Genocidal nightmares : narratives of insecurity and the logic of mass atrocities / edited by Abdelwahab El-Affendi.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

El-Affendi, Abdelwahab, editor of compilation.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Atrocities--Causes--Case studies.

Atrocities.

Atrocities--Causes.

Genocide--Causes--Case studies.

Genocide.

Genocide--Causes.

Violence--Social aspects--Case studies.

Violence.

Violence--Social aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"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."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Contents:

Preface Foreword : Dr Francis Deng

Chapter I: Introduction: Narrating the Precariousness of Human Decency / Abdelwahab El-Affendi

Chapter II: Killer Narratives: Collective Nightmares and the Construction of Narrative Communities of Insecurity / Abdelwahab El-Affendi

Chapter III: Imagining Nationhood, Framing Postcoloniality: Narrativising Nigeria Through the Kinesis Of (Hi)Story / James Tar Tsaaior

Chapter IV: Sudanese Stories: Narratives of Grievance, Distrust and Fatalism in Recurrent Violence / Alex de Waal

Chapter V: General Elections and Narratives of Violent Conflict: The Land Question and Civic Competence in Kenya / Kenneth Inyani Simala

Chapter VI: The Violence of Security, Lethal Representations, and Hindu Nationalism in India / Dibyesh Anand

Chapter VII: Memories of Victimhood in Serbia and Croatia from the 1980s to the Disintegration of Yugoslavia / Slobodan G. Markovich

Chapter VIII: Insecurity, Victimhood, Self and Other: The Case of Israel and Palestine / Ilan Pappe

Chapter IX: Resistance Narratives: Palestinian Women, Islam and Insecurity / Mari Holt

Chapter X: State Insecurity and Intergroup Violence: The Case of Modern Iraq / Ali A. Allawi

Chapter XI: Islamophobia as a Securitisation Narrative: The Exclusionary Logic of Imperial Geopolitics / Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed

Chapter XII: Killer Narratives in Western Popular Culture / Anas El-Sheikh Ali

Concluding Remarks

Authors' Biographies.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-241) and index.

ISBN:

9781501320231

1501320238

9781628920727

1628920726

9781501302169

1501302167

9781628920758

1628920750

OCLC:

1167634715