Anthropology of Violence: Historical and Current Theories, Concepts, and Debates in Physical and Socio-cultural Anthropology

Abstract

This literature review describes the theoretical contributions of physical and socio-cultural anthropology to an understanding of violence, based on the common themes expressed by founders of anthropology that are still visible in today's post-modern anthropological concepts and theories. The review focuses on three distinct eras: founding theories and concepts (1880s-1940s); modern theories and concepts (1950s-1970s); and post-modern theories and concepts (1980s to the present). Though anthropologists have been accused of maintaining or perpetrating violence themselves due to theoretical and methodological trends, new post-modern concepts have moved toward integrated theories of violence that encourage an activist anthropologist and incorporate concepts such as globalization and colonialism. The review concludes with a conceptual map.

A Mediated Tolerance of Violence: An Analysis of Online Newspaper Articles and “Below-the-line” Comments in the Latvian Media

“…He notes that violence carries cultural meaning. Accomazzo (2012, p. 538) recognizes periods in the development of the anthropology of violence and finds that researchers today face certain methodological problems: first, the idea of culture has become increasingly complex, and, second, theories themselves are social constructions. Jenkins (1998, p. 123) sums up the position as being that “violence is indeed culturally organized, but culture is perhaps less internally consistent than previously assumed.”…”

Crippling the Will of a People: Morphostatic Structures of Violence and the Crawl-Space of Agency in the Lives of Eritrean Refugees

“…As Otterbein (1999) notes, since the mid-19th Century, four major periods of anthropological research surrounding warfare can be delineated: Foundational (c.1850-c.1920); Classical (c.1920Classical (c. -1960; Golden Age (c.1960Age (c. -c.1980and, Recent (c.1980-). Likewise, Accomazzo (2012) divides the history of anthropological theories and concepts of violence into three distinct eras: founding (c. 1880-c.1940); modern (c.1950-c.1970); and post-modern (c.1980-present). Additionally, whereas the work of anthropologists has undeniably been shaped by major historical events such as colonial expansion, World War II, the Vietnam War, and, more recently, ethnic wars and the breakup of states, scholars have also traditionally investigated prehistoric 'war' and the conflicts of non-literate peoples (Otterbein 1999: 794).…”