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1. Exchange on Nick Onuf’s ‘Metaphoricizing Modernity,’ Part II–Provincializing Metaphors, Reading (with) Onuf from Latin America

Author:
Manuela Trindade Viana and Roberto Vilchez Yamato
Publication Date:
01-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
In this Dossier, four scholars reflect on Nicholas Onuf’s leading article, ‘Metaphoricizing modernity’, (re)engaging with – and celebrating – more broadly Onuf’s groundbreaking work from different places, perspectives, and angles. Part II rethinks (with) Onuf from Latin America, questioning and provincializing (certain) metaphors and metaphoricizing. Manuela Trindade Viana analyzes the conditions of possibility and the effects of ‘Colombianization’ as a powerful metaphor that came to circulate in Latin America since the late 2000s, in reference both to a specific diagnosis of a problem of violence and the solutions implemented to confront it. Challenging (certain) aspects of Onuf’s account about what metaphors do in our worlds, she argues that the security policy domain valorizes the universal push underlying the imperative to make models travel as a condition for the legitimation of their work in crafting solutions that fit to ‘similar problematically violent’ situations in Latin America. Roberto Vilchez Yamato offers an-other (re)reading of Onuf’s work. (Re)turning to Onuf’s World of Our Making, he (re)thinks the correlation(s) between metaphors, rules, and the conditions of rule, drawing attention to the crucial place of language within Onuf’s work. Supplementarily, Yamato engages with Onuf’s more recent The Mightie Frame, ‘the second half’ of his ‘decades-long project’, suggesting a certain rethinking of the ‘microphysics’ of language, the conditions of thought, and the conditions of rule, within which metaphors and metaphorical complexes are given center stage. (Re)reading (some of) Onuf’s work, he concludes his article wondering about how Onuf would respond to the question of provincializing metaphors.
Topic:
Violence, Language, Metaphors, Provincializing, and Colombianization
Political Geography:
Latin America

2. Performing Diasporic Resistance: (Re)Claiming the Heritage Language

Author:
Shushan Karapetian
Publication Date:
03-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
“All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory,” writes Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen.1 In the landscape of memory, language is the theater of war. Through language, we frame the narratives of our experiences and transmit those narratives for the historical record as individuals and collectives. The chronology and processes so profoundly articulated by Nguyen have merged in the recent decade such that combat on the physical battlefield does not necessarily precede the curation of narratives about the war. They now take place synchronously. Due to advances in digital media and communication technologies, the landscape, strategies, and potential combatants have outgrown geographic, physical, and temporal limitations. Civilians can now participate in military conflicts through digital and participatory warfare enabled by the hyperconnected battlefield of social media platforms. In parallel with actual fighting in combat zones and the official narratives of the states involved in war, new participatory modalities within a global digital battlefield are impacting the representation, perception, participa- tion, and memorialization of conflict. The mobilization of transnational human resources by diasporas can enlarge the scope of civilian participation in warfare, impacting war’s narration, cura- tion, and framing. In this current environment, language becomes the theater of war, not just within the post-combat landscape of memory, but also during combat—in the parallel digital battlefields of modern-day participatory warfare. It is, therefore, important to consider how language is viewed and used during war, particularly the heritage language of diasporan civilians. More specifically, we must assess the extent to which the heritage language is employed as both a symbolic and strategic tool in wartime transnational activism in processes through which diasporic identities are fashioned. In this essay, I examine the role of the Armenian language in the unprecedented transnational mobilization of Armenian communities across the globe during and after the 2020 Nagorno- Karabakh War.2 I argue that transnational actors (re)claimed the Armenian language as an act of resistance in the context of participatory warfare, which not only intensified the existing symbolic range of the Armenian language as a central identity marker, but also introduced a novel instrumental element for many Armenians.
Topic:
Diaspora, Language, Participation, Heritage, and Resistance
Political Geography:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Global Focus, and Nagorno-Karabakh

3. Artificial Intelligence for Tibetan Knowledge Systems / Geshe Lobsang Monlam

Author:
Geshe Lobsang Monlam
Publication Date:
07-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
Monlam Information Technology has been at the forefront of advances in Tibetan language information technology for over two decades. At its forefront is Geshe Lobsang Monlam, PhD, a monk and scholar who has dedicated his life to integrating Tibetan knowledge into the digital world. Join us for a special presentation by Geshe Monlam on Monlam AI, his latest initiative to use artificial intelligence to provide accessible Tibetan knowledge systems for learning and spiritual growth, as well as The Monlam Grand Tibetan Dictionary project and app, and the forthcoming Tibetan Digital Library Project. Speaker bio: Venerable Geshe Lobsang Monlam, PhD, is a monk and scholar who has dedicated his life to integrating Tibetan knowledge into the digital world. He achieved his geshe degree at Sera Mey Thoesam Norling Monastic Institute, India, in 2013. A passion for computers and gadgetry led him to create Tibetan computer font and software applications, and to establish Monlam IT. His fonts, software, and apps are used by millions – and they are all distributed for free. Geshe Monlam's commitment to integrating Tibetan knowledge into the digital world is acknowledged by prominent religious leaders and by academic and science institutions worldwide. Geshe la earned a PhD in Library Science in 2023. Co-sponsored by C.V. Starr East Asian Library and the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University.
Topic:
Language, Innovation, Artificial Intelligence, and Knowledge Systems
Political Geography:
Asia and Tibet