Logics of Domestication

Masterclass | 13 May 2018 | RCMC

RCMC Distinguished Fellow, Professor Ghassan Hage, will conduct a masterclass on the theme of domestication that runs throughout his body of work.

Masterclass: Logics of Domestication

The notion of ''domestication'' is something that has continued to develop throughout my work. I see it as the dominant relation between self and other (human and non-human) that defines capitalist modernity. At its core domestication is a mode of positioning otherness such as to extract value from it. From this perspective, an ethnology museum is a paradigmatic domesticated space in which otherness is positioned in ways such as the viewer can extract from it aesthetic and ethno-informational value.

In this masterclass, I will review the various dimensions of the processes of domestication that I have explored in my work and look at the possibility of an alter-domesticating logic.

Schedule

14:00 - 16:30 Masterclass: Logics of Domestication

Coffee/tea break

17:00 - 18:00 Conversation between Wayne Modest and Ghassan Hage

Readings

The readings marked by an asterisk (*) are highly recommended. The readings will be sent as a PDF file upon successful registration.

*WHITE NATION: FANTASIES OF WHITE SUPREMACY IN A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY (1998):

Chapter 4: White Multiculturalism: A Manual for the Proper Usage of Ethnics
Chapter 5: White National Zoology

AGAINST PARANOID NATIONALISM: SEARCHING FOR HOPE IN A SHRINKING SOCIETY (2003)

Chapter 3: Border Dis/Order: The Imaginary of Paranoid Nationalism

ALTER-POLITICAL: CRITICAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL THOUGHT AND THE RADICAL IMAGINARY (2015)

Chapter 1: The globalisation of the late colonial settler condition

*IS RACISM AN ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT? (2017)

Chapter 1: Islamophobia and the becoming-wolf of the Muslim other
Chapter 3: The Elementary Structures of Generalized Domestication

Practical information

The class will be conducted as a discussion and will be limited to 15 people. Preference will be given to NMvW curatorial and research staff, but all museum professionals, researchers, PhD candidates, and RMA students are welcome to join. Attendees are expected to read the readings in advance of the seminar.

To attend the class please send an email via the registration link with the following information (in the email subject line, please enter "Masterclass: Logics of Domestication"):

Name
Position
Affiliation
Research Interests/reason for attending (optional)

Your registration will be confirmed when you receive an email from us, which will include the readings.

Bio

Ghassan Hage (1957) is a RCMC Distinguished Fellow for May and June 2018. He is the University of Melbourne’s Future Generation Professor of Anthropology and Social Theory and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He is best known for his work on the enduring presence of race in our contemporary world. Hage’s earlier work centers on the experience of nationalism, racism and multiculturalism among White Australians. In White Nation: Fantasies of White Supremacy in a Multicultural Society (1998) he explores the desire for a white nation lurking in even the most cherished liberal Western ideals. He has also written on the political dimensions of critical anthropology. Professor Hage’s most recent publication, Is Racism an Environmental Threat?, is concerned with the intersection between racism and the ecological crisis. He is currently finishing an ethnographic book on the transnational culture of the Lebanese diaspora.