Genocidal Nightmares : Narratives of Insecurity and the Logic of Mass Atrocities.
El-Affendi, Abdelwahab.
Genocidal Nightmares : Narratives of Insecurity and the Logic of Mass Atrocities. - 1st ed. - 1 online resource (270 pages)
Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Foreword -- 1. Introduction: Narrating the Precariousness of Human Decency -- Conceptual clarifications -- Narrating insecurity -- Our approach -- Confronting (and explaining) evil: The precariousness of human decency -- Our argument -- Notes -- 2. Killer Narratives: Collective Nightmares and the Construction of Narrative Communities of Insecurity -- Constructing nightmares to inhabit -- The genesis of mass atrocities -- The construction of self and victims -- Narrative communities -- From securitization to 'Hyper-Securitization' -- Beyond the liberalism of fear -- The power of popular culture -- Selling narratives -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 3. Imagining Nationhood, Framing Postcoloniality: Narrativizing Nigeria through the Kinesis of (Hi)Story -- Imperial naming -- Towards a theory of the nation -- The postcolonial imaginary and the narrativization of Nigerian nationhood -- Narratives fall apart -- A civil war of narratives -- The years of military (mis)adventure: 1984-1999 -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 4. Sudanese Stories: Narratives of Grievance, Distrust and Fatalism in Recurrent Violence -- 'A state of emergency' -- Grievance -- Distrust -- Fatalism -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 5. General Elections and Narratives of Violent Conflict: The Land Question and Civic Competence in Kenya -- A narrative approach to violent conflict in Kenya -- Conceptualizing civic competence and violent ethnic conflict in Kenya -- Political discourse, ethnicity and violent conflict in Kenya -- General elections and violent conflict in Kenya -- The land question and violent ethnic conflicts in Kenya -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 6. The Violence of Security, Lethal Representations and Hindu Nationalism in India -- The Hindu Right in India -- The productive discourse of security. Representing 'The Muslim' as a danger -- Visiting a site of communal violence: Gujarat 2002 -- Conclusion: Do security narratives kill? -- Notes -- 7. Memories of Victimhood in Serbia and Croatia from the 1980s to the Disintegration of Yugoslavia -- Historical background: War trauma and post-traumatic narratives -- The tragic burden of the Second World War -- Communist myths -- Debating the Jasenovac concentration camp -- Discussions of Bleiburg -- The coming of Milosevic to power in Serbia -- Some reflections on genocide and victimhood narratives -- Notes -- 8. Insecurity, Victimhood, Self and Other: The Case of Israel and Palestine -- Fear, victimhood and otherness -- History: Invisible and indivisible -- Fear, justice and retribution -- Notes -- 9. Resistance Narratives: Palestinian Women, Islam and Insecurity -- Narratives of loss and injustice -- Rich tapestry of voices -- 'A plurality of resistances': Articulating the narrative of 1948 -- The 'blessings of memory' -- A narrative of heroism -- Narratives of morality -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 10. The State and Intergroup Violence: The Case of Modern Iraq -- Slide into communal violence -- An analytical model -- Case 1: The Assyrian Crisis of 1933 -- Case 2: The Jewish Pogrom (Farhud) of 1941 -- Case 3: The expulsion of Fayli Kurds and Iraqi Shias of assumed Iranian origin, 1969-1981 -- Case 4: The Anfal campaign against the Kurds of 1988 -- Case 5: The Shia uprising (Intifida) of 1991 -- Case 6: Mass killings, expulsions and disappearances of civilians, 2003-2008 -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 11. Islamophobia as a Securitization Narrative: The Exclusionary Logic of Imperial Geopolitics -- The rise of anti-Muslim hostility in the United Kingdom -- The underdevelopment of 'Islamophobia' -- Islamophobia as securitization -- The exclusionary logic of securitization -- Conclusion -- Notes. 12. Killer Narratives in Western Popular Culture: Telling it as it is Not -- Newspapers: Telling it as it is not -- From 'Barbary' to Midnight Express: Violently imagining the 'Turk' -- 'Reel Bad Arabs' -- Islamophobia and the Holocaust: Disturbing echoes -- Promoting prejudice and hatred: Untrue 'True-Life Stories' -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Concluding Remarks -- Notes -- Authors' Biographies -- Index.
This book offers a novel and productive explanation of why 'ordinary' people can be moved to engage in destructive mass violence (or terrorism and the abuse of rights), often in large numbers and in unexpected ways. Its argument is that narratives of insecurity (powerful horror stories people tell and believe about their world and others) can easily make extreme acts appear acceptable, even necessary and heroic. As in action or horror movies, the script dictates how the 'hero' acts. The book provides theoretical justifications for this analysis, building on earlier studies but going beyond them in what amount to a breakthrough in mapping the context of mass violence. It backs its argument with a large number of case studies covering four continents, written by prominent scholars from the relevant countries or with deep knowledge of them. A substantial introduction by the UN's Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide demonstrates the policy relevance of this path-breaking work.
9781628920758
Genocide -- Causes.
Atrocities -- Causes.
Violence -- Social aspects.
Genocide -- Causes -- Case studies.
Atrocities -- Causes -- Case studies.
Violence -- Social aspects -- Case studies.
Electronic books.
HV6322.7 .G436 2014
364.15/1
Genocidal Nightmares : Narratives of Insecurity and the Logic of Mass Atrocities. - 1st ed. - 1 online resource (270 pages)
Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Foreword -- 1. Introduction: Narrating the Precariousness of Human Decency -- Conceptual clarifications -- Narrating insecurity -- Our approach -- Confronting (and explaining) evil: The precariousness of human decency -- Our argument -- Notes -- 2. Killer Narratives: Collective Nightmares and the Construction of Narrative Communities of Insecurity -- Constructing nightmares to inhabit -- The genesis of mass atrocities -- The construction of self and victims -- Narrative communities -- From securitization to 'Hyper-Securitization' -- Beyond the liberalism of fear -- The power of popular culture -- Selling narratives -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 3. Imagining Nationhood, Framing Postcoloniality: Narrativizing Nigeria through the Kinesis of (Hi)Story -- Imperial naming -- Towards a theory of the nation -- The postcolonial imaginary and the narrativization of Nigerian nationhood -- Narratives fall apart -- A civil war of narratives -- The years of military (mis)adventure: 1984-1999 -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 4. Sudanese Stories: Narratives of Grievance, Distrust and Fatalism in Recurrent Violence -- 'A state of emergency' -- Grievance -- Distrust -- Fatalism -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 5. General Elections and Narratives of Violent Conflict: The Land Question and Civic Competence in Kenya -- A narrative approach to violent conflict in Kenya -- Conceptualizing civic competence and violent ethnic conflict in Kenya -- Political discourse, ethnicity and violent conflict in Kenya -- General elections and violent conflict in Kenya -- The land question and violent ethnic conflicts in Kenya -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 6. The Violence of Security, Lethal Representations and Hindu Nationalism in India -- The Hindu Right in India -- The productive discourse of security. Representing 'The Muslim' as a danger -- Visiting a site of communal violence: Gujarat 2002 -- Conclusion: Do security narratives kill? -- Notes -- 7. Memories of Victimhood in Serbia and Croatia from the 1980s to the Disintegration of Yugoslavia -- Historical background: War trauma and post-traumatic narratives -- The tragic burden of the Second World War -- Communist myths -- Debating the Jasenovac concentration camp -- Discussions of Bleiburg -- The coming of Milosevic to power in Serbia -- Some reflections on genocide and victimhood narratives -- Notes -- 8. Insecurity, Victimhood, Self and Other: The Case of Israel and Palestine -- Fear, victimhood and otherness -- History: Invisible and indivisible -- Fear, justice and retribution -- Notes -- 9. Resistance Narratives: Palestinian Women, Islam and Insecurity -- Narratives of loss and injustice -- Rich tapestry of voices -- 'A plurality of resistances': Articulating the narrative of 1948 -- The 'blessings of memory' -- A narrative of heroism -- Narratives of morality -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 10. The State and Intergroup Violence: The Case of Modern Iraq -- Slide into communal violence -- An analytical model -- Case 1: The Assyrian Crisis of 1933 -- Case 2: The Jewish Pogrom (Farhud) of 1941 -- Case 3: The expulsion of Fayli Kurds and Iraqi Shias of assumed Iranian origin, 1969-1981 -- Case 4: The Anfal campaign against the Kurds of 1988 -- Case 5: The Shia uprising (Intifida) of 1991 -- Case 6: Mass killings, expulsions and disappearances of civilians, 2003-2008 -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 11. Islamophobia as a Securitization Narrative: The Exclusionary Logic of Imperial Geopolitics -- The rise of anti-Muslim hostility in the United Kingdom -- The underdevelopment of 'Islamophobia' -- Islamophobia as securitization -- The exclusionary logic of securitization -- Conclusion -- Notes. 12. Killer Narratives in Western Popular Culture: Telling it as it is Not -- Newspapers: Telling it as it is not -- From 'Barbary' to Midnight Express: Violently imagining the 'Turk' -- 'Reel Bad Arabs' -- Islamophobia and the Holocaust: Disturbing echoes -- Promoting prejudice and hatred: Untrue 'True-Life Stories' -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Concluding Remarks -- Notes -- Authors' Biographies -- Index.
This book offers a novel and productive explanation of why 'ordinary' people can be moved to engage in destructive mass violence (or terrorism and the abuse of rights), often in large numbers and in unexpected ways. Its argument is that narratives of insecurity (powerful horror stories people tell and believe about their world and others) can easily make extreme acts appear acceptable, even necessary and heroic. As in action or horror movies, the script dictates how the 'hero' acts. The book provides theoretical justifications for this analysis, building on earlier studies but going beyond them in what amount to a breakthrough in mapping the context of mass violence. It backs its argument with a large number of case studies covering four continents, written by prominent scholars from the relevant countries or with deep knowledge of them. A substantial introduction by the UN's Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide demonstrates the policy relevance of this path-breaking work.
9781628920758
Genocide -- Causes.
Atrocities -- Causes.
Violence -- Social aspects.
Genocide -- Causes -- Case studies.
Atrocities -- Causes -- Case studies.
Violence -- Social aspects -- Case studies.
Electronic books.
HV6322.7 .G436 2014
364.15/1