Phaidon Vassiliou | Uppsala University (original) (raw)

Thesis Chapters by Phaidon Vassiliou

MASTERUPPSATSER I KULTURANTROPOLOGI Nr 102, 2021

While cultural anthropology has a well-established tradition of studying armed conflict and postc... more While cultural anthropology has a well-established tradition of studying armed conflict and postconflict societies, its consideration of morality in this context has hitherto been granted a tangential, rather than central role. Addressing this gap, the present thesis draws on qualitative data collected during four weeks of fieldwork carried out in the rural inland of Colombia’s Urabá region between June and July of 2018 to explore the ways in which morality is locally constructed in communities afflicted by a history of armed violence and rebel governance. Relying on the informal nature of networks and social relations identified by extant anthropological research, it develops an inductive analytical framework intended to examine the moral dimension of life in conflict-affected communities. More specifically, it explores how communities come to construct and share a moral framework passible of sustaining cooperative and interdependent relationships in light of the strain that protracted armed violence exertson social relationships and institutions. The obtained results highlight the existence of a binding sense of ‘moral intimacy’, which stems from the collective awareness of the contextual pressures that shape people’s moral judgments and often narrow the scope of personal agency. Individual morality and the constant challenges posed to it by life in conflict-afflicted areas are found to converge into a particularly adapted ‘extra-ordinary situational ethics of conflict’, characterized by ambiguity and mistrust, but also by tolerance and understanding for other people’s—and one’s own—moral shortcomings. Finally, the role of moral leaders is explored and differentiated with respect to its relation to the above-mentioned extra-ordinary situational ethics of conflict. The figure of ‘moral moderator’ is proposed in order to describe the articulating role of central figures that serve as reference points for the informal ethics that arise in surroundings characterized by pervasive and protracted violence. Overall, this thesis sheds light on the peculiar nature of morality in conflict-afflicted societies, and provides an empirical and theoretical contribution to its future systematic study.

El interrogante que motiva este estudio es la posible relación entre la religión y sus aspectos i... more El interrogante que motiva este estudio es la posible relación entre la religión y sus aspectos inconscientes. En particular se busca investigar las diferentes características metapsicológicas que pueden conducir a que la experiencia religiosa facilite el desarrollo o el mantenimiento de bienestar psíquico, o que por el contrario se reflejen en una experiencia religiosa rígida, intransigente, y potencialmente violenta como el fundamentalismo. Se fundamentará en primer lugar la pertinencia de concebir la experiencia religiosa como un ejemplo de “fenómeno transicional” (Winnicott, 1971/1980a). Luego se discutirá la creación de la representación individual de “dios” desde la teoría de las relaciones objetales, sobre la base de la investigación llevada a cabo por Ana-María Rizzuto (1979). Se relacionará la religiosidad con distintas concepciones de ‘ilusión’, y con constructos teóricos psicoanalíticos que intenten dar cuenta del aspecto intrapsíquico de la experiencia religiosa. Finalmente se procederá a abordar el tema del fundamentalismo religioso, bosquejando una aproximación a su metapsicología. En el desarrollo de este trabajo se procederá a una elaboración de esas categorías integrándolas con las aportaciones teóricas de varios psicoanalistas y estudiosos que se han ocupado del tema, para expandir el entendimiento metapsicológico de la religión como constructo potencialmente beneficioso para la salud mental, por un lado; y como factor asociado con estados mentales más primitivos y desorganizados, por el otro.

Book Reviews by Phaidon Vassiliou

Conference Presentations by Phaidon Vassiliou

Se propone examinar las secuelas del período 1976-'83 con un enfoque en los victimarios y la comp... more Se propone examinar las secuelas del período 1976-'83 con un enfoque en los victimarios y la complicidad social para con ellos, destacando el proceso transgeneracional de elaboración de la culpa y cómo se desenvuelve el laborioso trabajo de integración, en el sentimiento de identidad social e individual, de un pasado histórico marcado por atrocidades cometidas por argentinos, contra argentinos. Se comparará la evolución de dicho proceso con la historia reciente de Alemania y su elaboración del Nazismo y el Holocausto para rastrear similitudes y diferencias con el caso de Argentina.

Papers by Phaidon Vassiliou

Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2023

The Battle of Mosul (2016-2017) was one of the most grueling urban warfare campaigns in recent me... more The Battle of Mosul (2016-2017) was one of the most grueling urban warfare campaigns in recent memory. The fighting quickly concentrated in West Mosul, where civilians prevented by the Islamic State from leaving their homes experienced airstrikes and indiscriminate shelling by government forces. Utilizing the as-if-randomness of severe damage or destruction of people's homes, this paper examines the impact of war exposure on the endorsement of moral foundations among a large and diverse sample of Mosul residents (N = 1027). Home damage increased binding morality but had a larger impact on individualizing morality, heightening concerns about fairness and protection from harm. A survey experiment in which the sectarian identity of the target was randomly assigned further revealed a strong association between individualizing morality and parochial altruism. Challenging conventional wisdom, both individualizing and binding morality reinforce group cohesion in ways that are functionally adaptive and responsive to the damage wrought by war.

This article examines Latin-American populism from a psychonalytical perspective and suggests a p... more This article examines Latin-American populism from a psychonalytical perspective and suggests a possible understanding of the role played by group dynamics, such as group regression and large-group identity, in the rise of conspiracy thinking associated with populist mobilization. It argues that conspiracy thinking is an inextricable feature of populist movements, since both come about as interrelated manifestations of a defensive psychological response intertwined with a preexisting political mythology that resonates in times of institutional crisis, whenever personal and collective identities are at stake.

MASTERUPPSATSER I KULTURANTROPOLOGI Nr 102, 2021

While cultural anthropology has a well-established tradition of studying armed conflict and postc... more While cultural anthropology has a well-established tradition of studying armed conflict and postconflict societies, its consideration of morality in this context has hitherto been granted a tangential, rather than central role. Addressing this gap, the present thesis draws on qualitative data collected during four weeks of fieldwork carried out in the rural inland of Colombia’s Urabá region between June and July of 2018 to explore the ways in which morality is locally constructed in communities afflicted by a history of armed violence and rebel governance. Relying on the informal nature of networks and social relations identified by extant anthropological research, it develops an inductive analytical framework intended to examine the moral dimension of life in conflict-affected communities. More specifically, it explores how communities come to construct and share a moral framework passible of sustaining cooperative and interdependent relationships in light of the strain that protracted armed violence exertson social relationships and institutions. The obtained results highlight the existence of a binding sense of ‘moral intimacy’, which stems from the collective awareness of the contextual pressures that shape people’s moral judgments and often narrow the scope of personal agency. Individual morality and the constant challenges posed to it by life in conflict-afflicted areas are found to converge into a particularly adapted ‘extra-ordinary situational ethics of conflict’, characterized by ambiguity and mistrust, but also by tolerance and understanding for other people’s—and one’s own—moral shortcomings. Finally, the role of moral leaders is explored and differentiated with respect to its relation to the above-mentioned extra-ordinary situational ethics of conflict. The figure of ‘moral moderator’ is proposed in order to describe the articulating role of central figures that serve as reference points for the informal ethics that arise in surroundings characterized by pervasive and protracted violence. Overall, this thesis sheds light on the peculiar nature of morality in conflict-afflicted societies, and provides an empirical and theoretical contribution to its future systematic study.

El interrogante que motiva este estudio es la posible relación entre la religión y sus aspectos i... more El interrogante que motiva este estudio es la posible relación entre la religión y sus aspectos inconscientes. En particular se busca investigar las diferentes características metapsicológicas que pueden conducir a que la experiencia religiosa facilite el desarrollo o el mantenimiento de bienestar psíquico, o que por el contrario se reflejen en una experiencia religiosa rígida, intransigente, y potencialmente violenta como el fundamentalismo. Se fundamentará en primer lugar la pertinencia de concebir la experiencia religiosa como un ejemplo de “fenómeno transicional” (Winnicott, 1971/1980a). Luego se discutirá la creación de la representación individual de “dios” desde la teoría de las relaciones objetales, sobre la base de la investigación llevada a cabo por Ana-María Rizzuto (1979). Se relacionará la religiosidad con distintas concepciones de ‘ilusión’, y con constructos teóricos psicoanalíticos que intenten dar cuenta del aspecto intrapsíquico de la experiencia religiosa. Finalmente se procederá a abordar el tema del fundamentalismo religioso, bosquejando una aproximación a su metapsicología. En el desarrollo de este trabajo se procederá a una elaboración de esas categorías integrándolas con las aportaciones teóricas de varios psicoanalistas y estudiosos que se han ocupado del tema, para expandir el entendimiento metapsicológico de la religión como constructo potencialmente beneficioso para la salud mental, por un lado; y como factor asociado con estados mentales más primitivos y desorganizados, por el otro.

Se propone examinar las secuelas del período 1976-'83 con un enfoque en los victimarios y la comp... more Se propone examinar las secuelas del período 1976-'83 con un enfoque en los victimarios y la complicidad social para con ellos, destacando el proceso transgeneracional de elaboración de la culpa y cómo se desenvuelve el laborioso trabajo de integración, en el sentimiento de identidad social e individual, de un pasado histórico marcado por atrocidades cometidas por argentinos, contra argentinos. Se comparará la evolución de dicho proceso con la historia reciente de Alemania y su elaboración del Nazismo y el Holocausto para rastrear similitudes y diferencias con el caso de Argentina.

Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2023

The Battle of Mosul (2016-2017) was one of the most grueling urban warfare campaigns in recent me... more The Battle of Mosul (2016-2017) was one of the most grueling urban warfare campaigns in recent memory. The fighting quickly concentrated in West Mosul, where civilians prevented by the Islamic State from leaving their homes experienced airstrikes and indiscriminate shelling by government forces. Utilizing the as-if-randomness of severe damage or destruction of people's homes, this paper examines the impact of war exposure on the endorsement of moral foundations among a large and diverse sample of Mosul residents (N = 1027). Home damage increased binding morality but had a larger impact on individualizing morality, heightening concerns about fairness and protection from harm. A survey experiment in which the sectarian identity of the target was randomly assigned further revealed a strong association between individualizing morality and parochial altruism. Challenging conventional wisdom, both individualizing and binding morality reinforce group cohesion in ways that are functionally adaptive and responsive to the damage wrought by war.

This article examines Latin-American populism from a psychonalytical perspective and suggests a p... more This article examines Latin-American populism from a psychonalytical perspective and suggests a possible understanding of the role played by group dynamics, such as group regression and large-group identity, in the rise of conspiracy thinking associated with populist mobilization. It argues that conspiracy thinking is an inextricable feature of populist movements, since both come about as interrelated manifestations of a defensive psychological response intertwined with a preexisting political mythology that resonates in times of institutional crisis, whenever personal and collective identities are at stake.