Frontline(s)

The challenge of theorising and analysing socio-political phenomena can feel overwhelming given today’s somewhat threatening realpolitik (9/11, US-led wars on Afghanistan, Iraq and now, perhaps, Syria) and the rapid pace with which (dis)information is received, digested and discarded. Through an act of ‘literary montage’ construction, and prefaced by some interpretation of my own, I offer this ‘exhibit’ as an attempt to highlight this sense of dislocation whilst simultaneously ‘building a picture’. A specific concern is to problematise the notion of ‘the frontline’. Given blatant military and economic imperialism by the US, underscored by the construction and fetishising of the rational subject under modernity and the social democratic state, I suggest that frontlines are located in any public or private space where the legitimacy of these interests and categories is questioned. Expressions of difference, including peace activism, thus become ‘proliferating illegitimacies’ and are policed as such. Against this context, the texts positioned here tell of growing realisation and fear of the coldness and instrumentalism at the heart of empire-building, of which both the horrific violence currently inflicted on Iraqi people, and the discounting and suppression of dissent to war worldwide, are part. For a global anti-capitalist/pro-justice movement that recognises trade in arms as a core constraint on human potential, reaching beyond this fear - retaining the hope of the ‘politics of possibility’ with which this ‘movement of movements’ has come to be identified – emerges as a latent and essential challenge

Towards a sinthomatology of organization?

In this paper I attempt to further the emerging Lacanian-inspired study of management and organization by introducing his notion of the sinthome. The sinthome must be understood as a necessary support of subjectivity rather than a pathological formation. In the Lacanian conceptualization of subjectivity, it enables the registers of the Symbolic, the Imaginary and the Real to be knotted together in a specific way,and thereby regulates the distribution of jouissance that takes shape within their ?knot?. Therefore, the sinthome can be thought of as the specific constellation of the registers in a socio-historical context, by organizing jouissance and giving a superficial sheen of consistency to the subject. It reproduces itself in the registers and ensures the superficial coherence of an ideological discourse. I argue that the three functions by which the sinthome reproduces itself in the registers, namely consistency, hole and exsistence,provide a fruitful and novel theorization of how subjectivity, discourse and jouissance are entangled in organizational contexts

MS – 211: Earman Family Letters from WWII

The collection contains 389 letters, 15 V-mail , and 166 additional items addressed to members of the Earman family home. The majority of the correspondence is sent from Ernest and Randolph to their mother, Mrs. Earman. Because the Earman brothers did not see much direct combat, the bulk of their letters are updates on health and daily activities, or candid observations on the war, the Army, the weather, and women. The rest of the collection includes letters addressed to the Earman family from distant or extended family, close friends, and Ernest’s foreign and domestic girlfriends. Many of the letters are (legibly) handwritten, though some were typed. While the majority of the items are well–preserved inside their original envelopes, eleven letters are without envelopes and seven envelopes are without accompanying letters; these items are marked as “envelope only” or “letter only.” Many envelopes contain a variety of printed ephemera or artifacts like clippings, programs, advertisements, and photographs. There were 31 photographs/ephemera which were not enclosed in any specific letter or envelope; these loose items have been grouped together in Series VIII (see description). There are brief gaps in correspondence which can be attributed to Army furloughs or overseas travel. Because some of the correspondence from Ernest, Randolph, and Granville (particularly the V–mail) was written under censorship, details about military location or movements have been omitted or physically removed from the letters. Historians researching WWII communication and censorship may be interested in the Vmail, telegrams, or letters from the soldiers immediately after they arrived overseas. The collection’s female writers offer a helpful gendered perspective of the war, both on the home–front and abroad. Jo Bush’s letters detail the life and training of a Cadet Nurse. Mrs. (Dorothy) Randolph Earman’s letters express the concerns of a wife and mother trying to manage a household while worrying about the absence of her husband. The letters from Ernest’s foreign (often romantic) acquaintances reveal how French and German women saw America, Americans, and WWII. Arguably the collection’s greatest strength is its view into the personal lives and relationships of U.S. soldiers while overseas. While he entertained multiple romantic interests during his time as a soldier, Ernest struck up a serious relationship in France with Catherine Seux, whom he hoped to marry one day after returning home. As time passed and marriage proved increasingly unlikely, Catherine’s progressively dejected letters—which end quite abruptly in Aug. 1946—give voice to foreign women who, charmed by American soldiers, hoped to marry and come to the United States but were met instead with cultural and economic setbacks. Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/findingaidsall/1184/thumbnail.jp