Re: Modernity & Politics

Greetings,

Sorry for the delayed response.  I was asked to
clarify myself concerning the issue of modernity and
race.  Why some sectors of the not-so-successfull
portions of the global community may find the
discourse of modernity useful is, I believe, related
to race.  Let us not forget that the idea of the
concept of "being modern" emerged in the context of
European domination over the south, with the discourse
of race at the center of this process.  

It was first and foremost attractive to the elites
interested in expanding their accumulation overseas. 
It went something like this: "We have a mission to
fulfill in the south - the annihilation of backward,
unproductive, superstituous, feudal worlds and replace
them with an enlghtened, modern, productive societies
like that of modern, western societies."  (Check out
Michael Adas, "Machines as the Measure of Men").  This
is what Edward Said meant in saying that the orient
had to be produced, not as an inert and real thing out
there but as an object of European discourse. 
Likewise, "being modern" was simultaneously 
constructed and made to stand in direct contrast to
this orientalized other.  Hence, the discourse of
modernity is thus highly racialized when understood in
this context.

But to our immdiate question of why some sectors who
lack direct power over capital and state may find the
discourse of modernity attractive?  Steve's comments
that part of the answer is that modernity "holds a lot
of appeal for a lot of people--not only people who
want a new t-shirt or a car, but also people who want
liberal divorce laws, modern medicine, the ability to
sleep with who they want, the bright lights of the big
cities..."  Yes, but I'm not sure thats what modernity
is.  People have struggled in past historical systems
for many of the things you listed here.  Liela Ahmed
in her excellent book "Women, Gender, and Islam"
discusses some of those issues in the classical age of
Islam.  It is true that the push for these more
liberal issues have become more organized and easier
to access than some other periods in history, and this
may account for some of the appeal of modernity.  But
why the need to push harder?  Maybe in past historical
systems legislators, state officials, and large
landholders residing in Istanbul or Cairo didn't have
as strong a hold over large sectors of the population
as present day authorities do now.  If that is the
case, maybe the need to force more liberal policies
was not as urgent as it is now, when the "public" is
literally inside of our bodies, legislating us from
the day of birth to the day we are burried.  Just a
thought to reflect on.

Steve writes,

<<100 years ago, both white workers and zionists
sought (successfully) to latch themselves onto the
white race/the west because these were the most
powerful groups in the world system.  I'm not sure
what the connection is to modernity is there.>>

I think part of the problem is that I'm looking at the
discourse of modernity while you pose it as a hard,
solid structure.  This may accout for why you can't
see the connection to race.  But you seem to have a
grasp of the connection already.  This is indeed where
I find world systems useful: some sectors of this
unequal world, including a good portion of the "white"
working classes, women, and "experts" have too much
invested in maintaining global unequal structures,
especially as it relates to the north/south divide. 
This is where the discourse of modernity is at its
sharpest.  It is a political project first and
foremost.

But to be honest I'm still struggling in handling the
legitimate question Krishnendu and Steve raise: so why
do some of the loosers, those at the very bottom, find
appealin in the discourse of modernity?  Any more
reflections?  Is this related to some "weapons of the
weak," in the way James Scott discusses the appeal of
tradition for peasant communities in their struggles
with rich landowners?  

Khaldoun 


  

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