The Anthropology of Genocide | How and Why We Study Mass Killings

Why and how do anthropologists and sociologists study genocide? And what can their research teach us about mass violence and the prevention of atrocities in the future? In this episode of Off the Shelf we take a close look at the intellectual history of the anthropology of genocide, as well as the methods and contributions of leading qualitative researchers working in the field of genocide studies today.

The host, Dr. Alexander K. Smith, holds an MA from Oxford University and a PhD in the anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas from the University of Paris, France.

[1] I’ve adapted the terminology ‘triangle of violence’ from Schmidt and Schroder’s (2001) very useful introduction to "Anthropology of Violence and Conflict". Their usage of the term should not be confused with (the probably more common) usage of ‘triangle of violence’ in Conflict Theory, which is derived from Johan Galtung’s work in Peace and Conflict Studies. On that alternate usage, see: Galtun, Johan. 1969. “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research” in Journal of Peace Research 6(3), pp. 167-191.

[2] One of the main factors underlying the elimination of the phrase “political and other groups” from the UN Preliminary Resolution 96-I was that the Soviet Union rejected the terminology due its recent genocidal purge of the Kulaks, fearing that the UN Resolution would immediately be used against the Soviet Union by other UN member states. See: Hinton, Alexander L. 2002. “The Dark Side of Modernity: Toward an Anthropology of Genocide” in Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide, pp. 3-4.

[3] Manz, Beatriz. 2002. “Terror, Grief, and Recovery: Genocidal Trauma in a Mayan Village in Guatemala” in Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide, pp. 292-310; and Shapiro-Phim, Toni. 2002. “Dance, Music, and the Nature of Terror in Democratic Kampuchea” in Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide, pp. 179-194.

[4] Roth, Kennith. 2002. “Foreward” in Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide, pp. x.

[5] Victoria Sanford has published significant body of work on genocide and human rights in Guatemala, which is well worth reading if you are interested in either genocide studies or Guatemalan history. In particular, see: Buried Secrets: Truth and Human Rights in Guatemala (2000).

[6] The best example of this kind of work that I can think of is the science communication and outreach done by Alexander Hinton. In addition to writing an astounding number of books, one of the most relevant things he has done is that, in 2016, he provided four days of external expert testimony at the UN-Backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, where he was interrogated by defense lawyers at the trial of senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge. That trial was covered in news outlets around the world, which not only raised awareness of the trial and built a more comprehensive understanding of the genocide for the general public, but it also highlighted the contributions of notable anthropologists and showed that our work can be mobilized to affect real-world change.

[7] There’s basically a cottage industry built around Arendt’s reading of the Eichmann trial – some author’s praising her analysis and others (many others, in fact) either condemning Arendt’s work or revising her comments. It’s an enormous, highly complex, and deeply contentious body of literature, so I won’t hazard a summary where I have so little space to write; but you will find a highly-accessible discussion of the intellectual history of the subject in our pinned comment below.

[8] See, in particular: Arnold, Bettina. 2002. “Justifying Genocide: Archaeology and the Construction of Difference” in Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide, pp. 95-117; and Schafft, Gretchen. 2002. “Scientific Racism in Service of the Reich: German Anthropologists in the Nazi Era” in Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide, pp. 117-137.

[9] See: Bringa, Tone. 2002. “Averted Gaze: Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1992-1995” in Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide, pp. 194-228; Taylor, Christopher. 2002. “The Cultural Face of Terror in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994” in Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide. , pp. 137-178; and Malkki, Liisa. 1995. Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory, and National Cosmology among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

0:00 Preamble
0:55 Introduction
2:11 Defining Genocide
4:48 Problems with the Legal Definition
6:07 More Constructive Definitions of Genocide
7:24 A Brief History of Social Science and Genocide
10:14 Complicity of Early Anthropologists in Mass Killings
14:15 The Anthropology of Genocide Today
15:22 The Victims' Perspective
18:27 The Perspectives of the International Community
20:40 The Perpetrator's Perspective
24:47 Forensic Archaeology and Memorial Museums
26:33 Conclusion

[ArmchairAcademics]

Thanks for watching! If you'd like to see more videos on related topics (on the intellectual history of memorial museums, for example, or grounded, methodological approaches to studying the political movements that foster genocidal campaigns) let us know in the comments below. [Please check the corrections pinned below!]

Corrections: 5:48 there is an editorial mistake here. I should say "much MORE likely to recognize genocides in Europe and North America and much LESS likely to recognize genocides in Africa, Latin America, and Asia" -- not the opposite. No idea how that slipped through the cracks.

[JohnMushitu]

I just happen to know a certain country which is doing just that right now

[Twinruler]

It is really weird. Those who commit genocide do not consider themselves to be savages. They consider their victims to be savages. This, of course, is especially true of The British Imperialists, who, conquered the African continent, as well as the Indian subcontinent!

[Mary-rxqg]

Thank you so much for such a great work on this hard topic!

[jonwilcox]

This was great. Complex, always (for me) saddening because of how persistent genocides have been in our recent centuries when we’ve supposedly become enlightened and exceptional.
All kinds of wry jokes about these ethnocentric hypocricies are about all I can ever come up with, until I were ever fortunate enough to be involved with an academic group like yours, so thanks for all your persistence, and I’ll be listening and re-listening, now that I’ve found you!
Bravo!

[ComradeHavik]

Great video, very informative. Would love to hear more about how anthropologists have understood those ideologies that have supported mass violence!

[louisemacul]

Please create a video on the role of museums & memorial museums of genocide

[emmawilcock]

for those hoping to grasp the processes discussed in this video at a less academic level i recommend this documentary. I watched this as an anthropology undergraduate and became familiar with the systematic processes that emerge than carry forth the events known as genocide.

[donnaandara]

Great presentation. Imperative to understand cultural perspectives, international passivity and land resource grabs too. Racial/ group bias justifies these horrors

[jwilleseries]

Pleasanton don’t ever use the term ”Differently Abled” because that is really insulting and I have never heard of any other disabled person who does not reject the term ”Differently abled”

[pl]

I would be interested in what you thought of the Irish Potato Famine/Genocide.

[assertive]

genocide is due to organized religions as well.

Elephant in the room.

[ChristopherCarter-qi]

How to get this education and understanding into the forefront of our society, to see and understand it not only as it happens but prior to it. We have the big laid upon Israel and thousands are dying as I type, hospital, schools bombed, Food water electricity cut off long ago. Stravation is taking hold as aid trucks are cut/ The terror and horror seems to have no bottom

[fredwelf]

If there are collected studies of genocide, is there a ratio of victims to the society's population, For example, in nazi Germany, the number 6M is given for the mixture of deaths in death camps, mostly Jews, but there were also many Jews who emigrated. What was the ratio? I am guessing it was around 10-1. Are there analyses of this ratio?

Arendt's conclusion of normalization should be connected with Foucault's similar conclusion although the bases for "normalization" are quite different between these two. Arendt posited 'loneliness' as the motivation for the totalitarian attitude and subsequent perpetration of the genocide, and the war. Foucault posits forms of discipline which could also be found in studies of psychohistory.

What is the relation between war and genocide?

[VOLightPortal]

Don't forget Greek and Armenian jeeney side. In the former Ottomon empire

[bisexualskywalker]

The biggest issue with genocide and ethnic cleansing studies is how west centric. For one they fail to consider the diversity of groups in a region, turn them into a monolith. There's this idea that Japan or Sudan doesn't have ethnic groups, that turks, Iranis and arabs don't have ethnic groups. It is only a click away but sadly, no one looks. I hear 'how is it a genocide if they're both sudanese/syrians/etc' .. ethnic groups, that's how.

[petrospetroupetrou]

Study war....that's mass genocide. No I don't mean 'war crimes' or 'genocide'...I mean war.

[billjonceski]

THAT WHOTH TURKS. GREKS BULGARIANS ALBANIANS DID TO MACEDONIANS WHAEL THA ALL WORLD EAS WACHIN

[MaxHarden]

Does your particle board bookcase embarrass you? It could be amazing, and made by your man hands.