Introduction
The five papers examined each take a different angle on how people manage the difficulties of daily living in the face of social, political, and economic challenges as they investigate the anthropology of the everyday. The paper by Al-Mohammad (2011) examines how individuals in Iraq may utilize tribal identification to manage insecurity and uncertainty. Das’s (2007, 2020) study focuses on the effects of trauma and violence on day-to-day life as well as how language affects social norms. The importance of voice in forming social and political personalities and navigating power dynamics is explored in depth in Ross’s 2003 article. This essay analyses the complementary and divergent points of view presented in different sources and the common themes that emerge from them. It emphasizes the significance of comprehending the regular.
“You Have Car Insurance; We Have Tribes”
Al-Mohammad’s (2011) scholarly article, “You Have Car Insurance, We Have Tribes. Negotiating Everyday Life in Basra and the Re-emergence of Tribalism,” provides valuable insights into the intricate nature of tribalism and its impact on the day-to-day existence of individuals in Iraq. “It just so happens that tribes are an integral part of everyday life in the urban setting of Basra. No greater understanding of the term ‘tribe’ is initially required than the idea that it constitutes a relation in which a leader offers protection to a member in return for compensation” (Al-Mohammad, 2011, p. 19).
The argument posited by the author is that in the aftermath of the war in Iraq, tribal identity has resurfaced as a coping mechanism to deal with the prevailing sense of insecurity and uncertainty. This development challenges the conventional understanding of a homogenous Iraqi identity. Al-Mohammad (2011) examines the dynamic relationship between traditional tribal affiliations and contemporary social structures, including the state and the market. This article highlights the importance of understanding the social, political, and economic frameworks that shape individuals’ daily experiences and their management of identity and authority.
“Life and Words”
In her writings, Veena Das emphasizes the connection between violence, language, and the everyday. In “Life and Words: Violence and the Descent into the Ordinary,” Das(2006) examines the effects of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. The study examines how language impacts survivors’ experiences. I am intrigued by the notion that the line between the ordinary and the extraordinary emerges when the usual rules we use to understand everyday life break down—meaning that it challenges how we ever came to recognize what kind of thing emotions like grief or love actually are, Das (2006, p.6-7).
How language depicts violence affects how people see their interactions and their ability to cope with traumatic situations. Sharing a voice with others is sharing a connection with them. Skepticism arises from the requisition for attention to acknowledge others through voice; we note that doubt comes from significant events in modest ways, eventually revealing a lot about ourselves. In this regard, voice is a crucial component of finding oneself daily. It is under persistent critical threats from within daily, leading to critical events in a community’s daily life.
“On Having Voice and Being Heard”
In her article “On Having Voice and Being Heard,” Ross (2003) makes the case that having a voice is essential for resolving power struggles and building social and political identities. Voice is a tool for traversing power dynamics, creating societal and political personas, and being a source of self-expression. According to Ross (2003, p. 332), “Being able to narrate one’s experience in a public forum such as a Commission, even given the constraints of genre imposed by the Commission’s mandate and format, offers a means to identify the self about a public, often envisaged as the state. ” and that “voice is equated with dignity.”
According to Ross (2003), the importance of voice extends beyond personal expression to social and political progress. The narrative allows individuals to define their identities and experiences and claim their place in the public domain. In particular, marginalized groups have historically been denied a voice in public discourse and must take advantage of this. Therefore, those who speak out about their experiences can work towards creating a more equitable society by challenging dominant narratives and power structures.
The Influence of Violence and Language on Daily Life
Understanding the complexities of social and political dynamics requires understanding violence and language. According to Al-Mohammad (2011), tribal leaders becoming powerful voices in a country led to several tribes acting like criminal gangs. “when tribal leaders, supported and funded by the state, re-emerged as powerful voices within the country – was a time in which many tribes used their newly gained authority to behave in ways similar to criminal gangs,” Al-Mohammad (2011, p.30). Ross (2003) cites research that indicates violence destructively affects language and temporality in support of this idea. “Research has shown that violence has a rupturing effect on language and temporality: in the aftermath, the relation between words and experiences of violence, and between words and violence’s recall, is itself fractured, damaged, ruined” (Ross, 2003, p. 331).
Words thus become damaged and fractured when used in conjunction with violent experiences. “The natural cannot be equated with an invariable and universal ‘given,’ since different languages bring out different ways in which ideas of pride are constructed, but the natural cannot be completely equated with the constructed either” (Das, 2020, p. 65). As Das (2020) emphasizes, languages play a significant role in constructing social identities, with different languages expressing pride differently. Taking these insights together, we can see how language, power, and violence interact to shape our daily lives.
Voice and Agency in Forming Individual and Group Experiences
The significance of voice and agency in determining individual and group experiences is shared across the texts. Al-Mohammad (2011) uses the example of Iraq to exemplify this concept, as investments in literacy and education programs reduced the influence of tribal leaders among the country’s educated youth. Al-Mohammad (2011, p.28), “Under Qassim, Iraq had invested heavily in education and literacy programmes, and urban elites, who constituted a minor but powerful voice in shaping the social imaginary, became figures looked up to by many young Iraqis. As a result, tribal authority was weakened amongst the country’s educated youth.”
Ross (2003) contends that finding one’s voice is crucial for maintaining one’s dignity. When authors battle to regain control of their works, the educational process may result in losing one’s voice, agency, and sense of identity. “Where people struggle to re-establish ‘authorship’ over ‘stories,’ and where coming to voice is equated with dignity, the scholarly process may be experienced by the individual as contributing to a loss of voice, of agency, and of self,” (Ross, 2003, p.335).
This may cause pain and a sense that the results of these processes do not accurately represent the self. Unease frequently results from a perception that the outcomes of these processes do not accurately represent the self. Consequently, embarrassment or abjection may follow the arrogance or voice loss.
Neighbors, friends, and family members can uphold a sense of mutual obligation and better understand one another by gradually learning about one another’s struggles. “In the relational mode, a time of shared intimacies makes possible an explicit recognition of critical moments through acts of reciprocity that sustain mutual obligation. “(Han, 2014, p.77). Han (2014) focuses on the value of reciprocal actions and shared intimacies in creating a sense of a life story. Together, these observations show how vital voice and agency are in determining how we experience the world as both individuals and members of groups, underlining the need for acknowledgment and understanding to build a more just and equal society.
Das investigates how expression and action are intertwined, particularly in the context of emotional outbursts. She attempts to connect our relationships’ fragility and performatives’ fragility. “…passionate utterances must… stake a claim to be unique to that speaker and that addressee… [and] must also signal the uniqueness of that moment for this person speaking these words. Further, such utterances single out the addressee – the second person to whom the words are addressed and not the first person…” (Das, 2020, p. 64).
Das refers to Cavell’s idea of “passionate utterances” to explain how the presence of desire endangers both the speaker and the listener. Every day is multifaceted; its human proximity, range of action and expression, and the dangers we attribute to it all match our imaginations. “[The] image of the everyday, human intimacy and forms of action and expression are not evident: they have to be conjured as part of our [anthropologists’] work” (Das, 2020, p. 66).
Belonging does not necessarily involve accepting or promising devotion to one’s society as it is, but daily disappointments will certainly shape criticism. Das’s research highlights the need for anthropologists to visualize the commonplace, which includes human touch and behavior. Therefore, Das’s observations reveal that belonging is molded through daily disappointments and criticisms, even while it does not necessarily require uncritical acceptance of one’s community.
The Power in Testimony and Pretending
In her writings, Han argues that keeping one’s genuine sentiments and intentions hidden helps relationships last and that there is strength in silence when showing care for others. According to Han ( 2014, p. 84), “pretending reveals the moral energy in remaining silent about how and when one cares for others.” Ross’s account of the TRC’s changing attitude toward witness testimony illustrates this concept.
Concern that witnesses would be publicly shamed for going against norms of silence and apportioning blame quickly gave way to a desire to “tell their stories” (Ross, 2003, p 335) as a strategy of identity construction and revision. However, this movement’s darker side emerged when stories were treated like commodities. Both Han and Ross show how language and story are tools we employ to negotiate our social worlds and the connections between us.
Conclusion
This literature review covers various aspects of the anthropology of the everyday, focusing on how people cope with daily challenges despite social, political, and economic tensions. While each study takes a different approach, underlying themes show the importance of understanding the social, political, and economic frameworks that define people’s interactions and how they handle their identities and power. Al-Mohammad, Das, and Ross emphasize the importance of voice and language in negotiating social and political identities, recovering from trauma, and overcoming violence. These new viewpoints challenge how we view identity and old and new social orders. This literature review shows that understanding social and political relations through the anthropology of the everyday is crucial to creating a fairer society.
References
Al-Mohammad, H. (2011). “You have car insurance, we have tribes”: Negotiating everyday life in Basra and the re-emergence of tribalism. Anthropology of the Middle East, 6(1), 19. Web.
Das, V. (2007). Life and words : Violence and the descent into the ordinary. University of California Press.
Das, V. (2020). Textures of the ordinary : Doing anthropology after wittgenstein (p. 7). Fordham University Press.
Han, C. (2014). The difficulty of kindness: Boundaries, time, and the ordinary. In The Ground Between Anthropologists Engage Philosophy (pp. 211–229). Duke University Press.
Ross, F. C. (2003). On having a voice and being heard. Some after-effects of testifying before the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In M. M. Ferree, J. Lorber, & B. B. Hess (Eds.), On having a voice and being heard (p. 13). Sage Publications.