Blood Talk - Justifications of Violence Topic of Speech Feb. 14 at SVSU
Barstow Lecture Focuses on Irish Patriots, Geopolitical Disputes
February 3, 2008
By: Guest Columnist
Bruce Gronbeck, University of Iowa professor, to speak Feb. 14 at SVSU.
Suicide bombings and other forms of violence are frequently in the news today, and the "blood talk" associated with these acts can be found in many forms and times throughout history, including 19th century Ireland. Those words will be discussed during the 2008 Barstow Lecture at Saginaw Valley State University.
Bruce Gronbeck, the A. Craig Baird Distinguished Professor of Public
Address at the University of Iowa, will give a talk titled "Building a Nation on Blood: Irish Patriots - Justifications of Violence,"
Thursday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Rhea Miller Recital Hall.
Working around themes chillingly similar to justifications for jihads
and suicide attacks today, 19th century Irish patriots were regularly
asked in court why they resorted to bloodshed in the name of
nation-building.
The late 18th century martyrs Robert Emmet and Theobald Wolfe Tone provided the initial justifications before they were hanged, and their words and commitments rang through speeches and pamphlets of the mid-19th century, when two additional risings against British rule were attempted.
In his presentation, Gronbeck will discuss the general issues facing
the Irish who wanted independence before arguing that blood-- the
undervaluation of blood (bloodshed, revenge) and the overvaluation of
blood (kinship, blood sacrifices) -- was central to Irish
nation-building discourses in the mid-19th century.
"Blood talk" rises deep from biblical and classical narratives,
and, when featured in geopolitical disputes, tends to produce
non-negotiable and even unanswerable arguments. Gronbeck will conclude his lecture with ideas about the social, political, and moral consequences of such talk.
The Barstow Excellence in Teaching Humanities Seminar was created to
promote excellence in teaching and recognize scholarship in the
humanities. The seminar was established through a gift from The Barstow Foundation, which supports education, health and human services agencies and humanitarian causes with emphasis on the greater Midland area.
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