During his time as a Visiting Scholar at the Committee on Global Thought from August 2013 to January 2014, Dr. Brad Evans conducted a series of videos interviews with Committee members and Columbia University faculty. In the resulting videos, participants reflect on the historical significance and contemporary meaning of mass atrocities, from World War I to the Cambodian genocide.

About Disposable Life

“Disposability happens when people are nameless, faceless, when they have no history or agency and are dealt with accordingly” Cynthia Enloe

Launched in January 2014, the histories of violence “Disposable Life” project interrogates the meaning of mass violence and human destruction in the 21st Century. Inviting critical reflections from renowned public intellectuals, artists and writers, this three year project will feature a series of monthly filmed reflections from our illustrious list of participants (see contributors below); a subsequent feature film for public broadcast; accompanying book of complimentary essays and associated publications/media articles; along with a series of global events that will bring together the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences to offer innovative and publicly engaging forums to inform debate and rethink the ideals of global citizenship.

We are honoured to launch our reflections series by introducing the celebrated feminist scholar Professor Cynthia Enloe, who provides her original interpretation of the paradigm by exploring the meaning of disposability in the terms of the ways life continually appears arbitrary and nameless. For Enloe, not only does the problem of disposability point to contemporary forms of banality as earlier critiqued by Hannah Arendt, it allows us to rethink what it means to be humane in the 21st Century.

Read more at Histories of Violence. Watch Saskia Sassen’s contribution to the reflection series here.

About Dr. Brad Evans

Brad Evans is founder/director of the Histories of Violence project. A Senior Lecturer in International Studies at the University of Bristol, UK, he continues to lecture around the world on questions of global political and philosophical importance.  He is a listed contributor for the Guardian Newspaper’s Comment is Free, and regularly writes and features in prominent new sources such as BBC 4. His projects have been featured in various outlets including the New York Times, CBS news, El Pais, TruthOut, CounterPunch and Art Forum. Brad sits on the editorial boards for a number of reputable international academic journals in the fields of political philosophy. He also serves as a consultant on violence to a number of cultural organisations. He is currently a member of the Global Insecurities Centre (University of Bristol); serving board member for the Centre for Scholarship in the Public Interest (McMaster University, Ontario); founding member of the Society for the Study of Bio-Political Futures (Syracuse University, NY); and honorary associate of the Zygmunt Bauman Institute (The University of Leeds).