Drafts by Matthew Snow
Since its publication in 1651, Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan has been a lightning rod for detractors,... more Since its publication in 1651, Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan has been a lightning rod for detractors, political theorists, or those seeking to justify a measure of force that is otherwise uncomfortable in civil society. Those opposed to Hobbes often attack the low-hanging fruit of the historic accuracy of his state of man and nature to negate his claim to absolutism, while those who favor Hobbes merely accept his promotion of force without fully appreciating the conditions that create authorization. This article argues that by following Hobbes’s logic into paradoxical scenarios drawn from the colonial reality with which he was intimately familiar, Hobbes’s is compelled to negate his own means in order to realize his ultimate end. This finding is then applied to the contemporary Global War on Terrorism. In doing so, Hobbesian doctrine must calculate the rational validity of France’s involvement in the conflict, and authorize the citizens to question the State in order to preserve the commonwealth.
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For all of this paper's flaws (overly-ambitious assertions, odd lay-out, idiosyncratic language, ... more For all of this paper's flaws (overly-ambitious assertions, odd lay-out, idiosyncratic language, sleight of hand, occasional solipsism and perhaps a generous dose of humble ignorance), I think it still has some merits. Foremost, I think it provides the beginning framework of a viable alternative to Bourdieu's fields/habitus by placing the focus at the local, superimposing the fields upon one another as laminate realities, and allowing for not only greater reflexivity with one another, but also within the environmental pressures. Perhaps most of all, it completely discounts notions of domination in lieu of cultural recombination. Below is the actual abstract:
As Clifford Geertz’s relevance declined, still early in the momentum of the cultural turn, his absence left epistemological holes in fields of study dominated by reductionist frameworks and thin descriptions. Postmodernists, poststructuralists, and other stakeholders in cultural analysis shifted the dialogical focus from culture itself to polemic arguments that centered upon cultural relativism, colonialism, subjectivity, and other matters of methodological fodder that dominated the discourse throughout the mid-1980s. Though some scholars sought ways to integrate Geertz’s analysis into other overarching frameworks, the end result often featured Geertz as an inspiration rather than a utility.
This article takes a brief vignette set aboard a flight to Kabul to provide an innocuous thin account expanded through Geertzian hermeneutics though reconciled with his early interests and major adversaries. As a structuralist frame orders the hermeneutic explication, what appears as a minor cultural contact between a traditional Pashtun tribesman and modern flight attendant townswoman elucidates the shifting perceptions of values in the recombinant exchange within a biased environment. In doing so, the subject of observation becomes not an obstinate tribesman, but the contentious fields that comprise the collective identity of the entire tribe amid the turbulent engagement with Afghanistan’s first democratic transfer of executive authority. By reducing the ambiguity of Geertz’s relation to semiotics, but respecting his historical concerns, an updated clarification of his methodology is fastened to a Darwinian framework to organize the complexities of micro-cultural evolution. The utility of his thinking is validated through an ironic focus on the hybridized and globalized postmodern concerns that historically partitioned his approach from the mainstream.
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Papers by Matthew Snow
Foreign Policy Journal, Mar 27, 2013
This article, when featured in Foreign Policy Journal, spoke to the cultural construction of glob... more This article, when featured in Foreign Policy Journal, spoke to the cultural construction of global icons. By uncovering individual motives of participants the means of production are revealed and necessarily questions the culpability of both the producers and audience that fused to create the inevitable counterperformance of the Tehrik-e Taliban in Pakistan.
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Foreign Policy Journal, May 2, 2013
Originally published in Foreign Policy Journal, this article uses an investigative approach to un... more Originally published in Foreign Policy Journal, this article uses an investigative approach to uncover how the NATO invasion incidentally evolved the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan into an organization capable of providing more efficient governance than the Karzai government.
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Foreign Policy Journal, Mar 17, 2013
This a foreign policy critique published as a journalism analysis that identifies the shortcoming... more This a foreign policy critique published as a journalism analysis that identifies the shortcomings of US policy in the Global War on Terror to account for the cultural dimensions of Pashtun social reality which resulted in the rise of the Haqqani Network. Though devoid of theoretical engagement, this piece engages with the relative autonomy endemic to Cultural Sociology.
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Small Wars Journal, Jun 4, 2013
Though published as a piece of literary nonfiction, this article sought to question the role US s... more Though published as a piece of literary nonfiction, this article sought to question the role US soldiers play within home communities when compared to Afghan insurgents and their reception in village life.
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Armor Magazine, Apr 2011
A retrospective of an application of counterinsurgency that questions the uniform demands of a co... more A retrospective of an application of counterinsurgency that questions the uniform demands of a conflict that requires adaptability.
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Items About My Work by Matthew Snow
Fauzia Nouristani blogs about the motives of icon production that surround Malala during her reco... more Fauzia Nouristani blogs about the motives of icon production that surround Malala during her recovery period and quotes "When Idols Turn to Sand: How the West Nearly Killed Malala Yousafzai."
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The Hans India, Jul 24, 2013
Dasu Krishnamoorty critiques the competing narratives of the early representations of Malala Yous... more Dasu Krishnamoorty critiques the competing narratives of the early representations of Malala Yousafzai that accounts for my article "When Idols Turn to Sand: How the West Nearly Killed Malala Yousafzai." Featured in the Hans India--an English language online news source.
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Drafts by Matthew Snow
As Clifford Geertz’s relevance declined, still early in the momentum of the cultural turn, his absence left epistemological holes in fields of study dominated by reductionist frameworks and thin descriptions. Postmodernists, poststructuralists, and other stakeholders in cultural analysis shifted the dialogical focus from culture itself to polemic arguments that centered upon cultural relativism, colonialism, subjectivity, and other matters of methodological fodder that dominated the discourse throughout the mid-1980s. Though some scholars sought ways to integrate Geertz’s analysis into other overarching frameworks, the end result often featured Geertz as an inspiration rather than a utility.
This article takes a brief vignette set aboard a flight to Kabul to provide an innocuous thin account expanded through Geertzian hermeneutics though reconciled with his early interests and major adversaries. As a structuralist frame orders the hermeneutic explication, what appears as a minor cultural contact between a traditional Pashtun tribesman and modern flight attendant townswoman elucidates the shifting perceptions of values in the recombinant exchange within a biased environment. In doing so, the subject of observation becomes not an obstinate tribesman, but the contentious fields that comprise the collective identity of the entire tribe amid the turbulent engagement with Afghanistan’s first democratic transfer of executive authority. By reducing the ambiguity of Geertz’s relation to semiotics, but respecting his historical concerns, an updated clarification of his methodology is fastened to a Darwinian framework to organize the complexities of micro-cultural evolution. The utility of his thinking is validated through an ironic focus on the hybridized and globalized postmodern concerns that historically partitioned his approach from the mainstream.
Papers by Matthew Snow
Items About My Work by Matthew Snow
As Clifford Geertz’s relevance declined, still early in the momentum of the cultural turn, his absence left epistemological holes in fields of study dominated by reductionist frameworks and thin descriptions. Postmodernists, poststructuralists, and other stakeholders in cultural analysis shifted the dialogical focus from culture itself to polemic arguments that centered upon cultural relativism, colonialism, subjectivity, and other matters of methodological fodder that dominated the discourse throughout the mid-1980s. Though some scholars sought ways to integrate Geertz’s analysis into other overarching frameworks, the end result often featured Geertz as an inspiration rather than a utility.
This article takes a brief vignette set aboard a flight to Kabul to provide an innocuous thin account expanded through Geertzian hermeneutics though reconciled with his early interests and major adversaries. As a structuralist frame orders the hermeneutic explication, what appears as a minor cultural contact between a traditional Pashtun tribesman and modern flight attendant townswoman elucidates the shifting perceptions of values in the recombinant exchange within a biased environment. In doing so, the subject of observation becomes not an obstinate tribesman, but the contentious fields that comprise the collective identity of the entire tribe amid the turbulent engagement with Afghanistan’s first democratic transfer of executive authority. By reducing the ambiguity of Geertz’s relation to semiotics, but respecting his historical concerns, an updated clarification of his methodology is fastened to a Darwinian framework to organize the complexities of micro-cultural evolution. The utility of his thinking is validated through an ironic focus on the hybridized and globalized postmodern concerns that historically partitioned his approach from the mainstream.