Historical memory, global movements and violence - Paul Gilroy and Arjun Appadurai in conversation

This interview with Paul Gilroy and Arjun Appaddurai was conducted in the b elief that these two thinkers, who stem from different disciplines but whos e work meets at certain crucial junctures, would be able to present a discu ssion to a wider audience about the themes and issues that were currently m otivating them in their work. Paul Gilroy's work is well known as a central reference point within the contemporary analysis of 'race' and racism. At its most broad, he has a reputation for thinking throughout his writings ab out the historical constitution of race and the mobility of forms of racism over time and space. Arjun Appadurai's work emanates from the discipline o f anthropology, and he has a specific and on-going interest in South East A sia Studies. He has been influential in the exploration of new modes of con ceptualizing the remit and processes of forming anthropological knowledge. While both authors share certain key concerns, their interconnections are n ot explicit in their writings. This interview, conducted in London during A rjun Appadurai's visit in 1997, was an opportunity to bring these two autho rs together to discuss the themes and connections which they are both explo ring in different ways, but in ways that have similar theoretical and polit ical impulses. In particular, they address the themes that animate the crit ical edge of cultural studies: the politics of memory, the theorization of movement and new conceptualizations of spatiality, the critique of authenti city and modes of theorizing embodiment, and concurrent directions in their present work? especially around the notions of extreme actions, of war and violence.