Anthropology of Violence and Conflict (European Association of Social Anthropologists)

240 Pages·2001·1.2 MB·English

by  Bettina E. Schmidt

Recto running head i
Anthropology of Violence and
Conflict
Violence is a key feature of human social relations, yet has received
comparatively little attention from social scientists. With increasing
levels of conflict and violence in the modern world, Anthropology of
Violence and Conflict offers a timely contribution to this growing
area of anthropological research. The authors provide a balanced
approach to the causes of violence and the human experience behind
it, examining how violent conflict is often represented differently by
perpetrators, victims and observers, as well as by winners and losers
in war. To what extent are the conditions that lead to conflicts
commonly experienced across cultures?
From each discussion emerges the importance of viewing con-
temporary violence as grounded in long-term antagonistic processes.
Drawing on examples from North and South America, Africa
and the recent civil strife in Sri Lanka, Albania and the former
Yugoslavia, this volume examines well-known conflicts, past and
present, and provides ample evidence of the fact that violence is
never an isolated event. All conflict is reliant on perpetrators,
victims and witnesses.
The authors all agree on the dialectical nature of violence: con-
flict is both imagined and performed, and this duality is crucial
when examining the nature of violent conflict. By providing an
anthropological perspective on this important subject, this volume
is a crucial addition to the literature of violence and warfare.
Bettina E. Schmidtand Ingo W. Schröderare research associates at
the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Marburg,
Germany.
ii Verso running head
European Association of Social Anthropologists
Series Facilitators: Jon P. Mitchell, University of Sussex
Sarah Pink, University of Loughborough
The European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) was
inaugurated in January 1989, in response to a widely felt need for a
professional association that would represent social anthropologists in
Europe and foster co-operation and interchange in teaching and
research. The series brings together the work of the Association’s
members in a series of edited volumes which originate from and expand
upon the biennial EASA Conference.
Titles in the series are:
Conceptualizing Society The Ethnography of Moralities
Adam Kuper (ed.) Signe Howell (ed.)
Other Histories
Inside and Outside the Law
Kristen Hastrup (ed.)
Olivia Harris (ed.)
Alcohol,Gender and Culture
Dimitra Gefou-Madianou (ed.) Anthropological Perspectives on
Local Development
Understanding Rituals
Simone Abram and Jacqueline
Daniel de Coppet (ed.)
Waldren (eds)
Gendered Anthropology
Teresa del Valle (ed.) Recasting Ritual
Felicia Hughes-Freeland and
Social Experience and
Mary M.Crain (eds)
Anthropological Knowledge
Kirsten Hastrup and Peter Hervik (eds) Locality and Belonging
Fieldwork and Footnotes Nadia Lovell (ed.)
Han F.Vermeulen and Arturo Alvarez
Roldan(eds) Constructing the Field
Vered Amit (ed.)
Syncretism/Anti-syncretism
Charles Stewart and Rosalind Shaw (eds) Dividends of Kinship
Grasping the Changing World Peter P.Schweitzer (ed.)
Václav Hubinger (ed.)
Audit Cultures
Civil Society Marilyn Strathern (ed.)
Chris Hann and Elizabeth Dunn (eds)
Anthropology of Policy Gender, Agency and Change
Cris Shore and Susan Wright (eds) Victoria Ana Goddard (ed.)
Nature and Society Natural Enemies
Philippe Descola and Gisli Pálsson (eds) John Knight (ed.)
Recto running head iii
Anthropology of
Violence and Conflict
Edited by
Bettina E. Schmidt and
Ingo W. Schröder
London and New York
iv Verso running head
First published 2001
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane,London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street,New York,NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
© 2001 selection and editorial matter,EASA:individual chapters,
the contributors
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,mechanical,
or other means,now known or hereafter invented,including
photocopying and recording,or in any information storage or
retrieval system,without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is availabe from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Anthropology of violence and conflict/edited by Bettina E.Schmidt and
Ingo W.Schröder.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.Violence. 2.Culture conflict. 3.Social conflict. 4.Political violence.
5.Ethnic relations. I.Schmidt,Bettina,1958–. II.Schröder,Ingo.
III.European Association of Social Anthropologists.
GN494.5 A58 2001
303.6—dc21 00–045705
ISBN 0-203-45186-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-45714-5 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–22905–7 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–22906–5 (pbk)
Recto running head v
Contents
List of figures vii
List of contributors ix
Acknowledgements x
1 Introduction: violent imaginaries and
violent practices 1
INGO W. SCHRÖDER AND BETTINA E. SCHMIDT
2 The violence in identity 25
GLENN BOWMAN
Violence as everyday practice and imagination 47
3 Socio-cosmological contexts and forms of
violence: war, vendetta, duels and suicide
among the Yukpa of north-western Venezuela 49
ERNST HALBMAYER
4 The interpretation of violent worldviews:
cannibalism and other violent images of
the Caribbean 76
BETTINA E. SCHMIDT
5 The enactment of ‘tradition’: Albanian
constructions of identity, violence and power
in times of crisis 97
STEPHANIE SCHWANDNER-SIEVERS
vi Contents
Violence and conflict 121
6 Violence and culture: anthropological and
evolutionary-psychological reflections on
inter-group conflict in southern Ethiopia 123
JON ABBINK
7 Violent events in the Western Apache past:
ethnohistory and ethno-ethnohistory 143
INGO W. SCHRÖDER
Violence in war 159
8 When silence makes history: gender and
memories of war violence from Somalia 161
FRANCESCA DECLICH
9 A turning point? From civil struggle to civil
war in Sri Lanka 176
PETER KLOOS
10 Predicament of war: Sarajevo experiences and
ethics of war 197
IVANA MACˇEK
Index 225
Recto running head vii
Figures
3.1 Identity versus difference among the Yukpa 56
3.2 Levels of inside/outside among the Yukpa 58
3.3 Social levels of identity/difference 59
9.1 Conceptualisation of escalation to civil war 179
9.2 Two basic schisms in Sri Lankan society 186
9.3 From ethnic difference (stage 1) to regular civil war
(stage 6) 193
viii Contributors
Contributors ix
Contributors
Jon Abbink is Research Associate at the African Studies Center,
Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, the Netherlands.
Glenn Bowmanis Lecturer in Anthropology at Rutherford College,
University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
Francesca Declich is Professor of Anthropology at the University
of Urbino, Italy.
Ernst Halbmayer is Research Associate at the Laboratoire d’
Anthropologie Sociale, Paris, France.
Peter Kloos was Professor of Anthropology at the Free University
of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He passed away after finalising
his contribution in August 2000.
Ivana Macˇek is Research Fellow at the Department of Anthro-
pology, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Bettina E. Schmidt is Research Associate at the Department of
Social Anthropology, University of Marburg, Germany.
Ingo W. Schröder is Research Associate at the Department of
Social Anthropology, University of Marburg, Germany.
Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers is Nash Fellow for Albanian
Studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies,
University of London, UK.