What meaning can be found in calamity and suffering? This question is in some sense perennial, reverberating through the canons of theology, philosophy, and literature. Today, The Politics of Consolation reveals, it is also a significant part of American political leadership. Faced with uncertainty, shock, or despair, Americans frequently look to political leaders for symbolic and existential guidance, for narratives that bring meaning to the confrontation with suffering, loss, and finitude. Politicians, in turn, increasingly recognize consolation as a cultural expectation, and they often work hard to fulfill it.
The events of September 11, 2001 raised these questions of meaning powerfully. How were Americans to make sense of the violence that unfolded on that sunny Tuesday morning? This book examines how political leaders drew upon a long tradition of consolation discourse in their effort to interpret September 11, arguing that the day's events were mediated through memories of past suffering in decisive ways. It then traces how the struggle to define the meaning of September 11 has continued in foreign policy discourse, commemorative ceremonies, and the contentious redevelopment of the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan.
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
ISBN: 9780199381791
Number of pages: 304
Weight: 408 g
Dimensions: 231 x 155 x 23 mm
With analytical rigor and theoretical boldness, The Politics of Consolation hovers closely over the rhetorical landscapes of political disasters in America. Christina Simko hears the alternating themes of official consolation speeches as they variously grapple with, and make sense of, suffering and loss. This is a beautifully written historical analysis of political meaning-making at its most intense and consequential. - Robin Wagner-Pacifici, The New School
The Politics of Consolation is an extraordinary work of cultural and historical sociology, proving once again the value of close reading and insightful interpretation in the social sciences. Simko's demonstration of the multidirectional interplay between past, present, and future, in political rhetoric about the national catastrophe of 9/11, is highly illuminating, morally profound, and politically consequential. It is a must read for both scholars and the concerned public. -Jeffrey Olick, University of Virginia
In modern American history, politicians have frequently stepped into the public eye to 'console the nation' in the aftermath of violent events. In doing so, they seek to render evil comprehensible while also setting out a course of action that follows 'naturally' from the events they interpret. Christina Simko's study discovers the inner logic of this process, and thus articulates a new understanding of how public sense-making proceeds in a democracy driven by both myth and power. This book is a wonderful debut from a powerful new voice in interpretive sociology. - Isaac Ariail Reed, author of Interpretation and Social Knowledge
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