Table Of Contentff
Annihilating Di erence
CALIFORNIA SERIES IN PUBLIC ANTHROPOLOGY
The California Series in Public Anthropology emphasizes the anthropologist’s role
as an engaged intellectual.It continues anthropology’s commitment to being an
ethnographic witness,to describing,in human terms,how life is lived beyond the
borders of many readers’experiences.But it also adds a commitment,through
ethnography,to reframing the terms of public debate—transforming received,
accepted understandings of social issues with new insights,new framings.
Series Editor:Robert Borofsky (Hawaii Pacific University)
Contributing Editors:Philippe Bourgois (UC San Francisco),Paul Farmer
(Partners in Health),Rayna Rapp (New York University),and
Nancy Scheper-Hughes (UC Berkeley)
University of California Press Editor:Naomi Schneider
. Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death,
by Margaret Lock
. Birthing the Nation: Strategies of Palestinian Women in Israel,
by Rhoda Ann Kanaaneh
. Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide,
edited by Alexander Laban Hinton
. Pathologies of Power: Structural Violence and the Assault
on Health and Human Rights,
by Paul Farmer
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Annihilating Di erence
The Anthropology of Genocide
EDITED BY
Alexander Laban Hinton
With a foreword by
Kenneth Roth
Human Rights Watch
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Annihilating difference : the anthropology of genocide / edited by
Alexander Laban Hinton ; with a foreword by Kenneth Roth.
p. cm.—(California Series in Public Anthropology; )
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN --- (Cloth : alk. paper).—ISBN ---
(Paper : alk. paper)
. Genocide. . Ethnic conflict. I. Hinton, Alexander Laban.
II. Series.
HV. .A
.(cid:2)—dc
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication is both acid-free and totally chlorine-free
(TCF). It meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z.–
(R ) (Permanence of Paper).I
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. The Dark Side of Modernity: Toward an Anthropology of Genocide
Alexander Laban Hinton /
. :
’
. Genocide against Indigenous Peoples
David Maybury-Lewis /
. Confronting Genocide and Ethnocide of Indigenous Peoples:
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Definition, Intervention,
Prevention, and Advocacy
Samuel Totten, William S. Parsons, and Robert K. Hitchcock /
. :
. Justifying Genocide: Archaeology and the Construction of Difference
Bettina Arnold /
. Scientific Racism in Service of the Reich: German Anthropologists
in the Nazi Era
Gretchen E. Schafft /
. :
. The Cultural Face of Terror in the Rwandan Genocide of
Christopher C. Taylor /
vi
. Dance, Music, and the Nature of Terror in Democratic Kampuchea
Toni Shapiro-Phim /
. Averted Gaze: Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina, –
Tone Bringa /
. : , , ,
’
. Archives of Violence: The Holocaust and the German Politics
of Memory
Uli Linke /
. Aftermaths of Genocide: Cambodian Villagers
May Ebihara and Judy Ledgerwood /
. Terror, Grief, and Recovery: Genocidal Trauma in a Mayan Village
in Guatemala
Beatriz Manz /
. Recent Developments in the International Law of Genocide:
An Anthropological Perspective on the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda
Paul J. Magnarella /
. :
. Inoculations of Evil in the U.S.-Mexican Border Region:
Reflections on the Genocidal Potential of Symbolic Violence
Carole Nagengast /
. Coming to our Senses: Anthropology and Genocide
Nancy Scheper-Hughes /
. Culture, Genocide, and a Public Anthropology
John R. Bowen /
/
/
FIGURES
.. A Representative Blueprint of the National Socialist
“Origin Myth” /
.. Diagram Showing the Origins and Diffusion of the Swastika
as a Symbol /
.. L’assassinat de Ndadaye /
.. “Naked Maoists before a Naked Wall”: Members of the Kommune —
A Socialist Collective of Young Maoists, West Berlin /
.. Nude Sunbathers in an Urban Public Park (Englischer Garten),
Munich, /
.. German Nudists and Clothed Third World Others in the
“Garden of Eden” (Paradise), West Berlin, /
.. “He Wears Care”: White Naked Male Bodies as Commodity Fetish,
West Germany, – /
.. “Self-Empowerment through Nudity”: Leftist Activists Protest Western
Imperialism by Exposing White Masculinity, West Berlin, /
.. “Proclaiming Opposition through Male Nudity”: Using Their Bodies
as Performative Icons, Leftist Activists Rally against City Government
(TUWAT Demo—Rathaus Kreuzberg), West Berlin, /
.. “Nazis Out!”: Antifascist Graffiti, Berlin, /
.. “Drive the Nazis Away! Foreigners Stay!”: Antifascist Graffiti,
West Berlin, /
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.. “Annihilate the Brown Filth!”: Antifascist Iconography
(Image and Banner), West Berlin, /
.. “Eradicate the Nazi Brood!”: Antifascist Protest Banner,
West Berlin, /
.. Portrait of Ishi, August , /
TABLES
.. Genocides of Indigenous Peoples in the Twentieth Century /
.. Development Projects of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) That
Have Injured Indigenous Peoples’ Well-being and That Have Been Cited
as Genocidal or Ethnocidal /
Anthropologists and human rights activists have not been natural partners. An an-
thropologist tends to accept a culture as it is. A human rights activist tends to iden-
tify injustices in a culture and work to change them. An anthropologist illuminates
the differences among cultures. A human rights activist highlights cross-cultural
commonality. An anthropologist respects a broad range of value systems that are
seen as culturally variable. A human rights activist promotes a particular value
system that is seen as universal.
Yet behind this tension there has always been a potential for partnership. Clas-
sic human rights advocacy depends at the outset on careful observation—on the
detailed recording of the plight of particular individuals who have suffered abuse.
Long gone are the days when a human rights “investigation” consisted of several
prominent foreigners parachuting into a country (usually only its capital) for a quick
few days of conversation with diplomats, journalists, and other elite observers. To-
day, as human rights organizations have grown in sophistication and rigor, an effec-
tive human rights researcher must become immersed in the country under study,
speaking the language, interviewing the victims and witnesses, and becoming inti-
mately familiar with local customs, politics, and governance.
In short, the investigative work of a human rights researcher increasingly re-
sembles the careful fieldwork of an anthropologist. And so it should, since the tools
of anthropology offer valuable assistance not only to those who seek to understand
a society but also to those who hope to change it. Understanding the architecture
of a society is valuable not only in its own right—as a work of anthropology—but
also as a blueprint for change. It helps us identify the social pathologies that might
lead to human rights abuse and the steps that can be taken to end or prevent them.
Of the many abuses that might be studied, there is none so grave as genocide.
The crime that gave rise to the vow “never again” has, to humanity’s great shame,
reared its head again and again. What prompts a society to seek to eradicate a cat-
ix
Description:The Dark Side of Modernity: Toward an Anthropology of Genocide. Alexander Prevention, and Advocacy. Samuel .. Despite the urgent need to under- stand the .. 14 The ancient Assyrians, for example, attempted to rule by fear,
