Conference Presentations by Cameron Vaziri
Video games provide the player with the unique capacity to fundamentally alter the storyline. In ... more Video games provide the player with the unique capacity to fundamentally alter the storyline. In this sense, video games can be understood as a form of ergodic literature, perhaps to a greater extreme than their conventional literary counterparts. Through this understanding, video games can provide the player with the capacity to assert their individuality through strategy, even within the disciplinary structure of the game. Style is thus something that belongs more to the player than the game designer. This much at least is the basic argument of Eric Hayot and Edward Wesp .
From 1978-9, Michel Foucault visited Iran to study the Revolution that removed the Shah and turne... more From 1978-9, Michel Foucault visited Iran to study the Revolution that removed the Shah and turned Iran into an Islamic Republic. Foucault's support for the revolution, and the religious elements, put him at odds with many of his contemporaries. What little work has been done on Foucault and Iran has not attempted to relate Iran to Foucault's other ideas. As a result, this work remains largely misunderstood and ignored.
Books by Cameron Vaziri
Videogames provide the player with the unique capacity to fundamentally alter the storyline. In t... more Videogames provide the player with the unique capacity to fundamentally alter the storyline. In this sense, videogames can be understood as a form of ergodic literature, perhaps to a greater extent than their conventional literary counterparts. Through this understanding, videogames can provide players with the capacity to assert their individuality through their style (how they play the game), even within the disciplinary structures of the game (strategy). Style is thus something that belongs more to the player than the game designer.
This chapter seeks to take that argument even further, by using Michel Foucault’s work on power relations to analyze what exactly this expression of the individual means and how it is possible. The expression of identity through gaming style can be an act of performative micro-resistance. When a player chooses a certain group to play as – such as a civilization or race – they adopt that group’s identity and history by being placed within the disciplinary structures the game provides – a macro-political order within the game, based in a historical and social context. The player then asserts their individuality through their style, either rejecting the disciplinary strategies or embracing them. Essentially, the player is stuck within the dominating macro-political order of the game (just as one is stuck within power politics in the “real world”), but is free to resist against the stereotypical dominating structures through ergodic choice.
In this way, histories can be challenged and the fragility of “stable” notions of identity can be revealed by the alteration of storylines and historical occurrences – simply by playing the game. Videogames thus have the potential to advance the same implications as genealogical works, the opening of a critical space for identity and the advancement of a micro-politics of resistance. As such, the resistant act in the interaction of game text and play is something that is always already reflected into the broader social sphere as a resistance against macro-identity construction. In addition to the genealogical method, I also argue that Ricoeur’s work on mimetics is equally applicable to Aarseth’s ergodic texts as it is to narrative. As such, Ricoeurean mimetics is a second method by which videogames impact “real world” social dynamics.
Papers by Cameron Vaziri
The Hainan Island Incident of 2001 resulted in the publication of the Letter of the Two Sorries. ... more The Hainan Island Incident of 2001 resulted in the publication of the Letter of the Two Sorries. The strategic value of this letter was the ability for the Bush administration to express regret while avoiding any admission of guilt or responsibility that would be associated with an official apology. Meanwhile, the Chinese government was able to translate the letter such that it did express such sentiment. The strategic calculation on the part of the Bush administration focused on the attempt to project strength while offering a means for the Chinese to "save face." This paper focuses on recognizing the cultural differences on how the U.S. and China understand apologies and critiquing the orientalist constructions of China by the Bush administration. Ultimately, this paper rejects the realist calculations that led to the Letter of the Two Sorries and recognizes its failure in the 20 years since Hainan. Alternatively, this paper proposes a Levinasian approach focused on the infinite obligation to the Other with an emphasis on the role of apologies in international relations for incidents such as Hainan.
Capstone for Johns Hopkins University SAIS Master's program.
Why did Michel Foucault enthusiasti... more Capstone for Johns Hopkins University SAIS Master's program.
Why did Michel Foucault enthusiastically support the 1979 Iranian Revolution that seemingly contradicted so much of his other philosophical work? While many attempt to keep a critical distance between Iran and Foucault’s scholarly endeavors in topics such as genealogy, resistance, and subjugated knowledge, I argue that Iran is inextricably linked to these topics as a moment of Foucault’s philosophy being put into practice. The focus on how the Iranian Revolution was a rejection of the Western dichotomy of capitalism and communism, codified by the slogan “Neither East, nor West,” reveals how, for Foucault, 1979 was not simply a rejection of the Shah’s political apparatus but the ideological and political tradition of Europe. Introducing the notion of “genealogical revolution,” I contend that Foucault’s analysis of revolutionary Iran was an attempt to put forth a counter-memory, a new historical and political tradition, rooted in Iranian Shi’ism. Not limited to merely a critique of the history of Western philosophical thought, Iran offered an alternative method for organizing political engagement through what Foucault called the “political spirituality” of Islamic government. The way Foucault describes the theorized government structure offers a new way of theorizing macropolitical organization that is otherwise lacking in the notoriously micropolitically oriented theorist. Situating Islamic government as an aporia – an impossible ideal given the absence of the Mahdi – necessitates a hermeneutic interaction between the individual and the state’s guiding principles. Here the ideal of Islamic government parallels the specter that would serve as the basis of Jacques Derrida’s concept of hauntology. This direct engagement between Foucault’s broader work and his support for the Iranian Revolution offers insights into potential new modes of political action advanced by the theorist. Yet, the conclusions of the Iranian experiment also serve as a warning for the possible dangers of too highly elevating potentialities before they become actualized.
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Conference Presentations by Cameron Vaziri
Books by Cameron Vaziri
This chapter seeks to take that argument even further, by using Michel Foucault’s work on power relations to analyze what exactly this expression of the individual means and how it is possible. The expression of identity through gaming style can be an act of performative micro-resistance. When a player chooses a certain group to play as – such as a civilization or race – they adopt that group’s identity and history by being placed within the disciplinary structures the game provides – a macro-political order within the game, based in a historical and social context. The player then asserts their individuality through their style, either rejecting the disciplinary strategies or embracing them. Essentially, the player is stuck within the dominating macro-political order of the game (just as one is stuck within power politics in the “real world”), but is free to resist against the stereotypical dominating structures through ergodic choice.
In this way, histories can be challenged and the fragility of “stable” notions of identity can be revealed by the alteration of storylines and historical occurrences – simply by playing the game. Videogames thus have the potential to advance the same implications as genealogical works, the opening of a critical space for identity and the advancement of a micro-politics of resistance. As such, the resistant act in the interaction of game text and play is something that is always already reflected into the broader social sphere as a resistance against macro-identity construction. In addition to the genealogical method, I also argue that Ricoeur’s work on mimetics is equally applicable to Aarseth’s ergodic texts as it is to narrative. As such, Ricoeurean mimetics is a second method by which videogames impact “real world” social dynamics.
Papers by Cameron Vaziri
Why did Michel Foucault enthusiastically support the 1979 Iranian Revolution that seemingly contradicted so much of his other philosophical work? While many attempt to keep a critical distance between Iran and Foucault’s scholarly endeavors in topics such as genealogy, resistance, and subjugated knowledge, I argue that Iran is inextricably linked to these topics as a moment of Foucault’s philosophy being put into practice. The focus on how the Iranian Revolution was a rejection of the Western dichotomy of capitalism and communism, codified by the slogan “Neither East, nor West,” reveals how, for Foucault, 1979 was not simply a rejection of the Shah’s political apparatus but the ideological and political tradition of Europe. Introducing the notion of “genealogical revolution,” I contend that Foucault’s analysis of revolutionary Iran was an attempt to put forth a counter-memory, a new historical and political tradition, rooted in Iranian Shi’ism. Not limited to merely a critique of the history of Western philosophical thought, Iran offered an alternative method for organizing political engagement through what Foucault called the “political spirituality” of Islamic government. The way Foucault describes the theorized government structure offers a new way of theorizing macropolitical organization that is otherwise lacking in the notoriously micropolitically oriented theorist. Situating Islamic government as an aporia – an impossible ideal given the absence of the Mahdi – necessitates a hermeneutic interaction between the individual and the state’s guiding principles. Here the ideal of Islamic government parallels the specter that would serve as the basis of Jacques Derrida’s concept of hauntology. This direct engagement between Foucault’s broader work and his support for the Iranian Revolution offers insights into potential new modes of political action advanced by the theorist. Yet, the conclusions of the Iranian experiment also serve as a warning for the possible dangers of too highly elevating potentialities before they become actualized.
This chapter seeks to take that argument even further, by using Michel Foucault’s work on power relations to analyze what exactly this expression of the individual means and how it is possible. The expression of identity through gaming style can be an act of performative micro-resistance. When a player chooses a certain group to play as – such as a civilization or race – they adopt that group’s identity and history by being placed within the disciplinary structures the game provides – a macro-political order within the game, based in a historical and social context. The player then asserts their individuality through their style, either rejecting the disciplinary strategies or embracing them. Essentially, the player is stuck within the dominating macro-political order of the game (just as one is stuck within power politics in the “real world”), but is free to resist against the stereotypical dominating structures through ergodic choice.
In this way, histories can be challenged and the fragility of “stable” notions of identity can be revealed by the alteration of storylines and historical occurrences – simply by playing the game. Videogames thus have the potential to advance the same implications as genealogical works, the opening of a critical space for identity and the advancement of a micro-politics of resistance. As such, the resistant act in the interaction of game text and play is something that is always already reflected into the broader social sphere as a resistance against macro-identity construction. In addition to the genealogical method, I also argue that Ricoeur’s work on mimetics is equally applicable to Aarseth’s ergodic texts as it is to narrative. As such, Ricoeurean mimetics is a second method by which videogames impact “real world” social dynamics.
Why did Michel Foucault enthusiastically support the 1979 Iranian Revolution that seemingly contradicted so much of his other philosophical work? While many attempt to keep a critical distance between Iran and Foucault’s scholarly endeavors in topics such as genealogy, resistance, and subjugated knowledge, I argue that Iran is inextricably linked to these topics as a moment of Foucault’s philosophy being put into practice. The focus on how the Iranian Revolution was a rejection of the Western dichotomy of capitalism and communism, codified by the slogan “Neither East, nor West,” reveals how, for Foucault, 1979 was not simply a rejection of the Shah’s political apparatus but the ideological and political tradition of Europe. Introducing the notion of “genealogical revolution,” I contend that Foucault’s analysis of revolutionary Iran was an attempt to put forth a counter-memory, a new historical and political tradition, rooted in Iranian Shi’ism. Not limited to merely a critique of the history of Western philosophical thought, Iran offered an alternative method for organizing political engagement through what Foucault called the “political spirituality” of Islamic government. The way Foucault describes the theorized government structure offers a new way of theorizing macropolitical organization that is otherwise lacking in the notoriously micropolitically oriented theorist. Situating Islamic government as an aporia – an impossible ideal given the absence of the Mahdi – necessitates a hermeneutic interaction between the individual and the state’s guiding principles. Here the ideal of Islamic government parallels the specter that would serve as the basis of Jacques Derrida’s concept of hauntology. This direct engagement between Foucault’s broader work and his support for the Iranian Revolution offers insights into potential new modes of political action advanced by the theorist. Yet, the conclusions of the Iranian experiment also serve as a warning for the possible dangers of too highly elevating potentialities before they become actualized.