more extreme versions
amounts to the suggestion that psychoanalysis is fundamentally racist. Fanon himself , i t i s i n t e re s t i n g t o
n o t e , i s fa r f r o m c l e a r o n t h e s u b j e c t , e s p e c i a l l y a s h i s p r o c e d u r e i s i n l a rg e pa r t d e pe n d e n t u p o n a p s y c h o a n a l y t i c a p p r o a c h . Fanon himself writes that,
"only a psychoanalytic interpretation of the black problem can lay bare the anomalies of affect
that are responsible for the structure of the complex" ( 1 9 6 7 , 1 0 ) . In addition, his statement "that the
Oedipus complex is far from coming into being among Negroes" and the ensuing argument may
suggest a necessary limitation to psychoanalysis and its capacity to understand the socio-politics
of colonialism, rather than an outright dismissal of Oedipus . F o r F a n o n the "neuroses" of the black
man in colonial Algeria are not Freud's sexual neuroses ( a r e pe t i t i o n o f t hi s a rg u m e nt w i l l be s e e n t o be p r e s e n t i n t h e w o r k o f t he
S o u t h A f r i c a n p s y c h o a n a l y s t Wu l f S a c h s a s w e l l ) . Fanon may have had reservations about the presence of Oedipus in
Algeria, but this does not commit him to a politics of difference--for Fanon liberation is
universalist and humanist in its outlook. I n s u m m a r y I w o u l d a rg u e t h a t Fanon's invocation of cultural relativity
and ethnocentrism are primarily aimed at introducing the centrality [ E n d P a g e 1 0 5 ] of "socio-historical
co-ordinates " ( B u l h a n 1 9 8 0 , 2 5 4 ) , co-ordinates overlooked in narrow psychological approaches.
N e v e r t he l e s s F a n o n ' s s t a t e m e nt h a s b e c om e t he f o u n d a t i o n o f c o m m o n c l a i m s m a d e i n p o s t - c o l o n i a l c ri t i c i s m , t ha t the idea of an "African Oedipus"
is nothing but a "European Phantasy" ( H i t c h c ot t 1 9 9 3 , 6 2 ) . A re c e nt a r t i c l e p r e s e n t s w h a t ha s be c o m e t h e d om i n a nt o p i n i o n a b o u t t he w o r k o f

Fanon:
64
Hamraie P. 65 of 74
Attempting to apply psychoanalysis to African culture disguises colonialism under a
framework where the Euro-centric Oedipal model is imposed in an attempt to co-opt the
distinctive culture of Africa. Their appeals to western knowledge close off the possibility of
action outside of western systems of empirical knowledge by homogenizing human nature in
the same way that strengthened imperial control and political elitism.

Fanon's effort to call into question the universality of the Oedipus complex may constitute what is
most revolutionary about his theoretical work, a political intervention into classical
psychoanalysis of enormous import for later theorists of race and sexuality. R e s p o n d i n g t o a n a l l u s i o n b y L a c a n t o
t h e " a b u n da n c e " o f t h e O e di p u s c o m p l e x , Fanon shows instead the limitations of Oedipus, or rather the ideological
role Oedipus plays as a limit in the enculturating sweep of colonial expansionism. Prone to see
Oedipus everywhere they look, Western ethnologists are impelled to find their own psychosexual
pathologies duplicated in their objects of study. Under colonialism, Oedipus is nothing if not self-
reproducing. ( F u s s 1 9 9 4 , 3 3 ) T h i s h o s t i l e r e c e p t i o n o f p s y c h o a n a l y s i s i n p o s t - c o l o ni a l c r i t i c i s m re s t s o n t w o p r o bl e m a t i c a s s u m p t i o n s . Firstly that
Oedipus is a (racist) European invention and imposition, and secondly (which ties in with
Oedipus) that psychoanalysis' claim to universalism is nothing but a ruse for (psychic)
colonization. A n o t h e r r e c e n t re v i e w a rt i c l e s t a t e s t h e p o s t - c o l o n i a l o p p o s i t i o n t o p s y c h o a na l y s i s i n t he s t r o n g e s t t e r m s : None of the structuring
mechanisms of Freud's European Oedipus have been found to exist on the African continent . [ . . .
] " Oedipus is always colonization pursued by other means." [ . . . ] Although the Oedipal triangle is
a highly seductive formula, we must resist the temptation to contain that which is outside our
empirical knowledge . We have a responsibility , a s c r i t i c s , to recognize our own humility, to resist the
trap of universalism and to decolonise ourselves. ( H i t c h c ot t 1 9 9 3 , 6 5 ) [ E n d P a ge 1 0 6 ] To s u m u p , the reasons for the
opposition to psychoanalysis in Africa is that it is: Euro-centric, totalitarian, universalist, does
not apply/work in Africa, and finally operates in the service of colonial power . A l t h o u g h i t w i l l b e a d m i t t e d
t h a t i n t he c o l o ni a l s i t u a t i o n p s y c h o a n a l y s i s d oe s c o n f r o n t i t s o w n l i m i t s a s a n e x p l a n a t o r y m o d e l , t h e p o s t - c ol o n i a l s t r a t e g y o f " di ff e r e nc e " c o n t a i n s a n u m b e r o f pi t f a l l s .
W h a t w i l l e m e rg e i n t hi s p re s e n t a t i o n i s t ha t f a r f r om t h e re b e i n g a c l e a r d i vi d i n g l i n e o f o p p o s i t i o n b e t w e e n p o s i t i o n s o f d i ff e r e nc e a n d p o s i t i o n s o f u n i v e r s a l i s m , t he t w o
" s t ra t e gi e s " w i l l b e r e ve a l e d a s c o m pl e x l y i n t e r re l a t e d a n d ne i t he r o n e a p ri o r i " p o l i t i c a l l y p r o g re s s i ve " a s i s o f t e n s u g g e s t e d . T he r e c a n b e f e w b e t t e r s u m m a r i e s o f t h e p o s t -
c o l o ni a l p o s i t i o n o n " d i ff e re n c e " t h a n t h a t f r om s o m e o f t he o r i g i na l " p o s t - c o l o ni a l s t u di e s " p r o g e ni t o r s . B i l l A s h c r o f t , G a r e t h G r i ff i t h s a n d H e l e n Ti ff i n w r i t e i n t h e i r
The concept of universalism is one of particular interest to post-

i n t r o d uc t i o n t o T h e P o s t - C o l o ni a l S t u di e s R e a de r ( 1 9 9 5 ) :
colonial writers because it is this notion of a unitary and homogeneous human nature which
marginalises and excludes the distinctive characteristics, the difference, of post-colonial societies.
[ . . . ] The myth of universality is thus a primary strategy of imperial control as it is manifested in
literary study. [ . . . ] The assumption of universalism is a fundamental feature of the construction of

colonial power because the "universal" features of humanity are the characteristics of those who
occupy positions of political dominance . ( 5 5 )
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Hamraie P. 66 of 74
Psychoanalytic Discourse Racism

The psychoanalytical imperative to understand the native mind as a way to interrogate our
relationship in the fantasy of Africa that we prescribe to fashions the native mind as
distinct and dissimilar---empirically shaping the creation racially based policies.

I t i s i n t h i s c o n t e x t t ha t I w i s h t o s i t ua t e t h e S o u t h A f r i c a n p s y c h o a na l y t i c i nt e r v e nt i o n s , a n d a l s o t o s i t u a t e m y o w n ( m i n i m a l ) d e fe n s e o f t h e i r p o s i t i o n o n u ni v e r s a l i t y. T he
h i s t o r y o f e a r l y p s y c h o a na l y s i s , a l t h o u g h n o t i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z e d , c a n n o t be e n t i r e l y s e pa r a t e d f r o m t ha t o f e t h n o p s y c h i a t r y a n d t he c u l t u r a l a n t h r o p o l o gi c a l d i s c o u r s e o f t he d a y.
The imperative to "understand the native mind" in order to "solve the native
As Dubow writes,
question," itself prefigured segregationist solutions. Drawing deeply on the liberal-

paternalist ethic of "sympathetic administration of the natives," the "need to
understand the native mind" held the undeniable implication that the native mind was
somehow of a distinct type. Its recognition as a unique entity therefore entailed the
devising of racially-based governmental policies . (1984, 26)
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Hamraie P. 67 of 74
Psychoanalysis Doesnt Solve

Colonialism
Psychoanalysis fails t account for cultural differences
The result , a n d t hi s i s I t h i n k w h a t i s m o s t i m p o rt a n t he r e , is that although Lacan's metapsychology of desiring

relations is political in form, it is not so in a way which can account for the specifics of
colonialism as a political configuration. Nor can, or should, it be used to explain the colonial
Other in particular. There is nothing in Lacan that accounts in advance for how [ E n d P a g e 8 7 ] colonial
Others are different from any others. In order to connect the problematic of the Other and
othering to that of difference--which is what post-colonialism must do--other Others are needed. 3 .
M a n y p o s t - c o l o ni a l w r i t e r s s e e m t o b e a w a re t h a t an approach more local and less metapsychological than that of Lacan
must be sought.
67
Hamraie P. 68 of 74
Psychoanalysis Fails in Africa

Reducing cultural difference to failures in the symbolic order marginalizes the importance of
Otherness in the racial and cultural context.
A t y p i c a l e x a m pl e w h i c h i n c o r p o r a t e s s o m e t hi n g o f e a c h o f t h e m a j o r p o s t - c o l o n i a l t he m e s , a n d i n c l u de s p s y c h oa n a l y s i s i n a s t y l e i n m a n y w a y s t y pi c a l o f p o s t - c o l o ni a l i s m ,
i s H o m i B h a b ha ' s c o n t ri b u t i o n t o t h e E s s e x c o n f e r e nc e e nt i t l e d " T h e O t h e r Q u e s t i o n : D i ff e r e n c e , D i s c ri m i na t i o n a n d t h e D i s c o u r s e o f C ol o n i a l i s m " ( 1 9 8 6 ) . I n t r u e p o s t -
its use of psychoanalysis is

c o l o ni a l s t yl e t hi s e s s a y i s w e l l - n i g h i m p o s s i b l e t o p a r a p h ra s e , m a ki n g i t di ff i c ul t t o u s e a n d e s p e c i a l l y e a s y t o a b u s e . B u t
interesting and, in my view, flawed in exemplary ways . W h a t i s m o r e , t he s t a t e d t h e m e o f t he p a p e r i s t h a t w h i c h c o u l d be t h o u g h t

o f a s u n i t i n g a l l o f p o s t - c o l o ni a l i s m , t h a t w h i c h he describes as the "half-life of the oppressed condemned to
misrepresentation" and how this reflects "the grotesque psychodrama of everyday life in colonial
societies " ( 1 9 8 6 , 1 4 9 ) . B h a b h a a rg u e s a t t h e o u t s e t t h a t " t h e p r a c t i s e o f a u t h o r i t y d i s p l a y s a n a m b i va l e nc e t ha t i s o n e o f t h e m o s t s i g ni f i c a n t d i s c u r s i ve a n d p s y c h i c a l
s t r a t e g i e s o f d i s c ri m i na t o r y p o w e r w h e t he r r a c i s t o r s e x i s t , p e ri p h e r a l o r m e t r o p o l i t a n" ( 1 9 8 6 , 1 4 8 ) . T h e a s pe c t s o f c ol o n i a l d i s c o u r s e h e w i s h e s t o a c c o u nt f o r i n t hi s e s s a y
a n d i n ot h e r w o r k , a r e t h o s e e v o c a t i ve o f p r a c t i c e s o f t h i s k i n d a n d a r e c a p t u r e d i n t h o s e u n p a ra p h r a s e a bl e p h r a s e s n o w c h a ra c t e r i s t i c o f p o s t - c o l o ni a l i s m . H e r e f e r s , f o r
example, to "mixed economies," " the construction of national and cultural differences via semes of foreignness,
impurity," "the perverse collusion of sexism and racism , " " t h e fe a r / de s i r e o f m i s c e g e na t i o n" a n d t o " t he p l a y i n t h e c o l o n i a l s y s t e m
e s s e n t i a l t o i t s e x e rc i s e o f p o w e r" ( 1 9 8 6 , 1 5 3 - 1 5 4 ) . The sense of the paradoxical these phrases all carry is reinforced in
a conception of the Other as "a fixed reality which is simultaneously wholly other and entirely
knowable and visible" ( 1 9 8 6 , 1 5 6 ) . I n a w a y p r e p a ra t o r y t o , o r pa r t o f , h i s p s y c h o a na l y t i c o r i e n t a t i o n , B h a b ha a l s o w r i t e s o f t h e p o l a r i t y [E n d P a g e 8 8 ] a n d
d i v i s i o n a t t he h e a rt o f S a i d ' s O r i e nt a l i s m a n d o f t he u n c o n s c i o u s a s t he s c e n e o f t h i s O r i e n t a l i s m i n i t s l a t e nt f o r m ( 1 9 8 6 , 1 5 7 ) . I n c om p l i m e n t i n g a l l t h o s e n o n - s t a n da r d
a c c o u n t s o f c o l o ni a l w r i t i n g w h i c h he d e s c r i be s a s " u n s e t t l i n g t h e q u e s t f o r m e a ni n g s t h a t a r e i nt e n t i o n a l i s t a n d n a t i o n a l i s t , " Bhabha makes post-

colonialism's broad commitment to post-modernist principles clear . H e i s , h o w e ve r, s k e p t i c a l o f a n y p o s i t i o n w h i c h , i n
t h e e n d , r e s u l t s i n t h e p a ra d o x o f s e e i n g " c ul t u r a l o t h e r ne s s f u n c t i o n a s a m o m e nt o f p r e s e n c e i n a t h e o r y o f d i ff e r e n c e " ( 1 9 8 6 , 1 5 1 ) . W h a t B ha b h a d o e s n o t e n d o r s e , t h a t i s ,
i s p o s t - m o d e r ni s t a c c o u n t s w h i c h s l i de f r o m s e m i o t i c a n d d e c o n s t r u c t i o n i s t a c t i vi t y t o c u l t u ra l o r p o l i t i c a l O t he r n e s s . It i s c l e a r, he a rg u e s , a n d w h o c o u l d d i s a g re e w i t h hi m
there is more to the difference of other cultures than "the excess of signification " ( 1 9 8 6 , 1 5 4 ) .
i n t hi s , t h a t
He suggests that theories of difference and significance ( g ra m m a t o l o g y a n d s e m i ol o g y ) have marginalized

thbe important questions of racial/cultural/historical Otherness by claiming that othering
reveals the limits of western metaphysics itself . I n s t e a d , f o r Bhabha, colonial discourse must be
explained in terms which can capture its paradoxical features such as the simultaneous
recognition and disavowal of racial, cultural and historical differences ( 1 9 8 6 , 1 5 4 ) .
68
Hamraie P. 69 of 74
Psychoanalysis Fails in Africa

Psychoanalysis fails when applied to concepts of the Other in post-colonial workthe
Oedipus complex is unable to account for colonial stereotypes and questions of race which
cannot be explained as a fetish.
it is this
B u t i t i s t o t he p s y c h o a n a l y t i c a c c o u n t o f t he f e t i s h t h a t he t u r n s i n o r d e r t o e x p l a i n t he a m bi v a l e n c e c h a r a c t e ri s t i c o f t h e c ol o n i a l s t e r e ot y p e a n d
psychological component which he considers responsible for the stereotype's currency and
repeatability in changing historical and discursive conjunctures. T h e i n g r e d i e n t Bhabha wishes to bring
to an understanding of the stereotype by way of addition of the fetish, is the disavowal of
difference. This disavowal of difference he describes in turn as "the repetitious scene around the
problem of castration as an archaic affirmation of wholeness and similarity"--that all men have
the same skin, race and culture. J u s t a s s o m e d o n ot h a v e pe n i s e s s o m e d o n o t ha v e d i ff e r e n t ra c e / s k i n o r c u l t u r e . I n s u m , the desire for a
pure origin is what difference threatens ( 1 9 8 6 , 1 6 1 - 1 6 4 ) . One can see why the fetish--the prototypical
sign of disavowal--would be appealing to one concerned with the broadly symptomatic aspects of
othering , but i n m y o pi n i o n the psychoanalytic view of the fetish is finally and correctly of little use to
an understanding of the colonial stereotype . I n fa c t much that is central to Freud's account of
fetishism is lost or distorted when it is used to do post-colonial work. I n T h r e e E s s a y s o n t h e T h e o r y o f S e x u a l i t y
( 1 9 0 5 ) f e t i s h e s (i n t h e f o rm o f f e e t , h a i r, c l ot h i n g , e s p e c i a l l y u n d e r w e a r ) a r e re f e r r e d t o a s o n e o f a c l a s s o f m a n y u n s u i t a b l e s u b s t i t u t e s f o r a s e x u a l o bj e c t . F r e u d ' s f u l l e s t
a c c o u n t o f f e t i s h i s m , h o w e v e r, o c c u r s i n t h e 1 9 2 7 e s s a y o f t ha t n a m e , i n w h i c h t h e a e t i o l o g y a n d f u nc t i o n o f t h e f e t i s h i s p r e s e n t e d i n s o m e de t a i l . I n t hi s e s s a y, t h e f e t i s h i s
d e s c r i be d a s b e l o n gi n g t o o n e o f a c l a s s o f c om p r o m i s e f o rm a t i o n s i n w h i c h ( u n l i k e r e p re s s i o n w h i c h i m pl i c a t e s a ff e c t ) i t i s t he i d e a w h i c h i s r e p re s s e d o r di s a v o w e d . A s a
s u b s t i t u t e f o r t h e m o t h e r' s pe n i s - - a r e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f w h a t t he m o t he r m i g ht h a v e l o s t a t t h e h a n d s o f [ E n d P a ge 9 0 ] t h e fa t h e r- - i t s p u r p o s e i s t o d e fe n d a g a i n s t t h e t h r e a t o f
c a s t ra t i o n . It s pa r t i c u l a r f o rm i s , i n t u r n , de t e rm i n e d b y t h e l a s t i m p re s s i o n o r o bj e c t g l i m p s e d b e f o r e t h e u n c a n n y m o m e n t w h e n t he c a s t ra t e d b o d y o f t h e m ot h e r i s s e e n , t h e
m o m e n t , t ha t i s , w h e n c a s t r a t i o n m o v e s f r o m a t h r e a t t o a r e a l i t y. F o r F r e u d t he n t h e fe t i s h i s , i n t h i s , t h a t w h i c h p r e s e r ve s t h e p h a l l i c m o t he r- - a n d i t i s f u n c t i o n a l i n t hi s
c a pa c i t y o n l y b e c a u s e i t i s t h e a c t ua l , t he p a r t i c u l a r, l a s t o b j e c t s e e n be f o r e s e e i n g t h e c a s t r a t e d b o d y o f t he m o t he r. I n o t he r w o r d s , i f t h e f e t i s h m a ke s i t p o s s i b l e t o a s s e r t
t w o c o n t ra d i c t o r y p r o p o s i t i o n s s i m ul t a ne o u s l y - - t h a t t h e m o t h e r s t i l l ha s a p e n i s a n d t h a t t h e f a t h e r h a s c a s t r a t e d h e r- - i t d o e s s o o n l y u n d e r pa r t i c u l a r c o n d i t i o n s a n d f o r
p a r t i c u l a r r e a s o n s . T h e s e re a s o n s a n d c o n d i t i o n s a r e e s s e nt i a l t o F r e u d ' s a c c o u n t a n d r e i t e r a t i n g t he m s h o u l d , I t hi n k , m a ke t h e p r o bl e m s w h i c h B ha b h a ' s p o s t - c o l o ni a l
a p p r o p r i a t i o n p re s e n t s , c l e a r. F i r s t l y, i n F r e u d , f e t i s h i s m r e fe r s de s c r i p t i v e l y t o a p a rt i c ul a r c l a s s o f s e x ua l s y m p t om s t h a t i m p l i c a t e " u n s u i t a b l e s u b s t i t u t e s f o r t h e s e x u a l
o b j e c t " s u c h a s w o m e n ' s s h o e s , ha i r a n d u n de r c l ot h e s ( 1 9 2 7 , 6 5 ) . S e c o n d l y, fe t i s h i s m oc c u r s a s p a r t o f F r e u d ' s O e d i p u s , o f t he v i c i s s i t u d e s o f t h e m o t h e r/ f a t he r / c hi l d t ri a n g l e ,
a n d i t t h u s r e l i e s o n t h e ke y i n g r e di e n t s o f O e d i p u s , i n fa n t i l e s e x u a l i t y, pa t e r na l r i va l r y a n d t h e t h re a t o f c a s t r a t i o n . T hi r d l y, f e t i s h i s m h a s a n e q u a l l y p a r t i c u l a r a e t i o l o g y
w h i c h i s c o n fi n e d t o a m o m e n t i n e a r l y c h i l d h o o d , t h a t i s , t o F r e u d ' s p o s i t i ve O e d i p u s o r t h e pe r i o d i n w h i c h t h e b o y c h i l d i s i n l o v e w i t h t h e m o t h e r a n d e x p e ri e n c e s , o r i s
m a de t o e x pe r i e nc e , t he f a t he r a s a p o t e n t i a l l y c a s t r a t i n g r i va l . A s a r e s u l t t h e fe t i s h m u s t be t h a t w h i c h s t a n d s i n f o r a m i s s i n g p e ni s a n d t h e fe t i s h i s t m u s t b e a m a n ( 1 9 2 7 ,
Despite the widespread belief to

3 3 4 - 3 5 7 ) . O n c l o s e r e xa m i na t i o n t h e n t he ( F r e u d i a n a t l e a s t ) , f e t i s h - t o - s t e re o t y p e c o n n e c t i o n s e e m s ve r y d u b i o u s .
the contrary, Freud is always very specific and literal when it comes to the nature and origins of a
symptom and the details of his account of the fetish simply will not explain ingredients central to
the colonial stereotype . U n l i k e t h e f e t i s h , w h i c h h a s p o s i t i v e v a l u e a n d p o s i t i v e s e x ua l c o n s e q ue n c e s a n d va l u e s b u t o nl y i n a pa r t i c u l a r f o rm ,
stereotypes are usually negative and range freely across a [ E n d P a g e 9 1 ] cluster of what are often
interchangeable negative attributes . F u r t he r m o r e , one of the most fixed, presumably fetishized, features
of colonial stereotypes--the racist emphasis on the blackness of the Other-- cannot be explained
as a fetish. For a start the white boy child is unlikely to have had a black mother and to have
fixated upon her blackness as the last thing seen before observing her castration. W h a t i s m o r e t h e t h re a t o f
c a s t ra t i o n i s f u nc t i o na l o n l y i n m a l e O e d i p u s - - a n d o ne w o u l d b e h a r d p re s s e d t o s h o w t ha t f e t i s h i z e d / s t e re o t y p i c r e s p o n s e s t o t h e O t he r a r e n ot a s c h a ra c t e r i s t i c o f w o m e n a s
t h e y a r e o f m e n . E m a s c u l a t e i t , t u r n i t i n t o a s t e r e ot y p e , a n d t h e r e s i m p l y i s n o F r e u d i a n f e t i s h . I n a l l fa i r n e s s t o B h a b ha a n d p o s t - c ol o n i a l i s m , t he r e i s n o t o nl y o n e
s t e r e ot y p e a n d F r e u d' s i s n ot , p r e s u m a bl y, t h e o n l y fe t i s h . T h e s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d l y ne g a t i v e a n d bl a t a n t l y s e l f - i n t e r e s t e d c o l o n i a l s t e re o t y p e d oe s n ot n e e d e x p l a i n i n g - - a n d
the threat of castration is not , t h e o re t i c a l l y a t l e a s t , the only reason for fetishistic disavowal. If the post-
colonial object is an analytic one as has been suggested, it is the compulsion to condemn the
Other , and the fascination which his difference simultaneously engenders, which needs to be
explained. A n d t hi s a m b i va l e nc e , l i k e t he t r u e fe t i s h , s u r e l y s h o u l d n ot t o b e c o n f u s e d w i t h t he m i xe d f e e l i n g s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h o r di n a r y c o n fl i c t a n d " n o rm a l "
s e x u a l i t y.
69
Hamraie P. 70 of 74
Psychoanalysis Fails in Policy
Even advocates of psychoanalysis in Africa agree that in terms of political crisis

psychoanalysis fails and pushes us in the opposite direction.

One might fault Mannoni's purportedly "objective" studies, including Prospero and Caliban, for representing
politics as if it were an extension of psychic turmoil for "relying," as Bloch puts it, "on psychoanalytic theories
that supply facile motivational explanations for actions that at first sight are meaningless to the foreign observer"
(p. vi) but doing so would misrepresent Mannoni's claims and ignore almost all of his other work. Moreover,
Bloch's assessment is itself ambiguous: If such "motivational explanations" are meaningless "at first sight," are
they any clearer belatedly, retrospectively? Although Mannoni certainly thought so, he insisted that
psychoanalysis could not resolve political crises not because it is apolitical, but
because it engages with conflicts that frustrate strategy. Such an approach, in his words,
" cannot help us formulate a colonial policy [ne permet pas de mieux dessiner un plan de
politique coloniale]" (pp. 167; 161); if anything, psychoanalysis pushes us in the opposite
direction , where policies fail and become unworkable , because they are shown to lack
meaning.
70
Hamraie P. 71 of 74
Fantasies Not Apply to Africa

Fantasy has no pratical influence on our external reality and interaction with the Other.

. He began offering a
B y t h e m i d 1 9 5 0 s , b y c o n t ra s t , M a n n o n i t e n d e d t o de - o n t o l o gi z e ra c i a l c o n fl i c t , t h e re b y d i s t i n g ui s h i n g b e t w e e n p r e j u di c e a n d p e r s o n s
more nuanced psychoanalytic critique of colonialism, in which otherness in the broadest sense is
a determinant of conflict, rather than a guise that the colonized seem to represent to those who
would subject them . F o r M a n n o ni , the origins of violence need not be external, but can obtain from the
power of a person's racial [ E n d P a g e 1 2 9 ] imagos. By stressing the influence of fantasies bearing no
logical or even practical influence on external reality, Mannoni alters our conception of colonial
reciprocity and relationality. T h i s i s s o m e t h i n g A p t e r a l m o s t c o n c e d e s w h e n s u m m a ri z i n g t h i s d e b a t e a n d e x p l a i n i n g w h y F a n o n ' s w r a n g l e w i t h M a n n o n i
s t i l l h a u n t s u s : F a n o n ' s f a m o u s a t t a c k o n M a n n o n i . . . e x e m pl i f i e s m a n y o f t he p i t fa l l s a n d vi r t u e s o f c o nj u g a t i n g r a c e a n d p s y c h o a na l y s i s . I t s h o w s , o n t he o n e h a n d , h o w
s u p p r e s s e d c o l o n i a l h i s t o ri e s h a v e be e n e m b e d d e d w i t h i n t he c o n c e p t u a l a p p a ra t u s o f p s y c h o a n a l y s i s , a n d o n t h e ot h e r, h o w v i t a l p s y c h oa n a l y s i s r e m a i n s t o a n u a n c e d
u n d e r s t a n di n g o f d e p e n de n c y ; w h e t h e r a t t h e m i c r o l e v e l ( c o l o n fa c i n g o ff a g a i n s t c o l o n i s ) , o r t h e g l o ba l l e v e l (t h e p o l i t i c s o f " d e pe n d e n t " n a t i o n s w i t h i n t ra n s n a t i o na l
c a pi t a l f l o w s o f de b t , t e c h n i c a l k n o w - h o w, a n d a c t u a ri a l p r oj e c t i o n ) . 1 5
71
Hamraie P. 72 of 74
Perm key to Ethical Deplyoment

Combining psychoanalysis with our post-colonial interrogation creates a framework for
ethical orientation and garners the benefits of psychoanalysis without its imposition of
homogenizing uniformity on the world.
Khanna 03-- PhD in Women's Studies at U of York, U.K, Assist. Proff in Dept of English at Duke
University, affiliate in Women's Studies( Ranjana, Dark Continents: Psychoanalysis and
Colonialism , 2003, Duke University Press, pg xii)
Postcolonial
E a c h s e c t i o n s s t yl e i m p l i e s a d i ff e r e n c e n ot i o n o f t e m p o r a l i t y a n d h i s t o r i c i t y t h a t i s i n f o r m e d b y t h e n a t u r e o f t he p a r t i c u l a r a ff e c t a t h a n d .
theory has frequently rejected psychoanalysis , objecting with some justification that is imposed
a uniform notion of self onto the world. On the occasions when psychoanalytic theory has been
employed in postcolonial analysis, it has been for the most part Lacanian. W h i l e t he r e i s a s u s t a i n e d e n ga g e m e n t
w i t h t he w o r k o f J a c q u e s L a c a n i n t h e l a t t e r h a l f o f t h i s b o o k , D a r k C o n t i ne n t s i s n o t a L a c a n i a n s t u d y. Dark continents proposes a concept of
colonial melancholia that has no place within a Lacanian structuralist framework. H e re c o l o ni a l m e l a n c h o l i a i s

p r e s e n t e d a s a p o l i t i c s o f a ff e c t a s a f o r m o f i n d i v i d ua t e d c r i t i q u e . This involves understanding the contingency of
psychoanalysis vis--vis colonialism, neoliberalism, and nationalism. In fact, psychoanalysis,

reconfigured t h r o u g h i t s l oc a t i o n as a colonial discipline , and read against the grain, becomes the means
through which contingent postcolonial futures can be imagined ethically.
72
Hamraie P. 73 of 74
No Alt to Development
Development is inevitablewe must enliven a criticism to search for the best strategies for
it.

D e v e l o pm e n t i n t e r ve n t i o n a n d t h e o ri e s a b o u t i t s f a i l u r e
Those
I n t h e l i t e r a t u re w e f i n d m a n i f o l d e x p l a na t i o n s f o r t he s h o r t c o m i n g s o f de v e l o pm e n t a n d t h e di s j u n c t u re b e t w e e n g o a l s a n d e x p e c t a t i o n s , a n d r e a l o u t c om e s .
who follow a modernisation perspective take a benevolent position towards the project of
development, arguing that, for all its shortcomings and disappointing results, academics and
practitioners should keep united in their search for better strategies of intervention . I n t h i s v i e w t h e r e i s
s i m p l y n o a l t e r n a t i v e f o r a l l e vi a t i n g t h e fa t e o f t h e p o o r. The very existence of a body of international agencies working
on the promotion of new forms of expertise is viewed as a heroic (if quixotic) modernist
endeavour, or as the expression of the culture of modernity as manifested in the belief in planning
and its symbolic paraphernalia. 1 I n t h i s v i e w it is important to acknowledge that there is no alternative
to development , that development in spite of its failures is the only game in town. H e re we see a
predilection for the identification of constantly new approaches, as manifested in the popularity
of notions such as social capital, c i vi l s o c i e t y d e ve l o p m e n t , p a rt i c i p a t i o n , g o o d g o v e r n a nc e , e t c . T hi s i s t h e p o s i t i o n o f i n s t i t u t i o n s s u c h a s t he
Wo r l d B a n k , w h i c h a re r e a d y t o e n g a ge i n t h o r o u g h g oi n g f o r m s o f s e l f - c ri t i c i s m a n d t o r e i n ve n t t he m s e l ve s b y e m b r a c i n g n e w a p p r oa c h e s a n d m e t h o d ol o g i e s s o a s t o s a l va g e
t h e i d e a o f de v e l o pm e n t .
73
Hamraie P. 74 of 74
Universalism = Racist
Universalist assumptions are easily adapted by Conservatives and racists for their own
agenda

The major analytical device that Sachs resorts to in the interpretation of John's life is that of
"Hamletism." According to Sachs (1937), John was suffering from Hamletism, "a universal
phenomenon symbolising indecision and hesitancy when action is required and reasonably
expected" (176). Following Freud and Ernest Jones (1949), Sachs suggests that this phenomenon
be traced to an unresolved Oedipus complex. Sachs argues further that "the situation which occurs
in Hamlet is common to all humanity, and this is the primary reason why Shakespeare's tragedy
appeals to men of all races and nations " (177). S a c h s ' r e s o r t t o " H a m l e t " i s n o t hi n g l e s s t h a n a n a t t e m pt t o w r i t e J o h n ' s s t o r y i nt o a
u n i v e r s a l n a r r a t i v e o f h um a n k i n d - - i n s h o r t I s u g g e s t t h a t i t i s a r a d i c a l l y p r o g r e s s i v e m o ve i n t he p o l i t i c a l / s o c i a l c o n t e xt o f t h e t i m e . F o r S a c h s " F r e u d i a n i s m " w a s
Dubow (1993) and Vaughan (1991) have pointed out the

u n i v e r s a l i s t a n d t h e r e f o re c o n c l u s i v e l y a n o n - r a c i s t t h e o r y. H o w e v e r b ot h
dangers in such simple universalist assumptions, especially considering the ease with which such
notions in the hands of more conservative and racist thinkers can be adapted to a theory of
evolutionary and racial hierarchy . [End Page 115]
74

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Psychoanalysis Northwestern

Zizek 06 Proff U of Ljubljana (Slavoj Nobody has to be vile, April 6, 2006,

There is no exploited working class today, only concrete

problems to be solved: starvation in Africa , t h e pl i g h t o f M u s l i m w o m e n , r e l i g i o u s f u n d a m e n t a l i s t vi o l e nc e . When there is a

Those who were old

Liberal communists do not

<Card Continues Without Deletion>

There is no such thing as the global "one

o f u s . Tr a n s f o r m a t i o n s o f " s t r uc t u r e s" w i l l s o o n f o l l o w. This is, pe r h a p s , the beginning of all emancipations . T h i s i s , p e r h a p s , t he

B. Time-frame ---these structural causes of violence ensure violent ethnic conflicts---

2NC- Impact Block

2. Ethics---attempting to alleviate ourselves of guilt by blindly throwing aid at Africa masks

3. Violence---disregarding the actions and empowerment of individuals allows global systems

4. They operate from a faulty ontology---focusing on globally based impacts prevents an

2NC- Perm Block

4. Combining their fixation to solve foreign problems in Africa with an interrogation of

Zizek 05--Proff U of Ljubljana--(Slavoj, Violence, Irrational and Rational, 2005,

we witness the resurgence of the figure of the "quiet American," a

Link- Terrorism (1/3)

The shattering impact of the

Link- Terrorism (2/3)

the possible choice of Afghanistan recalls the

There is a partial truth in the notion

civilization. F u r t h e r m o re , a b r i e f l o o k a t t h e c o m p a ra t i ve h i s t o r y o f I s l a m a n d C h r i s t i a n i t y t e l l s u s t h a t t h e " h u m a n ri g h t s r e c o r d" o f I s l a m (t o u s e t h i s a na c h r o n i s t i c

Link- Terrorism (3/3)

Link- Terrorism (1/2)

16th century - elementary ethics. C r u e l a n d i n d i ff e r e n t a s i t m a y s o u n d , w e s h o u l d a l s o , n o w m o r e t ha n e v e r, b e a r i n m i n d t h a t the actual

<Card Continues Without Deletion>

Link- Terrorism (2/2)

Link- Utilitarianism/Catastrophe (1/2)

Murphy and Zizek 01 Proff U of Ljubljana(SLAVOJ ZIZEK ANSWERS PETER

The ultimate American paranoiac fantasy is that of an individual living in a s m a l l i d y l l i c C a l i f o r n i a n c i t y, a

in a way IRREAL, substanceless, deprived of

t h e t w o . ( S Z ) M a y be t h i s p o i nt i s d i ff i c u l t t o g r a s p f o r m y e s t e e m e d c r i t i c , b ut therein resides the most elementary paradox of the

h o w " i t ' s o nl y o u r f a n t a s y " t ha t its actualization is such a traumatic shock . A s i m i l a r p h e n o m e n o n i s k n o w n t o e v e r y p s y c h ol o g i s t : w h e n I

the modern imagination is

projective, it speculates about contingencies , it anticipates the worst , etc.

Link- Utilitarianism/Catastrophe (2/2)

The shattering impact of the

De Vries 07--Department of Rural Development Sociology, Wageningen University --(Pieter,

A Lacanian approach to the lack of development

2NC- Perm Block

4. Combining psycho-analytical and post-colonial approaches corrupts the alternatives

The result is that, as a critique, psychoanalysis can

2NC- Perm Block

De Vries 07--Department of Rural Development Sociology, Wageningen University --(Pieter,

De Vries 07--Department of Rural Development Sociology, Wageningen University --(Pieter,

Link- Civil Society/Social Capital (1/2)

De Vries 07--Department of Rural Development Sociology, Wageningen University --(Pieter,

m o d e r ni s a t i o n i n t h e S o u t h . H e s h o w s e x pl i c i t l y h o w the reinvention and radicalisation of development goes together

governance directed to the reconstruction of entire societies in the South is in essence an

Link- Civil Society/Social Capital (2/2)

De Vries 07--Department of Rural Development Sociology, Wageningen University --(Pieter,

A s w e a l l k n o w, a p p l i e d development theory t o d a y consists of an array of methodologies , o f which rapid rural

De Vries 07--Department of Rural Development Sociology, Wageningen University --(Pieter,

desires. I s t h i s n o t a nice example of Hegels cunning of reason, of how a bureaucratic rationality

De Vries 07--Department of Rural Development Sociology, Wageningen University --(Pieter,

Link- Failure Dev

De Vries 07--Department of Rural Development Sociology, Wageningen University --(Pieter,

Link- Humanitarian Ethics

De Vries 07--Department of Rural Development Sociology, Wageningen University --(Pieter,

Link- Selfish Motive (1/2)

observed , Mannoni views colonial structures as fixed, even predetermined. A t hi s m o s t L a c a n i a n , b y c o n t ra s t , h i s t h e s i s