Individuality as Ideology and the Possibilities of Resistance

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dc.contributor.authorBernal, Amielen
dc.contributor.editorEngel, Saschaen
dc.contributor.editorLaney, Jordanen
dc.contributor.editorSzczurek, Anthonyen
dc.contributor.editorMatheis, Christianen
dc.date.accessioned2021-08-27T23:55:25Zen
dc.date.available2021-08-27T23:55:25Zen
dc.date.issued2015-09-01en
dc.description.abstractThis paper tracks the pervasive appeal to individuality as a basis for blame ascription and moral responsibility. It is argued that the reification of individual responsibility has politically pernicious effects. In particular, atomization of the individual undermines possibilities of collective resistance. Indeed, the atomized postulate of critical thought serves to reinforce dominant ideology regarding blame, responsibility, and individual efficacy. By reviewing the work of William Connolly and Frantz Fanon, it is argued that ascriptions of individual blame function as colonial control mechanisms that isolate and decontextualize the occurrence of violence. While this first set of insights is not entirely novel, I argue that appeal to the isolated individual is not restricted to early modern or colonial thought. Rather, recent critical thinkers such as Louis Althusser and Michel De Certeau continue to appeal to the atomized individual as a basis for resistance. I criticize these authors for the contention that resistance can spontaneously emerge ex nihilo. In particular, given Althusser's commitment to ideological state apparatuses (ISAs), the atomized individual is inconsistent with his postulation of individual 'heroes' and as all individuals operate within prevailing ISAs. By appealing to what Fanon calls the lumpenproletariat, I recommend a historicized and properly contextualized conception of resistance that can explain the possibility of genuine resistance.en
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.extent72 KBen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/htmlen
dc.identifier.citationBernal, A., 2015. Individuality as Ideology and the Possibilities of Resistance. Spectra, 4(2). DOI: http://doi.org/10.21061/spectra.v4i2.244en
dc.identifier.doihttp://doi.org/10.21061/spectra.v4i2.244en
dc.identifier.eissn2162-8793en
dc.identifier.issue2en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/104820en
dc.identifier.volume4en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Tech Publishingen
dc.relation.ispartofseriesStudent Publications Seriesen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.holderBernal, Amielen
dc.rights.holderVirginia Techen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.titleIndividuality as Ideology and the Possibilities of Resistanceen
dc.title.serialSpectraen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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