Sacrificial Limbs: Masculinity, Disability, and Political Violence in Turkey

by Salih Can Açıksöz, Salih Can Aciksoz

Sacrificial Limbs chronicles the everyday lives and political activism of disabled veterans of Turkey’s Kurdish war, one of the most volatile conflicts in the Middle East. Through nuanced ethnographic portraits, Açiksöz examines how veterans’ experiences of war and disability are closely linked to class, gender, and ultimately the embrace of ultranationalist right-wing politics. Bringing the reader into military hospitals, commemorations, political demonstrations, and veterans’ everyday spaces of care, intimacy, and activism, Sacrificial Limbs provides a vivid analysis of the multiple and sometimes contradictory forces that fashion veterans’ bodies, political subjectivities, and communities. It is essential reading for students and scholars interested in anthropology, masculinity, and disability.

Genres: Anthropology, History, Nonfiction, Academic

271 pages, Paperback

Published December 3, 2019

Reviews

[Mehr Kaur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is amazing!!!!!!!!!! Had the chance to speak to the author today!!!!!!! Very interesting in terms of combining theory and ethnography on a particular demographic to reveal the nature of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict as well as the broader emerging ultranationalism in Turkey in the 21at century!!!!!! And super digestible and easy to follow!!!!!

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theoretically complex and (yet) engagingly written.

[Ghm · Rating 5 out of 5]

My clearest takeaways were (1) how veteran disability differs from civilian disability. The construction of different types of disability through political, moral, and social discourses. (2) the communities that are attached to these veterans/ and or the injuries of war: how these communities are constructed and at odds with each other. (3) a clear examination of sovereignty- a great chapter that journeys through hospitals, newspapers, tv shows, bureaucracy. A clear examination of nationalism and its effects, and how it is wielded by the state. A book that fuses (really good) ethnography with clear connections to theory. clearly and cleanly written. The ethnographer grounds himself/his perspective in his fieldwork in a way that is artful. It avoids self aggrandizing (refreshing).

[Moe Shimizu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Textured ethnography about disabled veterans in Turkey from the Kurdish conflict. Themes of war, masculinity, nationalism, and the relationship between the injured veteran and the Turkish nation.
Enjoyed the rich context and empathetic perspective leading into nuanced but sharp critiques

[Dafna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is theoretically sophisticated, the argument is thought-provoking, and yet it is all written in such a clear and engaging manner. It was a pleasure to read this!

[qiaoying · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the best ethnographies i've ever read

[Elif Aybaş]

Etnografinin riskli bir tür olduğuna inanıyorum,hikaye anlatıcılığıyla bilimsel araştırma arasında gidip gelen dinamiğinde uygun konumu alabilmek çok zor bence. Bir etnografiyi değerlendirirken başvuracağımız kriterleri oluşturmak da ayrıca güç bir iş. Genel olarak iyi kurgulanmış bir embodiment anlatısı ama ben pek etnografi fanı sayılmam sanırım. "Two Sovereignties", "of Gazis and Beggers", "Communities of Loss" ve "Prosthetic Debts" bölümlerinde ekonomik ve politik bağlamı görmek yakalamak daha kolay. "Being on the Mountains" ve "Prosthetic Revenge" bölümleri ise daha sembolik gibi. Yani gazilerin dağlara dair tecrübelerini veya bunlara ait çağrışımlarını kendi özneleşme ve politikleşme hikayelerinde bir yere yerleştirmek ya da "prosthetic revenge" bölümündeki gösterişli protesto sahnelerini ayakları yere basan bir politik değerlendirmeye tabi tutabilmek için hayal gücümüzü daha çok çalıştırmamız gerekiyor gibi. Ya da şöyle diyeyim, revenge bölümündeki hikayeler fazla bireysel tınlıyor, dağlara ilişkin anlatıların bu hikayelerdeki kurucu rolü ise bence çok sembolik.