Thoughts on witnessing
“I cannot be an optimist but I am a prisoner of hope” -Cornel West, American author and activist Thoughts on witnessing The act of witnessing As a first year grad student in 1975 I served as a teaching assistant to a large lecture section of Introduction to Sociology. Mid way through fall semester the professor covered the topics of race and ethnicity. One bright fall day, without much contextualization, he screened for the class the very powerful 1955 documentary “Night and Fog.” I had not seen this film before nor any like it. I was struck by the stark, brutal, raw, and emotionally wrenching depiction of Nazi death camp atrocities and, frankly, did not know how to react, how to process what I had seen or to deal with what I had witnessed. I had no idea this was just the beginning of a lifetime of intense exposures to…
Read More
FollowMore on Confronting Toxic Othering
“In contrast to those who suggest that we act as soon as the whistle blows, I suggest that, even before the whistle blows, we ceaselessly try to know the world in which we live — and act. Even if we must act on imperfect knowledge, we must never act as if knowing is no longer relevant.” – Mahmood Mamdani, Saviors and Survivors (p. 6) More on Confronting Toxic Othering and Critical Hydra Theory (CHT) [Note: Content from this post may be updated regularly to be used in a revised edition of my recent book Confronting Toxic Othering.] Ethnocentrism In conversation with a veteran humanitarian worker, I listened to her vent about a recent deployment to a major conflict zone. She noted that ‘ethnocentrism be damned’ there are some fundamental wrongs embedded into the local culture, using as an example the grotesque mistreatment of women and the use of rape as…
Read MoreMartian thoughts on the humanitarian sector and humanity
Martian thoughts on the humanitarian sector and humanity Nearly a year ago in February 2021 three vehicles launched from Earth visited Mars, and two of them landed on the surface. For some of us, these events served as a small respite from COVID worries, impeachment trials, military coups, and far too many massive humanitarian needs across the globe. Talk of space travel has always excited my imagination and so, in that spirit (and as an homage to Horace Miner) I offer my thoughts on what a Martian might think if they were to visit their neighbor and ask about this idea called the ‘humanitarian imperative’ and other related matters. Martian: Thank you for allowing me this visit to Earth. Since humans seem to be the apex life form in terms of brain power, may I ask you some questions about ‘humanity’? Sociologist Arcaro: You…
Read MoreConfronting Toxic Othering now on Kindle and Amazon
Confronting Toxic Othering now on Kindle and Amazon A long journey My book Confronting Toxic Othering: Understanding and Taming the Hydra is now available on Kindle and as a paper back on Amazon. Publishing this book was a more than two year journey. It began with an email from a humanitarian worker by the name of Leah Campbell at ALNAP who had the who had read some of my blogs and thought that I would be a good fit for a session at this organizations semi annual meeting in Berlin. When I got her email about contributing to a panel on privileging forces, almost immediately I saw the connection between the the five social forces mentioned. I connected all of these privileging forces together in an image of a hydra, and for the last two years I have been presenting this idea to every one of my sociology classes. My…
Read MoreProtecting civil society in Cox’s Bazar and beyond
Updated 11-26-21 “If I die, I’m fine. I will give my life.” -Mohib Ullah Protecting civil society in Cox’s Bazar and beyond The death of a civicv leader The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the Rohingya as “one of, if not the, most discriminated people in the world”. An ethnic and religious minority in Myanmar, the Rohingya people have been persecuted for generations, and in August of 2017 the genocide perpetrated by the Myanmar military reached a fever pitch, and nearly 750,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh. Life in the sprawling refugee camps is not easy, and maintaining a transplanted civil society is a massive challenge. The Government of Bangladesh and nearly 100 humanitarian agencies including UN, IFRC, IOM, UNHCR, etc. are responding to the humanitarian crisis of Rohingya. The Bangladeshi Government has deployed police and Armed-police Battalion (APBN) in the camps to protect the Rohingya. On September 29,…
Read MoreApplying Critical Hydra Theory on Tuesday morning
“Until the lion learns to speak, tales of hunting will always favor the hunter.” African proverb Applying Critical Hydra Theory on Tuesday morning Paris, 2021 Later this fall I will take part in a panel session at the 6th meeting of the International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA) meeting in Paris. As co-organizer of this panel, I will have the duty of opening our session with some remarks intended to frame our discussions related to the panel’s theme “Privileging Forces in the Humanitarian System: Power and Marginalization”. It seems fitting that this next phase of talking about what I have called ‘critical Hydra theory’ will take place in the context of a conference since this conceptual journey had its beginning at the ALNAP meeting in Berlin in 2019. My goal will be to introduce the Hydra model and urge those listening to embrace this conceptual tool. Though having a longer history,…
Read MoreTalking with Rohingya and Bangladeshi learners about taming the Hydra
Talking with Rohingya and Bangladeshi learners about taming the Hydra “The educator has the duty of not being neutral.” -Paulo Freire Taming the Hydra My experience teaching sociology to Rohingya and Bangladeshi has been deeply rewarding. Introducing the ideas of culturally embedded privileging forces, ascribed statuses, toxic othering, and the image of the Hydra as a way to understand the common sources of various systemic affronts to human dignity has been an amazing and profound experience. In our final class as we talked about taming the Hydra and false consciousness the learners offered many useful questions, comments, and examples. When we started this journey together several months ago I had no expectation that given the language difficulties we would ever advance this far. That our last class was so engaging is a testament to my colleague Azizul’s ability as a translator and critical thinker and even more so to…
Read MoreGuest post: The root causes of toxic othering: Narratives of Rohingya and Bangladeshis
The root causes of toxic othering: Narratives of Rohingya and Bangladeshis Guest post by Mohammad Azizul Hoque[1] Ascribed status and identity politics “Why have I have become a stateless refugee in a world of 195 countries? Why have I been confined by persecution in my motherland Myanmar and beyond? I ask my friends and family, but none of them can soothe my inquisitive mind.” A Rohingya refugee asked this question while Professor Thomas Arcaro and I were facilitating an online sociology course for underprivileged refugee and host community youth in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. “Our hopes and aspirations are identical to other human spices of the Earth; however, because of our ethnicity, we are rejected, displaced and persecuted,” commented another student. Their words triggered us to apprehend how the ascribed status of “Rohingya” has become the cause of needless discrimination. Professor Arcaro replied, “Being a refugee or stateless is an ascribed…
Read MoreHumanism, Feminism, and Cultural Relativity: Contradictions and Ambiguities
Coming full circle I wrote this essay nearly 40 years ago and now, though I might change some wordings, the essential message I sought to convey then is the same I am advocating now with Critical Hydra Theory. I have indeed come full circle. Humanism, Feminism, and Cultural Relativity: Contradictions and Ambiguities By Thomas E. Arcaro The Columbus College of Art and Design1 [Note: First published in The Humanist Sociologist, newsletter for the Association of Humanist Sociology, fall 1980] This essay is an open question to my humanist colleagues. I will outline below what I feel are basic theoretical contradictions in the acceptance of humanistic, feminist, and culturally relativistic ideologies and the application of these ideas to my everyday life and my teaching of undergraduates. I am not certain that I want my colleagues to respond with answers, and thus somehow reconcile the contradictions that are outlined. For, like…
Read MoreRetroactive application of critical Hydra theory
[updated 14 August 2021] Retroactive application of critical Hydra theory More on what my learners are teaching me As I approached the task of talking explicitly and in detail about the Hydra with the learners in Bangladesh, I found myself going back to my ‘greatest hits’, ideas that had stead me well over the decades teaching sociology to mostly privileged US undergraduates. I realize now, more deeply than I’d like to admit, I was part of a culture that taught about power and privileging in a very traditional way, that is to say ignorant to the history of how deeply and thoroughly asymmetrical and toxically marginalizing power had been embedded itself into every fiber of all world cultures. I knew the world was not fair but had not demanded of myself an examination of my own blinders and preconceptions. Knowing something in the abstract is very different from experiencing it…
Read More