Category Archives: immolation

Warrior Cults, Shamans and War Machines — Doug Farrer at Work

Q and A with Doug Farrer ……. This post is the transcript of an electronic interview between D. S. Farrer and Berghahn blog editor Lorna Field…….. D. S. Farrer is the co-author of the article Chants of Re-enchantment: Chamorro Spiritual Resistance to Colonial Domination and special issue editor of Social Analysis Volume 58, Issue 1: War Magic and Warrior Religion: Sorcery, Cognition, and Embodiment

img2545_16072011014026 Silat training–Pic from www.greatnewplaces.com

What drew you to the study of War Magic & Warrior Religion? Initially I was drawn to the study of war magic through my doctoral research into a Sufi warrior cult, where the Malay martial art (silat) was employed as a means to attract and secure local and international followers and converts. A wise informant, Dato Penggawa Tua Zaharah Mokhtar, recommended that I start with Winstedt [1925] (1993), Shaw (1976), and Skeat’s [1900] (1993) books on Malay magic to begin my research on silat. At the time I was lecturing on Weber at the National University of Singapore, so the chiasmus between warrior religion and war magic came naturally: of course, the connection also appears in Deleuze and Guattari’s [1987] (2004) Treatise on NomadologyThe War Machine, among other sources. Continue reading

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War Magic and Warrior Religion. Q and A with DS Farrer

Berghahn Q & A for War Magic & Warrior Religion: Sorcery, Cognition & Embodiment

berg DOUG Farrer Douglas Farrer

What drew you to the study of War Magic & Warrior Religion?

Initially I was drawn to the study of war magic through my doctoral research into a Sufi warrior cult, where the Malay martial art (silat) was employed as a means to attract and secure local and international followers and converts. A wise informant, Dato Penggawa Tua Zaharah Mokhtar, recommended that I start with Winstedt [1925] (1993), Shaw (1976), and Skeat’s [1900] (1993) books on Malay magic to begin my research on silat.  At the time I was lecturing on Weber at the National University of Singapore, so the chiasmus between warrior religion and war magic came naturally: of course, the connection also appears in Deleuze and Guattari’s [1987] (2004) Treatise on Nomadology—The War Machine, among other sources. Continue reading

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Filed under cultural transmission, fundamentalism, heritage, historical interpretation, immolation, Islamic fundamentalism, jihad, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, meditations, performance, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, religious nationalism, security, self-reflexivity, suicide bombing, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry

Lone Cell Assaults: From Boston to Westmead-in-Sydney to the Unabomber. Inspirations and Enabling Conditions in Comparative Perspective **

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph where the title is slightly different: http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/lone-wolf-assaults-from-boston-to-westmead-home-invasion-to-the-unabomber/

11--bOSTON mARATHON 33 The recent bomb outrage in Boston has sent tidal ripples along the media networks around the world.  It appears that the bombs were hidden in pressure cookers packed with nails/ball bearings and put in backpacks which were placed on the pavement among onlookers. “Similar easy-to-make roadside bombs are used in Iraq and Afghanistan” (Stewart 2013). But such bomb-making techniques are also clarified on internet sites. Among the first readings one headline in The Australian said: “Stamp of lone wolf more than al-Qa’ida” (Maley 2013). The contention here was that “in recent years, so-called “lone wolf” attackers — people who acquire radical ideology and weapons skills online — have become the greatest concern for counter-terrorism officials, who have virtually no way of detecting the activities of these people” (Stewart 2013).The absence of “chatter” on internet among jihadi circles after the event is one reason for this suspicion. 22--boston Marathon supeced bomb pack suspected bomb pack Continue reading

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