When Evil is not Elsewhere and On Knowing Otherwise

Done with the evil-doing (Vorbei mit der Übeltäterei) is a nuanced, at times brutal, if (disconcertingly) seductive inquiry into the measure of one’s freedom under the ongoing conditions of violence, war, and genocide: What is the measure of our being in this world and with each other? When is the after of the evil-doing? What comes after evil but more evil? Asked from a specific location, that is Germany, and at a specific time, that is the present, these questions thus posed are specific, and yet capacious, as they move between “intimate and global concerns” in a context in which the traps and temptations of the evil in question are many, and its scales varied. They are found in the outright perpetrator-ship and complicity of nation-states and in the form of individual implication, in the positions we take in public and the ways in which these positions shape our most intimate encounters, in pursuits of power and knowledge, in negotiating privilege, in investments into hegemonic structures and in the manifold desires that might range from fame and fortune, to status (immigration or otherwise) and to making a living. They pervade what we are willing to unsee, the price we are willing to pay, the bargains we are willing to strike along the way. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. This work is supported by ERC grant BEYONDREST 10.3030/101045661