J P LINSTROTH EPOCHAL RECKONINGS PODCAST

J P LINSTROTH EPOCHAL RECKONINGS PODCAST

by J P Linstroth

Politics Social Sciences

MADDENING LEGALITIES

Based on J. P. Linstroth's review article, "Maddening Legalities: Subjectivities and the Law", there is much to consider about the fecundity of interpreting varying legal domains and their social significance. As mentioned in the beginning understanding the subjectivities of terror suspects may help in counterterrorism measures; likewise analysing Palestinians from their subjective points of view may help in easing the regional conflict in Israel/Palestine. It is through analyses and comprehending subjectivities as part of socio-legal studies and legal anthropology, wherein the subjective person makes ethnography valuable. Both Donahue’s (2007) and Kelly’s (2006) ethnographies are therefore exemplar socio-legal studies for considering how the law may be ascertained and interpreted through what Aretxaga has termed the ‘subjective dynamics’ of law and society.

MAYAN COGNITION, MEMORY, AND TRAUMA

The argument of this article, "Mayan Cognition, Memory, and Trauma", is organized around the following general themes: understanding representational “exaggeration” for signifying indigenous others; assessing the differences for the social agency of recollection, especially in relation to lawyer-oriented depositions and researcher-oriented interviews; analysing the cognitive aspects of surviving the Guatemalan genocide and examining the cognition of discrimination among Mayan-immigrants in South Florida. Empirical data for this essay is based upon oral histories of three Mayan-immigrants currently living in Palm Beach County, Florida, and archival data from legal depositions in the 1980s and 1990s of five Mayan-immigrants in Martin County, Florida. Important aspects of this paper analyse the historical consequences of the Guatemalan Civil War during the 1980s and the role of social memory, episodic trauma, semantic trauma and the ontological effects of violence. In addition, notions of differing forms of time in relation to trauma are introduced as “synchronic trauma” and “diachronic trauma”.

MATERIAL CULTURE, NATIONALISM, POLITICS, & TERRORISM

In the article (2002. 2015), “The Basque Conflict Globally Speaking: Material Culture, Mass Media, and Basque Identity in the Wider World”, J. P. Linstroth explores how the Basque independence movement utilizes material culture and media to solidify nationalist identity and broadcast its political struggle to a global audience. The author examines the "political consumption" of diverse items—ranging from traditional iconography like the Basque flag and ancient rural sports to modern tools like Internet forums and video testimonies—to show how these objects reinforce ideology. By drawing parallels between the Basques and other groups such as Irish Republicans and Palestinians, the text highlights how separatist movements use visual symbols and shared rhetoric to gain international legitimacy. Ultimately, Linstroth argues that the interplay between local traditions and global media allows these groups to transform public spaces and digital platforms into arenas for political resistance, even as the state attempts to label such consumption as criminal or treasonous. Generally, this article has been extremely influential in understanding the modern ties of ethno-nationalist movements with material culture and how groups utilize symbols for maintaining political identities. The article is an overall survey of ethno-nationalist movements across the globe. Some of the key concepts are the idea of “dangerous consumption”, and how images, objects, and media have “value potential” for disrupting larger nation-states and in aiding minorities adhere to their political ideologies.

THE FORGOTTEN SHORE, POETRY BOOK

This book of poetry, The Forgotten Shore by J. P. Linstroth, represents a labour of love. It was pieced together here and there from years of writing poetry. Some of the poems herein are old, while others are much newer. None of them have been previously published. In my mind, and on the page, I have tried to create a “mental landscape” for the reader, which is representative of my life, my past loves, and present amorous interests, my interests in nature, my fascination with art (both as an artist and as an observer), and my fascination with indigenous peoples, as well as my research in the Spanish Basque Country and the Brazilian Amazon. To borrow from Michel Foucault, herein is a created world, an “archaeology of knowledge,” if you will. While unlike Foucault, I am not trying to analyze or interpret institutions or power, rather, this book is more of an “archaeology of emotions”. Whereby the reader is asked to excavate through landscapes of emotions and observations forming what is in many ways both a complete and yet incomplete encapsulation of my experiences. In my poetry writing, I borrow heavily from Greek mythology as metaphorical reference and as a means of capturing my most personal emotions. For I have gone through divorce, loved and lost, and even so, loved once again. Such is life. To me referencing ancient Greek thought through their mythology somehow brings the reader back to the classics and the very foundations of Western thought. Of course, I am not alone in this endeavor. This is well trodden territory in the history of poetry. The book is titled, The Forgotten Shore, for good reason. It is representative of a sort of mythical place, a place where love is lost, on the one hand, and may not be re-encountered. Maybe it is a desolate island—a shoreline, a beach, somewhere to be left after a relationship, discarded like drift wood. And yet, on the other hand, there is inherent in this conceptualization a sense of hope. This latter perspective may not be altogether obvious to the reader. While love is lost, and one may find oneself lonely on a so-called “forgotten shore,” and perhaps abandoned, there is, nevertheless, hope of leaving such a place and finding love elsewhere. At least, this is the implication in my mind. Sometimes love leaves us on “forgotten shores”. The immediate afterthoughts are we may never find such love again. No future love could possibly match what we have lost and so on. But this is untrue. Love may be found again. We somehow find so-called other soulmates and intimate connections. Yet, these are the immediate emotions which come to mind. All of us at one point or other in our lives have had feelings of loneliness and abandon- ment, feelings of loss and so forth—and as such these emotions form a major part of this book of poetry.

SWIMMING IN BLUE SHADOWS, AWARD WINNING BOOK

Swimming in Blue Shadows is a collection of five short stories and ten poems on diverse subjects and styles, written over a number of years. Each story grew out the author’s personal experiences and in many ways represents a different phase of his life. The subjects of the short stories are: a wild boar hunt, a failed relationship, a Nahuatl flower seller, a bullfight, and a Belizean archaeology expedition. The poems, also, grew from personal experiences or centre on themes of particular interest to the author: AI (Artificial Intelligence), Afghanistan, COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Native Americans, love, depression, death, loss, and youthful exuberance. The title of the collection, a phrase from the first story in it, suggests the nearness of death in its innumerable and nebulous guises, pinpointing especially how the various protagonists face death, as if swimming in death’s blue shadows, hidden yet there.

MARCHING AGAINST GENDER PRACTICE, BOOK

This study began with the question why was it so problematic for the majority of Hondarribian townspeople to accept the broader participation of women in the annual, military march known as the Alarde. To explain this dispute, almost four-hundred years of local history were examined from the limited archives of Hondarribia and some secondary sources. Most importantly, however, this study considers how gender practices were and are organised in the Basque town of Hondarribia. The controversy to extend female involvement in the Alarde resulted in two positions between betikoak traditionalists, (Betiko Alardearen Aldekoak, ‘Always the Town’s Alarde’), and local ‘feminists’ (emakumealdekoak or Emakumeak Juana Mugarrietakoa, the Women of Mugarrietakoa, WJM), the former group wishing to preserve the ritual and the latter wanting to change it. These were not simply dichotomous stances but represented multiple levels of local identity through differing concepts of gender, history, and social experience. Commemorative ceremonies or re-enactment rituals were defined as meaningful actions that are historically based and mythologize the past. These are ritualised actions that are shaped by present circumstances, present social values and present social institutions and are transformed over time and are often confirmed, contested, and negotiated by the actors who control and perform in them. Reliving aspects of the past was a means of instilling in local peoples like Hondarribians a greater sense of their historical importance. The book demonstrated how history became distorted by glorifying and transforming local history as integral to a nationalist Basque history. While military marches demonstrated the strength of Basques willing to defend their townships and in turn Basque pride. Such transformations have to be taken into context with the loss of the Carlist cause in 1876 and the rise and spread of nationalism in the region at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century.

POLITICS & RACISM BEYOND NATIONS BOOK

In this book, Politics and Racism Beyond Nations: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Crises, I demonstrate how differences are created on many levels to reveal how the “othering project” is evident through national policies of immigration, through aspiring nationalisms, through genocidal inhumanity, and the subsequent effects of such othering evident in racial trauma. Moreover, the book expands how after all the discussion on hatred from racism, difference, and persecution we may examine notions of empathy, love, and peace through Amerindian and Buddhist perspectives. Particularly, when considering Amerindian philosophies about nature and Buddhist philo- sophical perspectives on “inter-being” we may reach toward more loving views of self, humanity, and the environment.

EPOCHAL RECKONINGS, THE AWARD WINNING BOOK

AI Podcasters (Alice and Bob) describe and respond to Linstroth's book about some of the crises of the first years of the 21st century. Linstroth's book aims, as he puts it, to cause concern, discussion, and surprise, as well as to evoke the emotions of anger, empathy, and sadness. The events covered include the huge migrations of people seeking to cross borders, whether in the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Middle-East or Europe, hoping for safety and a better life. Linstroth also shows and comments on human and natural acts of astonishing violence: the 9/11 destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York; the Hurricane named Katrina of 2005; the Haitian earthquake of 2010. Linstroth portrays man’s inhumanity to man, whether callous, careless, mistaken, or deliberate: the police-killings of African-American youths; the genocide of Brazilian indigenous peoples; the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison; mass school-shootings in the USA; and the Yemeni civil war.

TRAILER: INTRODUCIING THIS PODCAST & J P LINSTROTH'S BIOGRAPHY

J P LINSTROTH EPOCHAL RECKONINGS PODCAST Dr. J. P. Linstroth’s trailer introduces his weekly podcast, J P LINSTROTH EPOCHAL RECKONINGS PODCAST, the title based upon his award-winning book by the same name, which serves as a platform for exploring deep intellectual inquiries “every Friday”. The series draw from Linstroth’s extensive background in history and anthropology, weaving together diverse threads such as social justice, indigenous rights, and political violence. By covering topics ranging from immigrant identities to the complexities of global conflict and peace, the program aims to translate academic research into engaging public discourse. Ultimately, Linstroth is grateful to his audience for listening about his research and the topics covered by this Podcast program. J. P. Linstroth is an accomplished academic whose career bridges the gap between rigorous social anthropology and creative social activism. This overview details his professional journey from studying at the University of Oxford, UK, to conducting extensive fieldwork among marginalized and indigenous populations in Brazil, Spain, and immigrant groups in South Florida. By blending scholarly monographs on political identity and racism and award-winning poetry and fiction, Linstroth seeks to humanize complex data and give a personal voice to those suffering from historical trauma and social exclusion. Ultimately, his work serves as a multi-disciplinary testimony to human resilience, using diverse writing genres to advocate for social justice and conflict resolution.

GARAI HARTAKO KONTUAK, EPOCHAL RECKONINGS, AWARD WINNING BOOK, EUSKERA BERTSIOA

Epochal Reckonings liburuan, poeta, irakasle atxiki eta editorial idazle J.P. Linstrothek XXI. mendeko lehen urteetako krisi batzuk deskribatzen eta erantzuten ditu. Bere helburua, berak dioen bezala, kezka, eztabaida eta harridura eragitea da, baita haserrea, enpatia eta tristura emozioak piztea ere. Jorratutako gertaeren artean, mugak zeharkatu nahi dituzten pertsonen migrazio handiak daude, Amerikan, Asian, Afrikan, Ekialde Hurbilean edo Europan, segurtasuna eta bizitza hobea lortzeko itxaropenarekin. Linstrothek indarkeria harrigarriko giza eta naturako ekintzak ere erakusten eta komentatzen ditu: New Yorkeko World Trade Center-eko biki dorreen 11-S-ko suntsipena; 2005eko Katrina izeneko urakanak;2010eko Haitiko lurrikara. Linstrothek gizakiaren gizagabekeria irudikatzen du gizakiarekiko, gogorkeria, arduragabekeria, okerra edo nahita egindakoa izan: afroamerikar gazteen polizia hilketak; Brasilgo indigenen genozidioa; Abu Ghraib espetxean preso irakiarren tortura; AEBko eskola-tiroketa masiboak; eta Yemengo gerra zibila. Linstrothek bere poesia sortu eta hasiberritzat jotzen du, XXI. mendeko krisi handietan hainbat talderen borrokak eta sufrimenduak azalduz, arrazakeriak, muturrekotasunak, indarkeriak eta kontatzeko gehiegi diren tragediek gorpuztuta. Poema hauek hondamendi horiek jasotzen dituzte, mundu osoan gure garaiko hondamendi hauek bizi izan dituzten askorentzat duten esanahi sinbolikoa definituz.

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