Prehuman genocide

The striatum which constitutes most of the forebrain of the early lower vertebrates, controls displays, of which aggression is an integral component in ranking, territory, and courtship. The displays persist in all vertebrates, as does the enlarged and modified striatum. Submissive displays controlled killing in conspecific conflicts. Beginning with the growth of the neocortex in mammals during the Cenozoic period, aggression became more complex, culminating in warfare and genocide. Agonistic/submissive display controls may become inoperative in the chimpanzee, which has the critical amount of intelligence required for genocide, as confirmed by the field observations of Goodall and others.     

Framing disputes and organizational legitimation: UK-based Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora groups' use of the ‘genocide’ frame since 2009

The ending of the war in Sri Lanka in 2009 led to significant changes in the political strategies pursued by Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora groups in the UK. One contentious feature of these groups' campaigns has been their use of the ‘genocide’ frame to describe the actions of the Sri Lankan state, which has been predominantly viewed either as a signal of these groups' strategic naivety or as a coded expression of a wider nationalist agenda. In this article I argue that its growing use in the post-war period is more complex and is best understood in relation to these organizations' strategies of legitimation. Deploying the genocide frame has served two key functions: to demonstrate groups' responsiveness to popular demands, and to challenge dominant international approaches to post-war Sri Lanka. Together these functions served to bolster groups' legitimacy in an environment characterized by political change and high levels of inter-organizational competition.     

Ravished Armenia: Visual Media, Humanitarian Advocacy, and the Formation of Witnessing Publics

Discourses around human rights frequently treat media as transparent delivery systems for testimony and spectacles of atrocity. Such views detract from the degree to which media circuits shape human rights claims, in which aesthetic strategies transform a vast and distant horror into sympathetic cause, and systems of exhibition channel sentiment into action. This article's study of Ravished Armenia and the early film advocacy of Near East Relief in the Armenian case yields not only the contributions of media to claims-making process and humanitarian action but also Christian underpinnings of human rights movements. The evangelical legacy produced missions that provided the transnational infrastructure for sharing visual testimony and administering aid and offered an instrumental iconography of suffering that shaped an early "rights imaginary."     

Displaced Enemies,Displaced Memories: Diaspora Memorial Politics of Partition and the Holocaust

This paper argues that the refusal of the Muslim Council of Britain to attend Holocaust Memorial Day highlights a key dimension of memory as political myth: namely, the sense that time is cyclical. Prior external and internal enemies (in their current manifestations) are apocalyptically destined to threaten the integrity of the nation once more. Hence, ideologies based on political myths draw on both the future hopes and the future fears of people. The paper highlights the similarities between Jewish and Pakistani fears, rooted in the Holocaust and Partition, of a repeated ‘cycle of death and suffering’. These loom large especially for those suffering racism. The more bound people are by their narrow group's particular symbols and history, the more apocalyptic their vision of this future is likely to be.     

Reflections on Teaching Social Violence in an Age of Genocide and a Time of War

This article is a reflection by a teacher and a student on "structural-violence pedagogy," the process of teaching and learning about the structures of inequality implicated in various forms of social violence, including those of everyday life, massacre, and genocide. Using a case study of an undergraduate course in anthropology, we explore the complexity and emotionally charged nature of this field, some innovative teaching strategies, and contributions of anthropology to understanding a world marked and marred by war, genocide, racialization, and structural poverty. The teacher shapes a course of study informed by critical pedagogy and theories about violence and power. The student draws on her personal experiences, her intellectual interests, and her yearning for fuller answers to deeper questions as she seeks to reciprocate what is being taught to her. Together, teacher and student explore the promise in the power of teaching for understanding the world as it does exist.