Meanings of violence : a cross cultural perspective

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Meanings of violence : a cross cultural perspective

edited by Göran Aijmer and Jon Abbink

Berg, 2000

  • : cloth
  • : paper

Available at  / 15 libraries

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Note

Bibliography: p. 193-215

Description and Table of Contents

Description

There are good reasons to look at violence from new perspectives. In its endless manifestations violence is part and parcel of human existence, and is very probably a constituting element of human society. And yet violent action - warfare, penalties, insults, feuding, assault, murder, rape, suicide, sports - remains in all its complexity one of the least understood fields of human social life.The book's contributors identify the symbolic and ritualized aspects of violence, and suggest ways of 'reading' violence as it occurs in the world, whether as violent duelling and age-group violence in Southern Ethiopia, bullfighting in Iberia, cattle rustling in Kenya, guerrilla and militia wars in Colombia, or public executions in China.These case studies suggest that 'violence' is not a simple, universal urge, but is contingent and context-dependent, shaped by social relations of power, force and dominance. To be the victim of violence is a humiliating and frightening experience. But the many ambiguities that occur in the use of violence must be considered, to understand why peace seems only to exist as a contrast to the violation of peace.

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Details

  • NCID
    BA50776677
  • ISBN
    • 1859734359
    • 1859734405
  • Country Code
    uk
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    Oxford
  • Pages/Volumes
    xvii, 220 p.
  • Size
    23 cm
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