Research Field II Staging Enmity

Enmity describes a relationship. Its ascription depends on the presence, real or imagined, of a threat that incites fear and loathing of the opponent and, almost as often, fosters unity and a sense of purpose among peers. There are only few communities that do not relate what they are or aspire to become to enemies that reflect what they are not or what they struggle to leave behind. 

While relations of enmity are not the most important element in assertions of collective identity, they add a critical edge to discursive self-constructions and their stabilizations. They invite prolonged and intimate engagement and may result in lasting, inevitably ambivalent entanglements that shape the histories and identities of all involved parties and may become an indispensable part of their sense of self.

Relations of enmity are nurtured and sustained by cultural practices that are instrumental in defining, portraying, or enacting relationships as either undesirable, volatile, hostile, or dangerous. As many studies have shown, depictions of enemies and their relations to “us” in literature, arts, media, and popular culture are crucial to creating and disseminating typified images and rousing emotions. Ritualized performances of enmity, either decrying the opponent’s depravity or celebrating a community’s purity, similarly serve to enhance cohesion and fortify resilience in times of threat or uncertainty. They normalize a language of alterity that is essential to marking and othering enemies within or without. Visual and media representations provide further clues to identifying difference; historical narratives legitimize claims of the inevitability or transhistorical nature of cultural rivalries and political conflicts; and institutionalized attempts at shaping collective memory, such as lieux de mémoire or museums dedicated to traumatic events, condition emotional responses and instill lasting resentment.

The links between representation and enmity can inspire a rich array of possible case studies. Examples of some of the research themes we envision in this Research Field include: narrativizations of conflict in literature and film; efforts to incite or perpetuate enmity through media and the arts; attempts to resurrect lifestyles that contradict mainstream society; and assassinations and other forms of violence staged as curated forms of political spectacle.