Hannah Arendt and the Uses of History : Imperialism, Nation, Race, and Genocide

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) argued that there were continuities between the age of European imperialism and age of fascism in Europe in "The Origins of Totalitarianism" (1951). This work examines the ways in which race, imperialism, slavery and genocide are linked, and how these terms have affected the United States, Europe, and the colonised world. Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) first argued that there were continuities between the age of European imperialism and the age of fascism in Europe in "The Origins of Totalitarianism" (1951). She claimed that theories of race, notions of racial and cultural superiority, and the right of 'superior races' to expand territorially were themes that connected the white settler colonies, the other imperial possessions, and the fascist ideologies of post-Great War Europe. These claims have rarely been taken up by historians. Only in recent years has the work of scholars such as Jurgen Zimmerer and A. Dirk Moses begun to show in some detail that Arendt was correct. This collection does not seek merely to expound Arendt's opinions on these subjects; rather, it seeks to use her insights as the jumping-off point for further investigations - including ones critical of Arendt - into the ways in which race, imperialism, slavery and genocide are linked, and the ways in which these terms have affected the United States, Europe, and the colonised world CONTENTS ......Page 3 INTRODUCTION ......Page 7 PART I - IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM......Page 24 1 RACE POWER, FREEDOM, AND THE DEMOCRACY OF TERROR IN GERMAN RACIALIST THOUGHT......Page 25 2 RACE THINKING AND RACISM IN HANNAH ARENDT'S THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM......Page 42 3 WHEN THE REAL CRIME BEGAN: Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism and the Dignity of the Western Philosophical Tradition......Page 58 4 RACE AND BUREAUCRACY REVISITED: Hannah Arendt's Recent Reemergence in African Studies......Page 72 5 ON PAIN OF EXTINCTION: Laws of Nature and History in Darwin, Marx, and Arendt......Page 91 PART II - NATION AND RACE......Page 110 6 THE REFRACTORY LEGACY OF ALGERIAN DECOLONIZATION: Revisiting Arendt on Violence......Page 111 7 ANTI-SEMITISM, THE BOURGEOISIE, AND THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF THE NATION-STATE ......Page 132 8 POST -TOTALITARIAN ELEMENTS AND EICHMANN'S MENTALITY IN THE YUGOSLAV WAR AND MASS KILLINGS......Page 149 PART III - INTELLECTUAL GENEALOGIES AND LEGACIES......Page 173 9 HANNAH ARENDT ON TOTALITARIANISM Moral Equivalence and Degrees of Evil in Modern Political Violence......Page 174 10 HANNAH ARENDT, BIOPOLITCS, AND THE PROBLEM OF VIOLENCE From animal laborans to homo sacer......Page 192 11 THE SUBTERRANEAN STREAM OF WESTERN HISTORY Arendt and Levinas after Heidegger......Page 206 12 HANNAH ARENDT AND THE OLD "NEW SCIENCE"......Page 218 13 THE HOLOCAUST AND "THE HUMAN"......Page 233 CONCLUSION: ARENDT BETWEEN PAST AND FUTURE......Page 251 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 263 Introduction / Richard H. King and Dan Stone Imperialism and colonialism Race power, freedom, and the democracy of terror in German racialist thought / Elisa von Joeden-Forgey Race thinking and racism in Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism / Kathryn T. Gines When the real crime began: Hannah Arendt's the Origins of Totalitarianism and the dignity of the western philosophical tradition / Robert Bernasconi Race and bureaucracy revisited: Hannah Arendt's recent re-emergence in African studies / Christopher J. Lee On pain of extinction: laws of nature and history in Darwin, Marx, and Arendt / Tony Barta Nation and race The refractory legacy of decolonization: revisiting Arendt on violence / Ned Curthoys Anti-semitism, the bourgeoisie, and the self-destruction of the nation-state / Marcel Stoetzler Eichmann's mentality and post-totalitarian predicaments / Vlasta Jalušič Intellectual genealogies and legacies Hannah Arendt on totalitarianism: moral equivalence and degrees of evil in modern political violence / Richard Shorten Hannah Arendt, biopolitics, and the problem of violence / Andre Duarte The 'subterranean stream of Western history' / Robert Eaglestone Hannah Arendt and the old 'new science' / Steven Douglas Maloney The Holocaust and 'the human' / Dan Stone Conclusion: "Arendt between past and future" / Richard H. King. Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) first argued that there were continuities between the age of European imperialism and the age of fascism in Europe in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). She claimed that theories of race, notions of racial and cultural superiority, and the right of ‘superior races'to expand territorially were themes that connected the white settler colonies, the other imperial possessions, and the fascist ideologies of post-Great War Europe. These claims have rarely been taken up by historians. Only in recent years has the work of scholars such as Jürgen Zimmerer and A. Dirk Moses begun to show in some detail that Arendt was correct. This collection does not seek merely to expound Arendt's opinions on these subjects; rather, it seeks to use her insights as the jumping-off point for further investigations – including ones critical of Arendt – into the ways in which race, imperialism, slavery and genocide are linked, and the ways in which these terms have affected the United States, Europe, and the colonised world. Hannah Arendt first argued the continuities between the age of European imperialism and the age of fascism in Europe in 'The Origins of Totalitarianism'. This text uses Arwndt's insights as a starting point for further investigations into the ways in which race, imperialism, slavery and genocide are linked