Who Counts? The Mathematics of Death and Life after Genocide

329 Pages·2015·28.775 MB·English

by  Diane M. Nelson

Who Counts?
This page intentionally left blank
Who
Counts?
The Mathematics of Death
and Life after Genocide
Diane M. Nelson
Duke University Press Durham and London 2015
© 2015 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of
America on acid- free paper ∞
Designed by Natalie F. Smith
Typeset in Quadraat Pro by
Westchester Publishing Services
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Nelson, Diane M., [date] author.
Who counts? : the mathematics of death and life
after genocide / Diane Nelson.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8223-5973-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8223-6005-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8223-7507-4 (e- book)
1. Guatemala— History—1985– 2. Guatemala—
Politics and government—1985–
3. Genocide— Guatemala— History—20th century.
4. Mathematics— Social aspects. I. Title.
f1466.7.n46 2015
972.8105'2— dc23 2015019168
Cover art: Isabel Ruiz (b.1945) performs Matemática sustractiva
(Subtractive math), Antigua, Guatemala, 2008. She tallied
45,000 white chalk marks, one for each of the estimated
disappeared, as someone followed behind erasing them, then
Ruiz began tallying again. The per for mance was dedicated
to Guatemalan writer Luis de Lión, who was disappeared by the
Guatemalan state in 1984. Photo by Francisco Morales Santos.
Used by kind permission of Isabel Ruiz.
For Anastasia, Santos, Maudilia, and Lochlann
And for Chelsea / Bradley, Edward, and Jake
In the beginning the white men
tried to finish with us using
guns, whips and diseases.
Now they use numbers.
— Kulussi Suyâ
Numbers weave patterns
which people inhabit and
which inhabit people.
— Helen Verran
People need numbers very, very
badly. And they don’t give a shit
where they come from.
— Patrick Ball, in Rosenberg 2012, 5
If a steamship weighed ten thousand tons and sailed five thousand miles,
With a cargo large of overshoes and carving knives and files,
If the mates were almost six feet high and the bos’n near the same,
Would you subtract or multiply to find the captain’s name?
chorus
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Put down six and carry two,
Gee! but this is hard to do;
You can think and think and think till your brains are numb,
I don’t care what teacher says, I can’t do the sum
chorus
If Clarence took fair Gwendolyn out for an auto ride,
And if at sixty miles an hour a kiss to capture tried,
And quite forgot the steering gear on her honeyed lips to sup,
How soon could twenty men with brooms sweep Clare and Gwennie up?
From Babes in Toyland (Herbert and MacDonough 1903)
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
-1
1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chapter Minus One
Part I. When You Count You Begin with 1, 2, 3
0
7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bookkeeping
1
37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Before and After- Math
Part II. Bonesetting
2
63 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Algebra of Genocide
3
93 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reunion of Broken Parts
Part III. Mayan Pyramids
4
121 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100% Omnilife
5
157 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mayan Pyramid (Scheme)
Part IV. YES to Life = NO to Mining
6
189 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Life’s Worth
7
227 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beyond Adequacy
Preface xi / Notes 265 / References 281 / Index 297