Mladjo Ivanovic - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Book Reviews by Mladjo Ivanovic

Papers by Mladjo Ivanovic

Journal of Global Ethics, 2019

The international community has struggled to effectively and humanely respond to the increase in ... more The international community has struggled to effectively and humanely respond to the increase in forced displacement and has failed in finding effective solutions to the overwhelming immediate humanitarian needs of affected children and youth. In the case of displaced children and youth, it is of vital importance to consider more flexible and responsive alternatives to more traditional accounts of international humanitarian assistance. The current situation has resulted in policies and practices that reveal grave ethical issues, such as ignoring the constant physical, psychological and sexual abuse of children in refugee camps; governments and other institutions forcing employees to sign confidentiality non-disclosures, and others. The main task of this paper is to make visible some of the current humanitarian practices of institutions and nation-states. We argue that the international humanitarian community and powerful western states have failed to provide necessary protections for child refugees, and that the policies and regulations they have enforced actively undermine human rights and human dignity. Ultimately, by drawing attention to the gap between national sovereignty, political rhetoric and global justice, we hope to chart a possible venue for how the transformation of humanitarian practice and international law in regard to refugee children can take place, and should.

Childhoods in More Just Worlds: An International Handbook, 2021

Where will we go? I don't know, everything is changing all the time. Where would I like to live? ... more Where will we go? I don't know, everything is changing all the time. Where would I like to live? Uh, I don't know what to tell you, I haven't thought about it a lot because nobody asks me. Now that I think about it.. .. Well, I would like that all of us lives together again, it's all the same for me where. My Dad and my brother are in Germany. I am here in the camp with my sister and two brothers. And stepmother, but she has her own kids. They are a family for themselves. My Dad says we will soon join him and I can't wait. I'm just not sure how we will get there. I am not afraid that much, my sister is the one who's scared. She is 19 years old and I think she is afraid because we will travel alone with boys. ~Layla, a child refugee 2 When we consider the scope of forceful migration today-almost 80 million displaced individuals worldwide-people who have been forced to flee their homes represent one of the most precarious aspects of humanity (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2020). Children make up to 50% of this number, yet these numbers tell us very little

The Rest Writes Back: Discourse and Decolonization, 2019

The main goal of this chapter is to interrogate current material and epistemological practices ai... more The main goal of this chapter is to interrogate current material and epistemological practices aimed at governance of the most vulnerable layers of humanity. By reflecting on the struggles of forcefully displaced people and the challenges of Western humanitarianism (and contemporary humanitarian agency of Western (privileged) spectators in general), I hope to show that we are confronted with social processes and subjectivity which foster inadequate goals in regard to solidarity with distant others. In order to achieve this, my analysis is divided into three main parts. The first identifies some of the weaknesses of humanitarian discourse and practices, and it has an analytical dimension in that it attempts to tease out the epistemic forces, cultural habits, forms of knowledge, skills and expertise that were folded into the ontological organization and form of subjectivity that is at the center of humanitarian attention and “solidarity.” The second part focuses on material and epistemological legacy of colonialism manifested in practices and ideological tendencies of Eurocentric humanitarianism. Taking into account that encounters between Western humanitarian agent and Non-Western other takes place amidst values and receptivity of hegemonic culture, humanitarian narratives - based on discriminatory racial, gender, cultural, and economic geographies - exemplify the distorted perspectives on humanitarian victims’ structural and symbolic disadvantages. Finally, I conclude by hinting at an alternative way of thinking about responsibility and solidarity. I hope that by bringing inconsistencies of humanitarianism into the spotlight I show how humanitarianism has become an echo of colonial mechanisms that inextricably serve both to define and to justify certain discourses and practices that ultimately govern human beings. By disclosing pathologies internal to humanitarianism, my work at the same time calls attention to practices that an alternative, counter-hegemonic humanitarianism needs to avoid.

Ethics and Economics, 2019

This paper explores the current standing of humanitarian ethics from two different, and yet inter... more This paper explores the current standing of humanitarian ethics from two different, and yet interrelated perspectives. The first argues that shortcomings of humanitarianism are symptoms of deeper social and political problems inextricably linked to the nature of humanitarian practices, while the second takes notion of humanitarian compassion as the primary moral (and political) disposition of the 21 st century individual under critical scrutiny. By bringing inconsistencies of humanitarianism into the spotlight I show how humanitarianism has become a language that inextricably serves to govern human beings. Hence, by disclosing pathologies internal to the humanitarian system, I hope that I am at the same time pointing at things that a reimagined humanitarianism needs to avoid. Ultimately, I argue that this is only possible if we rethink the objectives and nature of humanitarian assistance today. Instead of falling prey to unhealthy dependencies of crisis relief and pathologies that it engenders, humanitarianism should focus on restoring the autonomy of those affected by humanitarian crises and foster further development of their social environment and individual capabilities. A satisfactory humanitarian regime should enable people to help themselves and their communities, particularly through improving their sustainability and resilience in the face of increasing global challenges and vulnerabilities. RESUME Cet article explore le statut actuel de l'éthique humanitaire sous deux perspectives différentes et pourtant interdépendantes. La première affirme que les faiblesses de l'humanisme sont le symptôme de problèmes sociaux et politiques plus profonds inextricablement liés à la nature des pratiques humanitaires, tandis que la seconde prend la notion de compassion humanitaire comme la principale disposition morale (et politique) de l'individu du XXIe siècle et la soumet à un examen critique. En mettant en lumière les incohérences de l'humanitaire, je montre comment l'humanitaire est devenu un langage qui sert inextricablement à gouverner les êtres humains. Par conséquent, en dévoilant des pathologies internes au système humanitaire, j'espère que je pointe en même temps les éléments à éviter pour un humanisme réimaginé. En fin de compte, je soutiens que cela n'est possible que si nous repensons les objectifs et la nature de l'aide humanitaire aujourd'hui. Au lieu de devenir la proie de dépendances malsaines des secours en cas de crise et de pathologies qu'ils engendrent, l'action humanitaire devrait viser à restaurer l'autonomie des personnes touchées par les crises humanitaires et favoriser le développement de leur environnement social et de leurs capacités individuelles. Un régime humanitaire satisfaisant devrait permettre aux populations de s'aider et d'aider leurs communautés, notamment en améliorant leur durabilité et leur résilience face aux défis et aux vulnérabilités mondiales croissantes.

This paper tackles an old, yet persisting philosophical and cultural imaginary that justifies the... more This paper tackles an old, yet persisting philosophical and cultural imaginary that justifies the political subjugation, marginalization and exclusion of distant others through claims that such people are less advanced and cognitively inferior, and therefore remain at the periphery of moral and political considerations of Western political culture. My premise here is that all knowledge is historically conditioned, and as such serves as a discursive formation that mirrors and sustains specific historical forms of social organization and practices. Thus, by considering the interrelated themes of epistemic and social inclusion (and exclusion) of refugees and migrants from a range of critical philosophical perspectives, I argue that successfully managing the dire humanitarian circumstances involved in admitting and receiving displaced and migrant people requires the inclusion of both the bodies of knowledge and discursive interactions and also diverse social and cultural perspectives. Questions of inclusion, so conceived, cannot be addressed without acknowledging justice as an inseparable mix of social and epistemic interactions. Taking into account that cultural, racial and/or gender insensitivities result from a lack of knowledge of social realities as much as a lack of self-knowledge (i.e., knowledge of one's position with respect to the relevant categories and the relevant forms of oppression) it seems necessary to broaden social methods of inclusiveness to include this epistemic component and analyze epistemic deficiencies in social interaction.

Taking my point of departure in the urgent social challenges tied with current failures of humani... more Taking my point of departure in the urgent social challenges tied with current failures of humanitarian management and inclusion of Non-Western others in “developed” Western societies, this paper explores the ways in which representation and knowledge about human suffering guides our (un)willingness to act ethically with respect to vulnerable strangers and the difficult conditions they endure. After drawing attention to gaps between our emotional dispositions and concrete political engagement (gaps that are neither harmless or innocent), this paper proposes a transformationalist interpretation of Theodor Adorno’s critique of cognitive and material dispositions that result in reductive habits of cognition and atrophied moral agency. While my reading of Adorno finds his work partially open to the possibility of ethics beyond the common liberal understanding, what I find ultimately helpful in addressing today’s issues of moral and political subjectivity is the guiding thread of his work that shows how epistemology ought to be ethical, and that ethics should in turn be political. Adorno’s insistence on the primacy of the object of our knowledge invites us to think morally and see the priority of the Other as a crucial feature of any ethical relationship.

This paper explores the historical conditions under which the object of humanitarian discourse is... more This paper explores the historical conditions under which the object of humanitarian discourse is conceived and organized. What is problematic about this discourse is not only the alarming reality of humanitarianism's intertwinement with militarism and political power, but also the calculated arbitrariness of redress that brings into question which norms guide public articulations of victims' suffering. By questioning how a specific understanding of the other is formed, this paper aims to draw attention to the inconsistencies associated with the problematic relation between witnessing atrocities and the moral responses that this should entail.

This paper explores the ethical challenges involved in the ways public representation structures ... more This paper explores the ethical challenges involved in the ways public representation structures our experiences of atrocities and facilitates an adequate awareness of and response towards the suffering of others. It points out that such an analysis should not exhaust itself in answering what makes public representations of human suffering ethically suspicious and intolerable, but should rather extend this task by clarifying how the public forms sentiments about their social and political reality by elucidating under which conditions public representation promotes broader political agendas. One of the central tenets of human rights advocacy is the widespread conviction that exposure to images and stories of human rights abuse has a mobilizing effect on western audience(s) whose exposure to such knowledge can motivate them to intervene and prevent future atrocities. In order to assess the basic implications of such a conviction we must answer at least three principal clusters of questions. First, how do public representations of atrocities affect individuals and their capacities to conceive and respond to social injustices and the suffering of others? Under what circumstances may agents respond effectively to shocking content? Second, how do social powers operate within the field of perception in order to control how the viewing public is affected? And how do these effects inform and galvanize political support or opposition regarding concrete historical events? Finally, what can be said about the responsibilities of visual representation? Whose agency is it that images inform, and what reforms are necessary to make representations of suffering ethically effective means to encourage better acknowledgment of individual and collective responsibilities that would motivate the public to meet its moral and political obligations? This paper ultimately suggests that in order for politically implicated images to have an immediate critical effect on individuals and their agency, they need to cultivate alternative modes of perception.

Beck, D., Ivanovic, M., Noll, S., and Werkheiser, I. (2013). “The Ethics of Consuming: Community,... more Beck, D., Ivanovic, M., Noll, S., and Werkheiser, I. (2013). “The Ethics of Consuming: Community, Agency, and Participation in Global Food Systems.” In Helena Rocklinsberg and Per Sandin (Eds), The Ethics of Consumption: The Citizen, The Market, and The Law (p.437-451). Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers

Abstract

It is easy enough to think about preparing food, growing food, and eating food as straight-forward affairs, or mere biological necessities. However, these processes are wrapped up in social relations, personal identities, and political power. Broadly critical frameworks can help pull apart the varying dimensions in this complex and dynamic relationship in order to provide guidance for reforming our relationship to the food we consume in a more democratic and participatory direction. To that end, we explore the normative implications of the current organization of the world food system from multiple perspectives in critical theory, the philosophy of science, and political philosophy. We offer ethical and political analyses at the levels of community activism, national food policy, and global consumerist capitalism to show how an approach that sees these multiple levels as interactive can provide concrete reasons for supporting certain effective solutions.

Journal of Global Ethics, 2019

The international community has struggled to effectively and humanely respond to the increase in ... more The international community has struggled to effectively and humanely respond to the increase in forced displacement and has failed in finding effective solutions to the overwhelming immediate humanitarian needs of affected children and youth. In the case of displaced children and youth, it is of vital importance to consider more flexible and responsive alternatives to more traditional accounts of international humanitarian assistance. The current situation has resulted in policies and practices that reveal grave ethical issues, such as ignoring the constant physical, psychological and sexual abuse of children in refugee camps; governments and other institutions forcing employees to sign confidentiality non-disclosures, and others. The main task of this paper is to make visible some of the current humanitarian practices of institutions and nation-states. We argue that the international humanitarian community and powerful western states have failed to provide necessary protections for child refugees, and that the policies and regulations they have enforced actively undermine human rights and human dignity. Ultimately, by drawing attention to the gap between national sovereignty, political rhetoric and global justice, we hope to chart a possible venue for how the transformation of humanitarian practice and international law in regard to refugee children can take place, and should.

Childhoods in More Just Worlds: An International Handbook, 2021

Where will we go? I don't know, everything is changing all the time. Where would I like to live? ... more Where will we go? I don't know, everything is changing all the time. Where would I like to live? Uh, I don't know what to tell you, I haven't thought about it a lot because nobody asks me. Now that I think about it.. .. Well, I would like that all of us lives together again, it's all the same for me where. My Dad and my brother are in Germany. I am here in the camp with my sister and two brothers. And stepmother, but she has her own kids. They are a family for themselves. My Dad says we will soon join him and I can't wait. I'm just not sure how we will get there. I am not afraid that much, my sister is the one who's scared. She is 19 years old and I think she is afraid because we will travel alone with boys. ~Layla, a child refugee 2 When we consider the scope of forceful migration today-almost 80 million displaced individuals worldwide-people who have been forced to flee their homes represent one of the most precarious aspects of humanity (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2020). Children make up to 50% of this number, yet these numbers tell us very little

The Rest Writes Back: Discourse and Decolonization, 2019

The main goal of this chapter is to interrogate current material and epistemological practices ai... more The main goal of this chapter is to interrogate current material and epistemological practices aimed at governance of the most vulnerable layers of humanity. By reflecting on the struggles of forcefully displaced people and the challenges of Western humanitarianism (and contemporary humanitarian agency of Western (privileged) spectators in general), I hope to show that we are confronted with social processes and subjectivity which foster inadequate goals in regard to solidarity with distant others. In order to achieve this, my analysis is divided into three main parts. The first identifies some of the weaknesses of humanitarian discourse and practices, and it has an analytical dimension in that it attempts to tease out the epistemic forces, cultural habits, forms of knowledge, skills and expertise that were folded into the ontological organization and form of subjectivity that is at the center of humanitarian attention and “solidarity.” The second part focuses on material and epistemological legacy of colonialism manifested in practices and ideological tendencies of Eurocentric humanitarianism. Taking into account that encounters between Western humanitarian agent and Non-Western other takes place amidst values and receptivity of hegemonic culture, humanitarian narratives - based on discriminatory racial, gender, cultural, and economic geographies - exemplify the distorted perspectives on humanitarian victims’ structural and symbolic disadvantages. Finally, I conclude by hinting at an alternative way of thinking about responsibility and solidarity. I hope that by bringing inconsistencies of humanitarianism into the spotlight I show how humanitarianism has become an echo of colonial mechanisms that inextricably serve both to define and to justify certain discourses and practices that ultimately govern human beings. By disclosing pathologies internal to humanitarianism, my work at the same time calls attention to practices that an alternative, counter-hegemonic humanitarianism needs to avoid.

Ethics and Economics, 2019

This paper explores the current standing of humanitarian ethics from two different, and yet inter... more This paper explores the current standing of humanitarian ethics from two different, and yet interrelated perspectives. The first argues that shortcomings of humanitarianism are symptoms of deeper social and political problems inextricably linked to the nature of humanitarian practices, while the second takes notion of humanitarian compassion as the primary moral (and political) disposition of the 21 st century individual under critical scrutiny. By bringing inconsistencies of humanitarianism into the spotlight I show how humanitarianism has become a language that inextricably serves to govern human beings. Hence, by disclosing pathologies internal to the humanitarian system, I hope that I am at the same time pointing at things that a reimagined humanitarianism needs to avoid. Ultimately, I argue that this is only possible if we rethink the objectives and nature of humanitarian assistance today. Instead of falling prey to unhealthy dependencies of crisis relief and pathologies that it engenders, humanitarianism should focus on restoring the autonomy of those affected by humanitarian crises and foster further development of their social environment and individual capabilities. A satisfactory humanitarian regime should enable people to help themselves and their communities, particularly through improving their sustainability and resilience in the face of increasing global challenges and vulnerabilities. RESUME Cet article explore le statut actuel de l'éthique humanitaire sous deux perspectives différentes et pourtant interdépendantes. La première affirme que les faiblesses de l'humanisme sont le symptôme de problèmes sociaux et politiques plus profonds inextricablement liés à la nature des pratiques humanitaires, tandis que la seconde prend la notion de compassion humanitaire comme la principale disposition morale (et politique) de l'individu du XXIe siècle et la soumet à un examen critique. En mettant en lumière les incohérences de l'humanitaire, je montre comment l'humanitaire est devenu un langage qui sert inextricablement à gouverner les êtres humains. Par conséquent, en dévoilant des pathologies internes au système humanitaire, j'espère que je pointe en même temps les éléments à éviter pour un humanisme réimaginé. En fin de compte, je soutiens que cela n'est possible que si nous repensons les objectifs et la nature de l'aide humanitaire aujourd'hui. Au lieu de devenir la proie de dépendances malsaines des secours en cas de crise et de pathologies qu'ils engendrent, l'action humanitaire devrait viser à restaurer l'autonomie des personnes touchées par les crises humanitaires et favoriser le développement de leur environnement social et de leurs capacités individuelles. Un régime humanitaire satisfaisant devrait permettre aux populations de s'aider et d'aider leurs communautés, notamment en améliorant leur durabilité et leur résilience face aux défis et aux vulnérabilités mondiales croissantes.

This paper tackles an old, yet persisting philosophical and cultural imaginary that justifies the... more This paper tackles an old, yet persisting philosophical and cultural imaginary that justifies the political subjugation, marginalization and exclusion of distant others through claims that such people are less advanced and cognitively inferior, and therefore remain at the periphery of moral and political considerations of Western political culture. My premise here is that all knowledge is historically conditioned, and as such serves as a discursive formation that mirrors and sustains specific historical forms of social organization and practices. Thus, by considering the interrelated themes of epistemic and social inclusion (and exclusion) of refugees and migrants from a range of critical philosophical perspectives, I argue that successfully managing the dire humanitarian circumstances involved in admitting and receiving displaced and migrant people requires the inclusion of both the bodies of knowledge and discursive interactions and also diverse social and cultural perspectives. Questions of inclusion, so conceived, cannot be addressed without acknowledging justice as an inseparable mix of social and epistemic interactions. Taking into account that cultural, racial and/or gender insensitivities result from a lack of knowledge of social realities as much as a lack of self-knowledge (i.e., knowledge of one's position with respect to the relevant categories and the relevant forms of oppression) it seems necessary to broaden social methods of inclusiveness to include this epistemic component and analyze epistemic deficiencies in social interaction.

Taking my point of departure in the urgent social challenges tied with current failures of humani... more Taking my point of departure in the urgent social challenges tied with current failures of humanitarian management and inclusion of Non-Western others in “developed” Western societies, this paper explores the ways in which representation and knowledge about human suffering guides our (un)willingness to act ethically with respect to vulnerable strangers and the difficult conditions they endure. After drawing attention to gaps between our emotional dispositions and concrete political engagement (gaps that are neither harmless or innocent), this paper proposes a transformationalist interpretation of Theodor Adorno’s critique of cognitive and material dispositions that result in reductive habits of cognition and atrophied moral agency. While my reading of Adorno finds his work partially open to the possibility of ethics beyond the common liberal understanding, what I find ultimately helpful in addressing today’s issues of moral and political subjectivity is the guiding thread of his work that shows how epistemology ought to be ethical, and that ethics should in turn be political. Adorno’s insistence on the primacy of the object of our knowledge invites us to think morally and see the priority of the Other as a crucial feature of any ethical relationship.

This paper explores the historical conditions under which the object of humanitarian discourse is... more This paper explores the historical conditions under which the object of humanitarian discourse is conceived and organized. What is problematic about this discourse is not only the alarming reality of humanitarianism's intertwinement with militarism and political power, but also the calculated arbitrariness of redress that brings into question which norms guide public articulations of victims' suffering. By questioning how a specific understanding of the other is formed, this paper aims to draw attention to the inconsistencies associated with the problematic relation between witnessing atrocities and the moral responses that this should entail.

This paper explores the ethical challenges involved in the ways public representation structures ... more This paper explores the ethical challenges involved in the ways public representation structures our experiences of atrocities and facilitates an adequate awareness of and response towards the suffering of others. It points out that such an analysis should not exhaust itself in answering what makes public representations of human suffering ethically suspicious and intolerable, but should rather extend this task by clarifying how the public forms sentiments about their social and political reality by elucidating under which conditions public representation promotes broader political agendas. One of the central tenets of human rights advocacy is the widespread conviction that exposure to images and stories of human rights abuse has a mobilizing effect on western audience(s) whose exposure to such knowledge can motivate them to intervene and prevent future atrocities. In order to assess the basic implications of such a conviction we must answer at least three principal clusters of questions. First, how do public representations of atrocities affect individuals and their capacities to conceive and respond to social injustices and the suffering of others? Under what circumstances may agents respond effectively to shocking content? Second, how do social powers operate within the field of perception in order to control how the viewing public is affected? And how do these effects inform and galvanize political support or opposition regarding concrete historical events? Finally, what can be said about the responsibilities of visual representation? Whose agency is it that images inform, and what reforms are necessary to make representations of suffering ethically effective means to encourage better acknowledgment of individual and collective responsibilities that would motivate the public to meet its moral and political obligations? This paper ultimately suggests that in order for politically implicated images to have an immediate critical effect on individuals and their agency, they need to cultivate alternative modes of perception.

Beck, D., Ivanovic, M., Noll, S., and Werkheiser, I. (2013). “The Ethics of Consuming: Community,... more Beck, D., Ivanovic, M., Noll, S., and Werkheiser, I. (2013). “The Ethics of Consuming: Community, Agency, and Participation in Global Food Systems.” In Helena Rocklinsberg and Per Sandin (Eds), The Ethics of Consumption: The Citizen, The Market, and The Law (p.437-451). Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers

Abstract

It is easy enough to think about preparing food, growing food, and eating food as straight-forward affairs, or mere biological necessities. However, these processes are wrapped up in social relations, personal identities, and political power. Broadly critical frameworks can help pull apart the varying dimensions in this complex and dynamic relationship in order to provide guidance for reforming our relationship to the food we consume in a more democratic and participatory direction. To that end, we explore the normative implications of the current organization of the world food system from multiple perspectives in critical theory, the philosophy of science, and political philosophy. We offer ethical and political analyses at the levels of community activism, national food policy, and global consumerist capitalism to show how an approach that sees these multiple levels as interactive can provide concrete reasons for supporting certain effective solutions.