Violence in War and Peace

7/17/2019 Violence in War and Peace

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Violence in War and Peace: An Anthology by Nancy Scheper-Hughes; Philippe BourgoisReview by: Peter BensonAnthropological Quarterly, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Winter, 2005), pp. 289-292Published by: The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic ResearchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4150902 .

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BOOK

REVIEW

Peter

Benson

HarvardUniversity

NancyScheper-Hughes

nd

Philippe

Bourgois eds.),

Violence

n

War nd

Peace:

An

Anthology.

Oxford:

Blackwell

Publishers,

004,

496

pp.

Violence

in

War nd

Peace:

An

Anthology rings ogether

62

essays

by

50

authors and a

lengthy

introduction

by

the

editors,

Nancy

Scheper-

Hughes

and

Philippe Bourgois.

Seasoned

ethnographers

and

leading

researchers

n

the fields

of

political

and medical

anthropology,

he editors

share a commitment o

politicaladvocacy

and

teaching.

Their brandof

anthropology

s

driven

by

a

passion

or

becoming

hickly

nd

tensely

nvolved

inand

lending

n

ethnographic

oiceto

pressing

ocial

problems.

Thevolume

is a fine

example

of

this

commitmento

ethnography.

t

showcases

he

great

relevance

of

ethnographic

research

and

writing-compared

to other

approaches-for

hinking

boutviolenceand

suffering.

This

collection

will

be

an invaluable

esource

or

teachers

and

learners,

comprehensive

nthology

for

introductory

lasses,

or

a

companion

olume or more

n-depth

eminars.

The

ntroduction,

ike

he

volume

tself,

s

divided nto 11

sections

hat deal

with

different

ypes

of violence:

genocide,complicity

nd

blame,

communal

and

state-sponsored

iolence,

revolution

nd social

upheaval,

rime, orture,

gendered

violence,

colonialism

nd

conquest.

This

volume

is difficultread-

ing-not

so

muchdenseor

turgid

but

wounding,roubling,

or

the reader

will

find

some

of

the best

attempts

f the last

century

o

translate

he

pain,

uncer-

289








Nancy

cheper-Hughes

nd

Philippe

ourgois

eds.)

Violence

n

War ndPeace:

An

Anthology

tainty,

and

absurdity

f violence nto

an at

least somewhatunderstandable

format.

We

ind that

it

is

our

very

ackof

clarity

boutviolence hat

empow-

ers

us

to

try

to understandts

many

aces.

It,

he editors

ay

of

violence,

s

ambulant nd

multivalent,

ever

ully

within

our

grasp.

Yet

he

editorsdo succeed

n

developing

ynthetic

laimsaboutwhat

vio-

lence

is,

how it

works,

nd whatwe can

do

about t.

First,

ike

produces

ike,

violence

begets

violence.Violence

ntensifies,

ometimes

xponentially,

ome-

times

gradually.

tructural

iolence,

uchas extreme

poverty,

antranslate

nto

more ntimate

r

domestic

ormsof

violence.Political

iolence

uelsand

eeds

on

symbolic

iolence

whereby

ollective

enses of

blame,victimization,

nd

marginalizationreembodiedandreproducednsignsystems.Second,what

is

namedviolence s

a

matter f

perspective,

epending

n

historical

onven-

tions,

consolidations

f

knowledge

nd

power,

ultural

epresentations,

nd

the

media.

Particular cts

of

violence

can

alternatively

e

perceived

as

depraved, lorious,

ensible,

or insane.

Third,

he most

compelling rgument

of the

volume,

violence

s

a social

process.

One

perspective

hat

is

rejected

from he

beginning

s a

commonsense,

eductive iew

of violence

as

socio-or

psychobiological.

hether

r

not violence

s

hard-wired,

enetic

or

hormon-

al is neitheras interestingoras urgent,he editorswrite,as the very uman

face

of

violence

3).

Readers

will find

that

it is

this dimension

hat

gives

vio-

lence its

meaning

and force.

Understanding

hy people

kill and do violence

involves

understanding

ocialworlds

s

political

nd historical

roducts.

Most f the

chapters

re written

by

cultural

nthropologists,

r

at

leastare

ethnographically

riented.

Besidesthe

editors,

we

read Michael

Taussig,

Veena

Das,

Paul

Farmer,

mong

others.

Yet

he

ethnographic

oice

does not

stand

alone,

and a short reviewcannot

do

justice

to the

range

of

genres,

methodologies,

nd

viewpoints

ound herein.Oneneed

onlyperuse

he table

of

contents

o

get

a sense

of

the

variety.

ournalistic

ieces,

uch

as the

haunt-

ing

selection rom

Philip

Gourevitch'sWeWish

To

Inform

YouThatTomorrow

WeWillBe KilledWithOur

Families,

hichdescribes

Rwanda

enocide

xperi-

ences,

are

set

alongside

iction,

such as

the

excerpt

rom

Joseph

Conrad's

Heart

of

Darkness

hat

opens

the

volume

or

some

George

Orwell.There s a

selectionon

The

Gray

one rom

PrimoLevi's

masterpiece,

he

Drownednd

the

Saved,

heoretical

piecesby Agamben,Fanon,

Bourdieu

nd

Scarry,

nd

even a

couple

of cartoon selections

from

the famous art-text

by

Art

Spiegelman,

Maus:

A

Survivor'sTale.

The editors end the introduction

by

arguing

forcefully

hat

ethnographers

and

other researchers

have a

responsibility

o become witnesses o violence.

290








PETER ENSON

Anthropological

itnessing bviously

ositions

he

anthropologist

nside

human vents

s a

responsive,

eflexive,

nd

morally

r

politically

ommit-

ted

being,

a

person

who

canbe

counted

n to

take ides when

necessary

and to eschew he

privileges

f

neutrality.

his

tance lies

directly

n the

faceof

academic

on-engagement.

he

gift

of the

ethnographer

emains,

however,

ome

combination

f

thick

description,

ye-witnessing,

nd rad-

ical

uxtaposition

ased

on cross-cultural

nsight.

In

the

end,

the

editors'

aim is

clear:

to

put

ourselves

and our

discipline

squarely

on the

side of

humanity,world-saving,

nd

world-repair,

ven

thoughwe maynotalwaysbe certainaboutexactlywhatthismeansor what

is

being

asked

of us

at

any

particular

moment

26-27).

Yet

hereare

some

problems

with

this

emphasis

n

witnessing.

irst,

he

editors

only briefly

discuss he dilemmas

nvolved

n

writing

violence.When

does

a

portrayal

f

violencebecome

sensational,

or

example?

Are here

good

and

bad

ways

o

witness?

How

does one

emphasize

he

deep ambiguities

hat

characterize

ituations

of

violence

and

yet

also

take

ides,

accentuate

he

overwhelminguncertainty

of

violence-the

gray

zone-and

yet

identify

world-savingthicalorientations?

Second,

here

s not

really

discussion

f how he

personal

moral

ommit-

mentsof

researchershouldarticulate

with

what

matters

most

to those in

a

local

setting.

How

does cross-cultural

nsight merge

amid

competingper-

sonal

values,

local

moral

stakes,

and

broad ethical

deliberations?

Could

becoming

responsive

n

a

local situationever be

inappropriate?

t

is ironic

that the best

pieces

in

the volume

do not so much

advocate

or

represent

examples

of

impassioned

world-saving,

s

they

reveal

the

great

merit

in

humble,

rather nti-heroic

ttempts

o understand

iolence,

however ncom-

pletely,

as

it

overwhelms

he

life of other

people.

Third,

witnessing

s

portrayed

s

inherently

ounter-violencend

-power,

as

well as

morally

lear

and

righteous.

Yet t is

not

so

simple.

In

Chapter

4

of

the

volume,

an

abridgement

f

The

Anthropologist

s

Terrorist,

y

Joseba

Zulaika,

oints

o

a

particular

ension.

Witnessing

appens

n

proximate,

ace-

to-facerelations nd

responds

o

an

ethicalcallto

help

the

other

gratuitous-

ly-what

Zulaika alls

impersonal itnessing.

et

t

also

happens

n

repre-

sentation;

he

witness translates

nto

writing

violence

seen and

heard,

in

order to

produce

a

responsive

audience.

In

departing

from the face-to-face

toward

abstract

tropes,

such

as

justice, witnessing

enters into an

economy

291








Nancy

cheper-Hughes

nd

Philippe

ourgoiseds.)

Violence

n

War

nd

Peace:An

Anthology

that is no

longer mpersonal

nd

gratuitous-the aporetic gift

f the ethno-

grapher,

o

use

the editors'

phrase.

One

must

become

a

witness

to

violence,

though

simply

identifying

s

such-especially

as a witness

n

line

with

world-saving

endencies-risks

corrupting

he

purity

f

the

impersonal

momentand

forgetting

hatwitness-

ing

is

not as

just

as

the kindnesshat

instigates

t

is

good

(Levinas).

Obviously,

we must advocate or

justice,

Zulaika

writes;

but

it

is crucial hat the ast

word

s

not

justice

418).

Zulaika

ecognizes

hat

ustice,

world-saving,

ust

be left

open

forthe

better,

lways

made o

seem

incomplete ompared

o

the

ideal of

impersonal,

ratuitous

witnessing.

The

danger

s

that when

witness-

ing becomesa personalproject, he moralconcernsof ethnographersan

overshadow,

erhaps

istortwhatmatters

most

o

our nformants ndcollab-

orators.

f the

project

of

world-saving

an

and must

go

on,

even

if we

are

not

always

ertain

boutwhat his

means,

t

is nonetheless rucial hat

we not

lose the

gift

f

ethnography,

he

imperative

o

first,

prior

o

taking

stand,

want to understand nd care

about,

mpersonally

nd

gratuitously,

hat

he

other

cares

about.

292






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