Book Review: Julia Kristeva, Crisis of the European Subject (New York: Other Press, 2000, 183 pp., $19.95 pbk.)
| Author | Louiza Odysseos |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298000290030808 |
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Millennium
908
efforts at empo werment through assaults on th e order of the day, secularis m. While
Juergensmeye r suggests five al ternatives on how to deal wit h religious violence, he
favours the reint roduction of religion in public life.
For the religio us activists interviewed by Juergen smeyer, the secular nature of
the mod ern nation-state is t he problem. The author agre es to an exten t, and
advocates something other than secularism. But how he wants us t o proceed from
here to that something othe r remains unclear. Seculari sm has it s own d rawbacks,
but one wonders as to how the p eople of different faiths will coexist if the mo dern
nation-stat es gave up secularism. An d even if the sec ularism of a give n state is not
‘anti-religi ous’, as is t he case in India where the state gives equal opportunity to
different relig ions, the major religion is co nceived as threatening by ot hers, leading
to a violent reaction as is visible in Juergensmeyer’s own example of Sikhs in
India.
Juergensmeyer shoul d be commend ed for his judici ous yet very insigh tful
treatment of d ifferent religious groups. While in no way disagreein g with the thrust
of his argument, I have two slig ht qu ibbles to register. First, Juergensmeyer’s
treatment of t he US role i n globa l affairs remains a bit unsatisfactory. W hile he
clearly ackno wledges the global hegemo ny of the US, he errs in painting the US as
always supporting the secular side in global conflicts. One need only look at the
Saudi theocracy and the C IA-financed Jihadis in Afghanistan, one of whom, B in
Laden, graces the cover of t his book, t o disagree. Sec ond, the stres s on cult ure at
the relative e xpense of political economy leaves a bit to b e desired. Apart from
these smal l disagreements, I found this bo ok to be a solid piece of scholarship; all
would benefit from rea ding it.
AMANDEEP SANDHU
Amandeep Sandhu is a Graduate Student in the Department of Sociology
at the Universit y of Victoria, Canada
Julia Kristeva , Crisis of the Europea n Subject (New Yo rk: Other Press, 2000, 183
pp., $19.95 pbk.).
This is a welcome co llection of four re cent and newly tra nslated essays by J ulia
Kristeva. Their collection under this title serves as a fitting inauguration of t he
Cultural Studies Series from Other Press, and marks a timely contribution to the
continuing debate on European subjectivity. Although it is not immediately
apparent how they fit together, their disparate co-presence in this volu me is itself
indicativ e of the vari ed aspects and directi ons of this debate, whose central
question is, acc ording to Kristeva, what i t will mean to call on eself ‘European’ in a
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