Abstract
AbstractThis article explores how analysis of material objects offers insights into international intervention and reactions to that intervention. Building on studies that examine the 4x4 as emblematic of intervention, the article argues that the 4x4 can also be seen as an object of resistance and agency. To do so, it uses the case study of 4x4 usage in Darfur and draws on primary data including interviews and a UN security incident database. The article is mindful of the limitations of a ‘material turn’ in the study of International Relations, especially in relation to how it might encourage us to overlook agency and structural power. While finding new materialism arguments largely convincing, the case study encourages a note of caution and proposes the notion of ‘materialism+’, which allows for the further investigation of the human/non-human interface, but is circumspect about tendencies towards neophilia, dematerialism, and posthumanism.
Highlights
At around 11:00 hrs on 11 June 2008, one (1) Land Rover pickup vehicle rented by [name of INGO removed] was carjacked by unknown armed bandits at water point inside the IDPs Camp in Shangil Tobay
While finding new materialism arguments largely convincing, the case study encourages a note of caution and proposes the notion of ‘materialism+’, which allows for the further investigation of the human/non-human interface, but is circumspect about tendencies towards neophilia, dematerialism, and posthumanism
The principal aim of this article has been to assess what the study of material objects can bring to the analysis of conflict and intervention
Summary
At around 11:00 hrs on 11 June 2008, one (1) Land Rover pickup vehicle rented by [name of INGO removed] was carjacked by unknown armed bandits at water point inside the IDPs Camp in Shangil Tobay. The article’s second objective is to make the case that the 4x4 should be seen as a vehicle of agency, resistance, mimicry, and hybridity in addition to the cliché of the white land cruiser as an object of intervention This argument is reinforced by the observation that 4x4s constitute lifeworlds and are specific to the ontology of specific actors. On the other hand, local and national actors utilise 4x4s and they are integral to strategies and tactics of resistance, mimicry, extraction, and power projection In this case, the material object is not just an object of consumption. There is no claim that Darfur is representative of other cases, merely indicative
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