Home front : Background research War & Conflict

I am working on a few pieces to complete the Homefront Cyanotype print collection and so I am underpinning the work with further research on war and conflict. 

This includes notes on the 2018 Raithe Lectures entitled ‘The mark of Cain’. 

My interdisciplinary arts practice asks,

What does it mean to be a woman living in a technologically advancing, ecologically uncertain, conflicted world?

And so naturally, while listening to the 4 part series, I ask.. 

1. Is war and conflict one of biology? 

2. Would the world be more peaceful if run by women? 

3. Would we have advanced technology without war? 

4. What is the role of Nature and natural resources in war and conflict?

5. Are there any other questions to ask if reframed through a lens of Ecofeminism? 

6. Are there any other questions to ask if reframed through a lens of cybernetics? 

I will add additional work to ‘Homefront’ a series of Cyanotype prints to complete the collection. 

This will include the work A/b (provisional title) which focuses on the Fertile Crescent (Sykes-Picot Agreement) in which natural resources were divided using a ‘ruler’ rather than respecting natural physical divisions ( mountain ranges) and social divisions (tribal settlements). Other work included in the collection relates to the division of natural resources, the effects of climate change and the Anthropocene. 

The Mark of Cain War & Humanity Reith Lectures by Margaret MacMillan (2018) 

Is war an essential part of being human? 

Are we destined always to fight each other? 

NOTES 

War & Humanity

Fear, admiration of war not found in peace (war memorials) 

Definition of war: 

‘War is the application of organised violence’. It requires discipline, support, leadership, tight social and political organisation, equipment etc. 

When did war become part of human society? 

Agricultural settlement gave rise to conflict and war in the defence of land and tribes (Fertile Crescent) 

Before that, in hunter gathering societies, violence was one to one (arrow head). 

War does lead to improvements in the human condition.. techne - meaning hand ie technology, extends humans capacity for violence) - technology of poison gas, long bow, arrow heads etc. 

War is purposeful and it has played an important part of human history. War is not just the absence of peace.

Is war part of being human? 

Are we condemned by our biology or by culture to fight?

Rousseau - No - organised societies made humans become violent before that we lived in peace. 

Hobbs - Yes -  people have always killed each other. Nature was not idyllic is was nasty, brutal and short. Laviathan. 

Within the Roman Empire the imposition of law and order, the need to defend itself led to control over resources, organisation and training etc. 

This is also related to the British Navy, how it was organisation and the mobilisation of resources. It has led to the development of technology. 

The needs of war fuelled the advancement of technology in 20th Century. Railway network and recently virtual Reality etc. 

War has benefitted women in that due to their occupying male roles during wartime, they were given a limited capacity to vote on wider issues outside the home. 

The first and second world wars minimised the gap between the very rich and poor (the great compression) was a result of war. 

Different species (non human) defend their territory and obtain resources I.E chimpanzees are aggressive but in contrast to this there are Bonobos - make love and not war ! 

Dynastic histories of war -wars of rulers not the ordinary people. 

Since the American Revolution and most importantly the French Revolution, which shifted the role of the people as subjects, to having a share in their own government and consequentially an obligation to defend it. 

Europe industrialised and war became more deadly. Weapons became more efficient and the industrial power supported armies with arms. 

We have tried to find ways of avoiding war (unsuccessfully) 

Fearing & Loving : Making sense of the Warrior 

Who fights? 

1461 Battle of Taughton - (war of the roses) York/Lancaster 28,000 died in battle ended 1485 Battle of Bosworth. 

War can bring advances on technology, science, strong and stable government.. 

glamour/repulsion of war..

Could we show the same courage? 

Are men more aggressive than women? Are women more peaceable? Patriarchy and misogyny has played a role but there are women warriors. When women have to fight they will, and they fight as effectively as men. 

The  want to live for are worth dying for. They fight for ideology religion and politics. And they fight for emotional reasons.. they would rather die than be dishonoured. 

They start out as humans and they adapt to the ‘war world’ and change…There is exhilaration in destruction. 

War gave some people as chance to rise socially and for some people they found war a relief from boredom! They also see it as a test. Some see it as noble and life as its most intense. There are cultures in which young people are raised as soldiers, to be brave, sacrifices themselves and do their duty. 

Bring back your shields or come back carried on them… 

Government was something you owed something to (The French Revolution) and they owed something to you. They had passion. They attacked when they shouldn’t have attacked, the often won. They were prepared to fight and die for their country. They did not desert son could be marched at Night. 

The technological revolution gave armies better artillery, arms to kill on a larger scale. 1st world war million soldiers died… 

Motivation to fight, people at home expect it, honour and shame, threat of being killed by their own, drink and drugs given, war as a profession, some people like fighting.. 

Training and discipline teaches an automatic response. Accepting loss is part of it. Keeping kill instinct under control. Officers can lose control of their soldiers. 

Being in combat slows down our conception of time and space.. night/day, flanders ridges etc. seasons change and it’s effect on war, small objects become more important.. the things they carried.. 

fear of death and mutilation… Burma - division of possessions of a lost soldier to help remember him. 

The people at home hate the enemies more than the soldiers, there is some compassionate and identification for the enemy’s suffering. 

There is a sense of protecting each other.