Hannah Arendt Center Founder and Academic Director Roger Berkowitz introduced the topic of the conference. He began with his own tribal connections: his family, his Jewish faith, and other close-knit groups. As a cosmopolitan he has "passport stamps from many countries" where he has friends and family and colleagues in addition to writing books and articles and being part of intellectual communities: a cosmopolitan with many tribes.
He then talked about the conflict between those committed to a cosmopolitan view of the world and those who see humans through a tribal lens. I would try to summarize, but the opening speech of the conference is the latest episode of the Reading Hannah Arendt podcast so anyone so inclined can listen to the Roger's opening remarks.
The first speaker was Sebastian Junger, like Berkowitz, embodies the title of the conference.
As a cosmopolitan, he has written seven books, earning #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list, and numerous articles earning a National Magazine Award and a Peabody Award and a Peabody Award. His documentary film Restrepo (with co-director Tim Hetherington) won a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and was nominated for an Academy Award.
But the central subject of his writing is tribalism. His book Tribe explores the lure of tribalism and its place in modern life. Junger said the definition of a tribe is "What happens to you happens to me." The willingness to die for fellow tribe member is another mark of a tribe.
War and the film Restrepo show the life of an Army company defending the most exposed outpost in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. Soldiers form a tribe. In Restrepo one of the soldiers says that guys who hate each other's guts would risk their lives for each other.
I saw Restrepo just after returning from a year's deployment to Iraq in 2010. I have not seen a better or more candid documentary of war, any war, than Restrepo.
Just after the conference I read Junger's book The Perfect Storm the story of the commercial fishing boat Andrea Gail lost with all hands in a terrible storm in 1991. Junger describes the tribe of the people who fish for a living and the dangers they face. We also see the rescue services of the Coast Guard and the Air National Guard saving the lives of doomed boats in the terrible storm. We also learn about the rescuers lost and terribly injured during the rescues. The end of the book follows those dealing with the loss of loved ones in that terrible storm. War and disaster always have this long tail of family and communal suffering. Junger shows us the many struggles of thos left behind.
I will have to leave the rest of the conference for another post. This post is already very long and long after the event.
So great to hear about this. Thanks! Liz A-M
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