The Complete Lives of Camp People: Colonialism, Fascism, Concentrated Modernity

Rudolf Mrázek

Published by Duke University Press 2020

The Complete Lives of Camp People

Colonialism, Fascism, Concentrated Modernity

Rudolf Mrázek

In the series Theory in Forms

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478007364

Overview
Contents

About this book

Rudolf Mrázek presents a sweeping study of the material and cultural lives of internees of two twentieth-century concentration camps and the multiple ways in which their experiences speak to and reveal the fundamental logics of modernity.

Author / Editor information

Rudolf Mrázek is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Michigan and the author of several books, including A Certain Age: Colonial Jakarta through the Memories of its Intellectuals, also published by Duke University Press.

Reviews

“The Complete Lives of Camp People is quite simply an extraordinary, provocative, challenging, and brilliant work. Offering an audacious theorization of modernity via modernity's twin forms of violence—colonialism and the camp—Rudolf Mrázek has written perhaps the finest book I have read this decade.”

-- Rosalind C. Morris, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University

“The Complete Lives of Camp People is a stunning collage assembled from witness testimonies, administrative instructions, philosophical reflections, and poetic illuminations. By juxtaposing the stories of two ‘model camps’—Boven Digoel and Theresienstadt—Rudolf Mrázek explores the sensory, material, experiential, and spatial dimensions of twentieth-century internment camps. This is the ‘thickest description’ of camp life yet to appear in print, providing valuable insights into a ubiquitous feature of modernity.”

-- Iris Rachamimov, Tel Aviv University

"A strength of this work is its emphasis on portraying the lives of camp people as they lived them. Mrázek leads his reader through the quotidian activities of the camps, touching on theatre, music, study—even the geography of the camps in their block arrangements. . . . Mrázek has provided the means of developing entirely new analyses of the history of concentration camps."

-- Brenda Melendy International Social Science Review

"This book offers an urgent reminder, and its remarkable range of engagement with thinkers—from Levinas to Isaac Bashevis Singer—gives it the energy of a living conversation. A useful intervention into holocaust and genocide studies, this work should be included in courses on empire and colonization more generally . . . plus chapters could serve as productive additions to a range of classroom conversations."

-- Spencer Dew Religion and Law

"With this book, Mrázek offers readers a rich, complex picture that greatly enhances existing knowledge of concentration camps in the previous century. . . . Supported by rigorous research and the author's lucid writing style, this volume is an interesting read. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty."

-- Q. E. Wang Choice

"This book offers a well-rounded perspective on camp lives that are often overlooked and unimagined. . . . [Mrázek's] portrayal of the internees is also humanizing and compassionate. All in all, this book is recommended for those interested in exploring more on the everyday life in the camps."

-- Amrina Rosyada Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia

"Brilliant, moving and deeply disturbing . . ."

-- Danilyn Rutherford Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia

"This book offers an urgent reminder, and its remarkable range of engagement with thinkers—from Levinas to Isaac Bashevis Singer—gives it the energy of a living conversation. A useful intervention into holocaust and genocide studies, this work should be included in courses on empire and colonization more generally."

-- Spencer Dew Religious Studies Review

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I. fashion
1. Clothes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
2. Beauty Spots Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
3. Pink Bodies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
4. Sport Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	72
Part II. Sound
5. Noise Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
6. Voice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
7. Music Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
8. Radio Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
Part III. Light
9. Clearing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
10. Enlightenment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
11. Limelight Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Part IV. City
12. Blocks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
13. Streets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
14. Suburbs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
Part V. Scattering
15. Nausea Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
16. Escape Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319
17. Dust, or Memory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	349
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	379
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	451
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	469

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 496
Illustrations
- Other: 6 illustrations

eBook

Published: January 17, 2020
ISBN: 9781478007364