Rights, Respect, and the Political: Reading Derrida from a Conflict Zone (original) (raw)

2012, Living Together: Jacques Derrida's Communities of Violence and Peace

The essay pursues three lines of reflection. First, it proposes a close reading of Derrida's strategies of writing and reading, presenting and extending some of Derrida's insights, and exposing aporias, antinomies and internal tensions that characterize the language of rights and the rhetoric of respect. This section can be read as an exercise in deconstruction in legal theory. Second, the essay engages with Derrida's take on the issue of the nation-state, identity politics in general and Zionism in particular from the perspective of a political activist in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Third, based on the analyzed tension between the first line of reflection (on deconstructive strategy) and the second (in which the author asserts a political view), the essay explores the inherent tensions between Derrida's deconstruction and “the political,” or between Derrida's deconstruction and his politics. The essay foregrounds the major tension between the openness and reflection required of an intellectual or deconstructivist, and the closure, finality, and action required of a political activist.

Sign up for access to the world's latest research.

checkGet notified about relevant papers

checkSave papers to use in your research

checkJoin the discussion with peers

checkTrack your impact