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Cultural Anthropology, 7E
Chapter 8 –
The Cultural Construction of Violent Conflict
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Problem
8 to edit Master title style
Click
• How so
societies give
meaning to
and justify
collective
violence?
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
Introduction
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• The Justification of Violent Conflict
• Purposeful, organized, and socially sanctioned
combat involving killing (war or feud) seems to be
an intrinsic feature of human societies.
•
Some suggest that violent conflict is regarded as part of
human nature; others reject this as simplistic.
• The fact that humans construct systems of meaning
to justify violent conflict and to distance
themselves from tis consequences suggests that it
has little to do with a natural aggressive impulse.
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
Questions
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8.1 How do societies create a bias in favor of
collective violence?
8.2 How do societies create a bias against
violence conflict?
8.3 What are the economic, political, or
social differences between peaceful and
violent societies?
8.4 What are the effects of war on societies?
8.5 How is it possible to justify the creation
of weapons of mass destruction?
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
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8.1 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in Favor
to edit Master
style
of Collective Violence?
•
Horses, Rank, and Warfare Among the Kiowa
• Among the Kiowa, rank was determined in two
ways:
• The number of horses a man possessed.
• The honors he earned in warfare.
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
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8.1 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in Favor
to edit Master
style
of Collective Violence?
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.1 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in Favor
to edit Master
style
of Collective Violence?
• Horses, Rank, and Warfare Among the Kiowa
(cont)
• Kiowa society was divided into four ranks:
• Ongop - Men who were generous, owned considerable
wealth, and had distinguished themselves in war.
• Ondeigupa - Men who had property, especially horses,
and were generous but had not distinguished themselves
in war.
• The lower ranks were keen or dupom - people who were
poor, property-less, or helpless.
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
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8.1 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in Favor
to edit Master
style
of Collective Violence?
• Horses, Rank, and Warfare Among the Kiowa
(cont)
• To rise in status, a young Kiowa male needed a
horse.
• With a horse, he could participate in raids, gradually
obtaining enough horses to rise to a rank of
ondeigupa.
• When he had twenty or thirty horses, people would
speak of him with respect.
• To rise to the top rank of ongop required the
accumulation of honors won in war.
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.1 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in Favor
to edit Master
style
of Collective Violence?
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.1 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in Favor
to edit Master
style
of Collective Violence?
• Good Hosts Among the Yanomamö
• The Yanomamö of Venezuela live in villages of 40 to 250
people and live primarily on crops they grow in their
gardens.
• Anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon, who has worked
with the Yanomamö since 1964, estimates that 20- 25%
of male deaths are the result of warfare.
• For the Yanomamö, women and children are valuable
resources.
• The men believe that to protect themselves and their
resources, they must be fierce, and raiding another
village is one way they demonstrate their ferocity.
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.1 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in Favor
to edit Master
style
of Collective Violence?
• Defending Honor in Kohistan
• Among the Kohistani in northwest Pakistan, villagers
follow a code that demands vengeance against any
threat to a man’s honor.
• When anthropologist Lincoln Keiser worked in the
village of Thull in 1984, defense of honor continually
led to relationships of dushmani, or blood feud.
• The men of Thull believe that if someone wrongs
them, they must retaliate, but the act of revenge
should not exceed the original wrong.
• Any unwarranted behavior toward a man’s daughter,
wife, or unmarried sister requires deadly retaliation.
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.1 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in Favor
to edit Master
style
of Collective Violence?
• Constructing Religious Justifications for Violence
• When adherents to Christianity, Judaism, Sikhism,
Buddhism, or Islam commit violent acts in the name
of a spiritual mission, they are often responding to
social, political, or economic grievances.
• Reverend Michael Bray set fire to abortion clinics in
the name of God, but also claimed that the U.S.
government was undermining moral values.
• Osama bin Laden sought the establishment of an
Islamic state, but was also protesting the Israeli
occupation of Palestinian territories and U.S. support
for governments in the Middle East.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.1 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in Favor
to edit Master
style
of Collective Violence?
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.2 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in
to edit Master
style
Against Violent Conflict?
• Peaceful societies create a bias against violence by:
• Sharing
• Valuing nonaggressive behavior
• Building relations of dependence between
individuals and groups
• Engaging in collective behaviors that promote
harmony
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.2 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in
to edit Master
style
Against Violent Conflict?
• Characteristics of Peaceful Societies
• The Semai of West Malaysia are known for their
avoidance of physical conflict.
• The Semai notion of pehunan, is a state of being in
which a person is unsatisfied in regard to a need,
such as food or sex.
• The Semai believe that to deny a person in need
intensifies danger to the individual and the group.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.2 HowClick
Do Societies
Createtitle
a Bias
in
to edit Master
style
Against Violent Conflict?
• Characteristics of Peaceful Societies (cont.)
• The idea of pehunan encompasses a depiction of the
community as nurturing caregivers.
• The Semai believe that it is the obligation of all
members of the community to help others.
• Semai values stress affiliation, mutual aid, and the
belief that violence is not an option for settling
disputes.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.3 WhatClick
Are the
Political,
Social
to Economic,
edit Master
titleorstyle
Differences Between Peaceful and Violent Societies?
• The following factors may lead societies to construct an
ideological bias toward violence:
•
•
•
•
A lack of centralized control
Competition over scarce resources
Private property
Sexism
• The Need to Protect Resources and Honor
• The Yanomamö, the Kohistani and street gangs in
the U.S. each band together to protect themselves
from other groups.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.3 WhatClick
Are the
Political,
Social
to Economic,
edit Master
titleorstyle
Differences Between Peaceful and Violent Societies?
• Creating the Conditions for Violence
• The Yanomamö’s aggression may be due to their
contact with Westerners & access to Western goods.
• The Yanomamö fought for possessions, land, and
wives.
• Deaths from disease and war disrupted traditional
social relations, the depletion of game weakened
traditional patterns of sharing and cooperation, and
access to Western technology provided new sources
of conflict.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.3 WhatClick
Are the
Political,
Social
to Economic,
edit Master
titleorstyle
Differences Between Peaceful and Violent Societies?
• Sexism and Violent Conflict
• In peaceful societies, like that Ju/wasi, men and
women are relatively equal and there is little
violence against women.
• Societies that tend toward violence, such as the
Yanomamö, are more violent and institutionalize
violence against women.
• Anthropologists debate whether sexist ideologies
promote violent conflict or violent conflict promotes
sexism.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.4 What
Aretothe
Effects
of title
War style
on
Click
edit
Master
Societies?
• The Impact of War on Population
• Violent conflict encourages a strong preference for
rearing male children, supports restrictions on
female children, and creates an ideology of male
supremacy.
• Restricting the number of childbearing females in a
population is a more effective means of population
control that killing adult males.
• War and violent encourage sexism, but only because
they serve to promote selective population control.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.4 What
Aretothe
Effects
of title
War style
on
Click
edit
Master
Societies?
• The Evolution of the Nation-State
• Robert Carneiro argues that violent conflict has been
the primary agent that has transformed human
societies into nation-states.
• At first, war pits village against village, resulting in
chiefdoms; then it pits chiefdom against chiefdom,
resulting in states; and then it pits state against
state.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.4 What
Aretothe
Effects
of title
War style
on
Click
edit
Master
Societies?
• The Evolution of the Nation-State (cont.)
• Carneiro predicts that if the number of political
states continues to decline as it has in the past, by
the year 2300 there should be only a single world
state.
• The rise of the Zulu state in Africa illustrates
Carneiro’s theory of how war leads to the
coalescence of separate political units into a larger
state.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.4 What
Aretothe
Effects
of title
War style
on
Click
edit
Master
Societies?
• Violence and Male Solidarity
• Male solidarity seems to be enhanced by collective
violence.
• Anthropologist Ralph L. Holloway suggests that the
psychological attributes that allow human beings to
create sentimental bonds between members of a
group are the same attributes that promote violent
conflict against nongroup members.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.5 HowClick
Is Itto
Possible
to Justify
edit Master
titlethe
style
Creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
• The Anthropology of a Nuclear Weapons
Laboratory
• With so many powerful weapons, why do nations
keep expanding their arsenals? The answer lies in a
strategy known as MAD—mutually assured
destruction.
• Suppose there are two nations at war, both with
nuclear weapons. According to MAD, if one nation
used its weapons, the other would quickly respond
with its own, resulting in the destruction of both
countries.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.5 HowClick
Is Itto
Possible
to Justify
edit Master
titlethe
style
Creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
• The Anthropology
of a Nuclear
Weapons
Laboratory (cont.)
• Thus, the central
tenet of MAD is
that the
proliferation of
nuclear weapons is
essential to prevent
another group
from using those
same weapons.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.5 HowClick
Is Itto
Possible
to Justify
edit Master
titlethe
style
Creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
• The Anthropology of a Nuclear Weapons
Laboratory (cont.)
• Gusterson suggests that “nuclear realists” who justify
the manufacture and use of nuclear weapons make
four assumptions about the world:
• First, unlike national systems in which a monopoly on the
use of force guarantees stability, they claim that anarchy
characterizes international relations.
• Second, they assume that states must rely on self-help since
no one else is going to offer them protection.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.5 HowClick
Is Itto
Possible
to Justify
edit Master
titlethe
style
Creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
• The Anthropology of a Nuclear Weapons
Laboratory (cont.)
• Third, they assume that nuclear weapons are the ultimate form
of self-help, because they vastly increase the cost of aggression
against them.
• Fourth, they assume that relatively little can be done in the
short term to change the anarchistic nature of the
international system.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.5 HowClick
Is Itto
Possible
to Justify
edit Master
titlethe
style
Creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
• The Anthropology of a Nuclear Weapons
Laboratory (cont.)
• International relations are not as anarchistic as they
are made out to be, and that rules and norms that
control aggression exist.
• Many critics see the nuclear arms race as “objective
social madness.” People who work in the area, they
assume, must be in denial and must demonize the
other to justify their work.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.5 HowClick
Is Itto
Possible
to Justify
edit Master
titlethe
style
Creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
• The Language of Nuclear Destruction
• Language is used to distance the planners from the
consequences of the actions they are planning:
• Technostrategic
• Collateral damage
• Domestic metaphors: Christmas tree farms, carpet
bombing, etc.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.5 HowClick
Is Itto
Possible
to Justify
edit Master
titlethe
style
Creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.5 HowClick
Is Itto
Possible
to Justify
edit Master
titlethe
style
Creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
Case Study:
Uses
(and Misuses?)
Click The
to edit
Master
title style of
Anthropology for Peace and War
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
Case Study:
Uses
(and Misuses?)
Click The
to edit
Master
title style of
Anthropology for Peace and War
•
(HTS) (cont.)
•
•
•
Each Human Terrain Team (HTT) would study local
culture, interview natives, and provide valuable
information to the battalion commander.
Human Terrain Systems (HTS) Analysts apply a thorough
understanding of the ops/intelligence fusion process to
compile, collate, analyze and evaluate data sources and
unevaluated intelligence to develop a coherent picture
of the human terrain.
Anthropologists fall on both sides of the debate over
HTS – do they hurt or help?
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
8.5 HowClick
Is Itto
Possible
to Justify
edit Master
titlethe
style
Creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
•
(HTS) (cont.)
• U.S. civilian
anthropologist and
HTT social scientist
talk to local resident
to investigate a tribal
dispute on August
12, 2009, in the
Village of Wum Kalay,
Paktya Province,
Afghanistan.
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
Case Study:
Uses
(and Misuses?)
Click The
to edit
Master
title style of
Anthropology for Peace and War
•
The Anthropological Reaction to HTS
•
In 2007, the American Anthropological Association
issued a formal statement condemning specifically the
Human Terrain System Project, concluding:
•
(i) that the HTS program creates conditions which are likely to
place anthropologists in positions in which their work will be in
violation of the AAA Code of Ethics and (ii) that its use of
anthropologists poses a danger to both other anthropologists
and persons other anthropologists study.
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
Case Study:
Uses
(and Misuses?)
Click The
to edit
Master
title style of
Anthropology for Peace and War
•
Limiting the Application of the Technologies
•
The use of social scientists for HTTs in Iraq and
Afghanistan raises the larger issue of the responsibility
of anthropologists and other social scientists to be
aware of how their research and data may be used.
•
•
The Pentagon is developing computer programs using
data collected by anthropologists to predict which
neighborhoods in some distant city (Baghdad, Kabul, etc.)
are dangers, at risk for riots, gun violence, bombings, etc.
A number of grants have been awarded by the military to
those doing research to forecast human behavior.
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use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.
Discussion
ClickQuestions:
to edit Master title style
•
What should be the role of anthropologists in
warfare?
•
Should anthropologists share their research with
government sources who may use it for distinctly
non-anthropological purposes?
© 2017 Cengage Learning® May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for
use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved
learning management system for classroom use.