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Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic IdentityTheft of an Idol. by Paul Brass; War of Visions: Conflict of Identities in the Sudan. byFrancis M. Deng; Legends of People/Myths of State: Violence, Intolerance, and PoliticalCulture in Sri Lanka and Australia. by Bruce Kapferer; Explaning Northern Ireland: BrokenImages. by John McGarry; Brendan O'Leary; The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. byGerard Prunier; Balkan Tragedy: Chaos and Dissolution after t ...Review by: James D. Fearon and David D. LatinInternational Organization, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 845-877Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2601384 .

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Violence nd the

Social

Construction

ofEthnic

dentity

James . Fearon ndDavidD. Laitin

Paul

Brass.

1997.

Theftf

n Idol.

Princeton,

.J.: rinceton

niversity

ress.

FrancisM. Deng. 1995. War fVisions:

onflict

f dentitiesn the udan.

Washington,

.C.:

Brookings

nstitution.

BruceKapferer.988.Legends fPeople/MythsfState:Violence,ntolerance,

and PoliticalCulturen SriLanka ndAustralia.

Washington,

.C.:

Smithsonian

Institutionress.

JohnMcGarryndBrendan 'Leary.1995.Explaining orthernreland:Broken

Images.Oxford: lackwell.

Gerard

runier.

995.

The

RwandaCrisis:

History f

Genocide.New York:

ColumbiaUniversity

ress.

Susan

L.

Woodward.

995.

Balkan

Tragedy:

haos and Dissolution

fter

he

Cold War.

Washington,

.C.:

Brookings

nstitution.

Is there ase study vidence f a relationshipetween he social constructionf

ethnicdentitiesndtheprobabilityfethnicwar?The mere bservationhat thnic

identitiesresocially

onstructed

oes

not

by

tself

xplain thnic iolence ndmay

not venbe

particularly

elevant. ur

purpose

ere s to see

if

we can

reject

he

null

hypothesis

hat he social constructionf

ethnicity

as little r no

bearing n

the

likelihood f ethnic iolence.Our

procedure

s to examine

losely

he

narrativesf

expert

bservers

f some

highly

iolent

pisodes

of ethnic elations.

lthough

differentet

of case

studiesmight ield

different

verall onclusions,henarratives

we examined ontain seful luesabout hemechanismshat ink

dentity

onstruc-

tion

ndethnic iolence.'

We are ndebted o

Paul

Brass,

Kanchan

handra,

rancis

eng,Lynn den,Page Fortna, ary

Her-

rigel,

eter

Katzenstein,

en6

Lemarchand,

ohn

McGarry,

illiam

ewell,

Jack

nyder,

onald

Suny,

and

SusanWoodward

or ommentsn earlier raftsfthis rticle.

1.

On mechanismsnd ocial

explanation,

ee Hedstr6mnd

Swedberg 998.

International

rganization4, 4,

Autumn

000,pp.

845-877

(

2000

by

The

10

Foundation

ndthe

Massachusetts

nstitute

f

Technology



846 Internationalrganization

We

first

evelop he heoreticalmplicationsfthe bservationhat thnicdenti-

ties re ocially onstructedor xplainingthnic iolence. fternalyzing hat he

statementethnic dentitiesre socially onstructed" ightmean,we develop wo

waysto construehe laim hat rocesses f constructingdentities elpto explain

ethnic iolence.

f

ndividualsreviewed s the gentswhoconstructthnicdenti-

ties, hen onstructivistxplanationsor thnic iolence end o mergewith ational-

ist, trategicnalyses, articularlyhose hat mphasize litemanipulationf mass

publics ut lso those hat ee violence temmingrom thnicnteractionson the

ground."n contrast,f "discursive ormations"r cultural ystemsre seen as the

agents

hat

onstructthnicdentities,hen onstructivistxplanationsor thnic io-

lencetend o mergewith ulturalistccounts hat tress he nternalogic of cultur-

ally specificways

of

thinking,ailking,

nd

acting.

n this

pproach,

ome or all

discourses

f

ethnicity

reate

disposition

o violence.

In the econd ectionwe turn othe ooksunder eview, sing hem s a "sample"

to assesswhichmechanismsrom he

heory

ection eem o matter

mpiricallynd

as a source

or

new deas about inks etween

dentity

onstructionnd ethnic io-

lence.

We find onsiderablevidence inkingtrategicspects

f

the onstructionf

ethnicdentitieso

violence,

ndmore imited vidence

mplicatingpecific

ultural

or discursive

ystems.

f

theres a dominantr most ommon arrativen the exts

under eview,t s thatarge-scalethnic iolence s provoked yelites eeking o

gain,maintain,

r increase heir old on

political ower.

An

interesting

eature f

several fthese ase studiess that nternalonflictsetween xtremistsndmoder-

ates

belonging

oa

single

thnic

roup pur

eaders rdissidentso

provoke

iolence

withmembers f

an out-group.

iolencehas the

effect,ntended y

the

elites,

f

constructingroup dentities

n more

ntagonisticndrigidways.

These

newly

on-

structedor reconstructed)

thnic dentitieserve o increase

upport

or heelites

who

provoked

he iolencewhile

avoring

he

ontinuation

rescalation fviolence.

A

major uzzle

n this

tory

s

why

thnic

ublics

ollow eaders own

paths

hat

seemto serve litepower nterests ost f all. None of the uthorsystematically

addresses his

uestion,

ut

heir ase studies

rovide

number

f

nterestingugges-

tions. woof he

uthors,

ruce

Kapferer

nd

Gerard

runier,

nswer he

uestion y

arguing

hat thnic

ublics

re

conditionedr constituted

y

ethnic iscourses

hat

predispose

hem o violence

gainst

thnic thers. t east n

Kapferer's ook,

we

note hat his iscursive

onstructivist

pproach

ll too

easily

alls nto

primordial-

ist mode of

interpretation

hat onstructivists

schew;

t tends o treat thnic is-

courses s

unchanging

ssences

hat

trongly

eterminendividuals' ctions.2 ev-

eralother

ossible

nswers o the

"why

do

publics

ollow?"

uestion

eceive ome

supportn the ase studies,hemostntriguingfwhich s thepossibilityhat fol-

lowers"

often

re

not so much

following

s

pursuing

heir wn ocal or

personal

agendas

not

directly

elated o ethnic

ntipathy.

2. A

major roblem esetting

ulturalist

ccounts,

s Brubaker

nd

Cooper rgue,

s that o avoid

the

trap

f

"

'essentialism'

y stipulating

hat dentities

re

constructed,luid,

nd

multiple,"

ulturalistsre

hard

ressed

o "understandhe ometimesoercive orce" f

dentity.

rubaker

nd

Cooper 000,

1.

We

address his

rony

n the econd ection.



Violence nd

Ethnicdentity

onstruction

47

In the econd ectionwe also present vidence

hat rdinaryolk not ust

elites)

strategicallyonstructthnic oundaries. ere thnic

iolence rises ut

f

he

olic-

ing ffortsfthosewho reunhappy ith ssimilationrbymarginal embersf a

groupwhowant ogain tatuswith hosewhose

memberships not n doubt.

rancis

M.

Deng's discussion

fborder

reas n Sudanese ivilwar ontainsome

nteresting

examples fviolence mergingrom hese

mechanisms.

In the hird

ectionwe conclude hat he onstructivistpproach as been

uccess-

ful

n

discrediting

rimordialistxplanations.

ts

presentmission,

e

suggest, ught

to

be more igorous

esting

f

the hree

onstructivistpproacheshown s plausible

in thebooks

under eview-thosebased on discursiveogics,thosebased on

the

strategicctions felites,ndthose asedon the trategicctions fthemasses.

We should tress tthe

utset

what s

probablylready pparent.

his rticle

s

not

a

conventionalook review. n thefirst

lace,

we make ittle ffort

o assess

the

considerableontributionsfeachauthor othe

iterature

n

the olitics

f

the oun-

try

n

question.

econd, lthough

e offer

pinions

n each author'smain

argu-

ments,we are

generallymore oncerned o

minethese ase studies or vidence

relevant o our

nquiry.We

do

not pretend

hat

hesebooks constitute random

sample;

differentooks

might

ave

suggested

omewhat ifferent

echanismsnd

differentssessments f

relative mportance.3

ur

goal

was

to

find

ecent tudies

writtenyscholarswhowere ensitiveo thepoliticsndcultureftheir ases both

"on the

ground"

among

he

mass

public)

nd "at the

op" among he lites).The

books

under eview re ll

exemplary

n

relating

he

lobal

acts f

arge-scale

thnic

violence

o

both ocal mechanismsnd more

tructuralauses.We makeno claim

that hese re thebest n

this

egard. owever,

e were

ufficientlympressed

rom

first eadings o reread

hem

or

urmainpurpose: n

inquiry

nto he

relationship

between

thnic

dentity

onstruction

nd

ethnic

iolence.

What s Ethnic dentitynd How Is It Constructed?

The assertionhat

ethnicity

s

socially

onstructed"

s

commonplacemong

ocial

scientists,

nd t

s

widely upposed

hat

nyone

whofails o

grasp

his actwillnot

be able to

explain

r

understandthnic iolence.

Nonetheless,

o

iterature

rticulat-

ing

theoretical

r

empirical

onnectionsetween he ocial

construction

f

ethnicity

and violence

yet

xists.No

positive heory

inks

rocesses

f

social constructions

independent

ariables o the ccurrence

f

ethnic iolence s a

dependent

ariable.

Instead,s in the ooksunder eview, efindonstructivistmoves"mixed poradi-

cally

with

modes

f

nalysis

hat

o

not eem

particularlyonstructivist,

nd s far s

we

know, erhaps

xcluding

aul

Brass,

no one has offered

developed

tatementf

3.

Initially,

e searched or

elf-consciously

onstructivist

nalyses

f ethnic iolence utfound l-

most

nothing

orth

eviewingapart

rom rass's excellent

ook,

which

ppeared

fter

we startedhis

project).Next,

we

searched or

areful

mpirical

ase studies f

arge-scale

thnic iolence

y

authors

from

variety

f

disciplines.




a constructivistheory f ethnic iolence.Our purpose n this ection s to suggest

possibilitiesnthis irection;hats,we sketch ome rgumentspplyingonstructiv-

istformulationsndconcepts o the pecific roblem fethnic iolence.

We

beginby askingwhat

t

means o say that dentitiesre socially onstructed.

Thisrequires statementf hemeaning fboth ubject ndpredicate. e take t hat

an "identity" ere efers o a social category-Serb,man,homosexual, merican,

Catholic, orker,nd o on-and in particularoa socialcategoryhat n ndividual

memberither akes specialpride n or views s a more-or-lessnchangeablend

socially onsequentialttribute.4ocial categoriesre ets fpeoplegiven label or

labels) and distinguishedytwomain eatures:1) rules fmembershiphat ecide

who s and s not memberfthe ategory;nd 2) content,hats, sets fcharacter-

istics such s beliefs, esires,moral ommitments,ndphysical ttributes)hought

to

be

typical

fmembersf the

ategory,

r

behaviors xpected

r

obliged f mem-

bers n certain ituationsroles).We would lso include n contenthe ocial valua-

tion fmembersfthis

ategory

elative o others

contestation

verwhich s often

called

"identityolitics").

The category professor,"or xample, as rulesof membershipefined y a

credentialingrocess

nd the

requirement

f

being mployed

s a

professor,nd

a

contenthat

ncludes host

f

norms

or

roper

ehavior.

thnicdentitiesreunder-

stood o be definedmainly ydescent ules fgroupmembershipnd contentypi-

cally omposed

f ultural

ttributes,

uch s

religion,anguage, ustoms,

nd hared

historical

yths.

What oes

t

mean, hen,

o

say

that dentitiesre

socially

onstructed?or a first

cut,

we understandheclaimto be

that

ocial

categories,

heir

membershipules,

content,

nd valuation re the

products

f

human ction nd

speech,

nd that

s

a

result hey an and do change ver

ime.

With he omewhatmurkyerm dentities

translateds themore oncrete erm ocial

categories,

his

hardly

eems n

excep-

tional

laim. t even

verges

n

tautology.

ow could ocial

categories

e

something

other han ocially onstructed?5

The

answer,mplicit

n

much onstructivist

ork,

s that

eople

often

elieve,

mistakenly,

hat ertainocial

ategories

re

natural,nevitable,

nd

unchanging

acts

about hesocial world.

They

believe

that

articular

ocial

categories

re

fixed

y

human ature

atherhan

y

social conventionnd

practice.

eliefs n thenatural-

ness of a social

categorymight

e

rooted

n beliefs bout

lleged mplications

f

biology for xample, ender,exuality,

nd

thnicity

n

some

formulations)

r

bout

theology

nd

morality.

uch beliefs

egarding

social

categorymight

e termed

everydayrimordialism.6

uchconstructivist

aborhas beendevoted o undermin-

ing verydayrimordialistssumptionsy showing

ow

he

ontent

nd

even

mem-

4. Thisbrief

ummary

tatement

oes notdo full

ustice

othe

omplexity

fthe

oncept

f

"identity"

as it s

presentlysed;

see Fearon

1999,

for n extended

nalysis,

rom

hich his

ummary

ormulation

derives.

5.

On

this

oint,

ee also

Hacking

999.

6.

Apologies

o

Elster,

ho oined

he

erm

everyday

antianism."lster

989.



Violence ndEthnicdentityonstruction 49

bership ules of taken-for-grantedategories ike man/womanr heterosexual/

homosexual avechanged ver ime.7

How doesthis onstructivistbservationear on theexplanationf ethnic io-

lence?When iscussingthnic iolence, he onstructivists'ain argets primordi-

alism.8 rimordialistsre said to believe hat onflictetween woethnic roups,

andB,

is

inevitable ecause

of

unchanging,ssential haracteristicsf themembers

of

these ategories.n particular,rimordialistsuggest hat thnic iolence esults

from ntipathiesndantagonismshat reenduringropertiesf ethnic roups. he

constructivistosition ejects henotion funchanging,ssential haracteristicsnd

thus

ejects

his laim.The

mplication

s that ven

f

membersfA andB

are

hostile

to each other ow, his eednotbe (andprobably as notbeen) n eternal ondition.

By tself his s an unexceptionallaim gainst weak"theory" arelydvanced n

pure

form

n

treatises n ethnic iolence. t is sometimes

ound

n themouths f

politicianseeking o ustify ourses f action "ancienthatreds" rguments)r by

journalistseportingveryday rimordialist

eliefs s historical acts.More

mpor-

tant, rimordialistssumptions

f this ort o sometimes

reep nto

more

bstract

social science

models

eeking o makegeneral laims bout thnic iolence.Alvin

Rabushka nd Kenneth hepsle'stheory

f

ethnic utbidding,rawing n classic

works n

anthropologyncluding

hose fM. G.

Smith

nd

J.S. Furnivall,ssumed

that plural" olitieswould lways ontain well-definedthnic roupswith ener-

ally ncompatiblealues."9Analyses f consociation order n primordialisms

they ssumeunchangingnd unchangeablethnic dentities.'0ut therejection f

these otions

s

basically negative oint

atherhan

positive rgumentboutwhy

ethnic

iolence ccurs.

A more

rovocative

nd

nterestingntiprimordialist

laim s that hemembersf

any

wo thnic

roups

and

B

neednot hink

f

themselves

s A's andB's at all. For

instance, constructivistight rgue hat hepeoplesknown s Croats nd Serbs

might, ith differentineteenth-centuryolitical istory,

e known

s

the

South

Slavs,orsimplys the erbs."1he claim s that ot nlydoes the ontentf social

categorieshange ver

ime ut o do the

boundaries

etween hem.

7.

Everyday rimordialism

s

thus

n

part

n nstance

f

the

s/oughtallacy.

t s

not

rue,

onstructiv-

ists

ssert,

hat ecause

ome

ystem

f ocial

ategoriesxists,

he

ystem

s "natural" nd

ought

oexist.

Compare ardin 995, 0-65.

8. In

the cademic

iteratures

n nationalismnd thnic

olitics, primordialism"

s tself

omething

f

a constructf constructivists.or

example,

he

tandard

ite

for

he

primordialistallacy

s Geertz

973,

255-310,

where he

fallacy

s nowhere

ommitted. eertz

olds hat

eoples'

beliefs

n their

rimordial

attachments,

atherhan

he

nherent

mmutability

f

those

ttachments,

rive

thnic onflict

n

noncivic

societies. e postulateshat rimordialdentitiesan exhibit hemselvesn a varietyffashionssuch s

ethnically,eligiously,inguistically),

one

f

hem

eing

natural

ategory.

n

other

fhis

essays

n

Bali,

however,

e

appears

o be a

primordialist.

e writes s if therewerean immutable alinese

way

of

thinking

bout

heworld. ere ocial

dentities

re

presented

s

"givens"

ather

han,

s

antiprimordialists

wouldhave

t,

s "takens." n this

oint,

ee Laitin

986, hap.

1.

9. Rabushka

nd

Shepsle1972,

0. For

heir

ources,

ee Fumivall

948;

nd

Smith 965.

10.

See,

for

xample, ijphart

977.

11. Banac's evidence

uggests

hat s late as

thefirst

ecade of the wentieth

entury

here

was

no

agreementmong

lites

n

theBalkans hat roats

nd

Serbs

onstitutedwo

distinct ationalities.anac

1984.

For

treatment

f his

rgument

n

regard

o

Somali lan

dentities,

ee

Laitin1983.



850 International

rganization

If

this onstructivist

bservations correct-and or irtually

ll ethnic roups t

surelys, fone goes

backfar nough12-thenne might rgue

hat good explana-

tion or thnic iolence etween 's andB's requires n account fwhymembersf

these

roups ivide hemselvesn thisway.A

popular wareness

fethnic ategories

is

surely necessary

ondition or ethnic iolence."But s this

necessary ondi-

tion

hat eedsto be elaboratedn order o

offer good

explanation? erhaps, r

perhaps ot. n

explainingWorldWar ,

we

do not ypically emand n account f

whyFrance nd

Germany

ere

eparate ountriesn 1914.13

oes a good explana-

tion

or

iolence

etween

erbs ndCroats n

1991need n account f

henineteenth-

centuryrigins f the

present erb/Croat

istinction,

r

whyTito'sregime ailed o

replace eparate erb,Croat,Macedonian, lbanian, ndMuslim ategories ith he

overarchingYugoslav"

dentity? hile hese re mportant

ssuesfor ertain ues-

tions

ne might sk-for

example,why society as a certain

leavage tructure-

they

re

not

necessarily

elevantn an

explanation or

erb/Croat

r

Muslim/Serb/

Croat r

Albanian/Serb

iolence ost-1991.

It is certainly

nterestingo knowwhere

set

of

ethnic istinctionsame from

historicallyndwhy

hey avepersisted,ndthis nformation

ight r might otbe

deemed

mportant

n an

explanation

f

ethnic iolence.

However,

f

theprocess y

which ither he ontentr

boundary

f

an

ethnic

dentity

s

constructed

tself ields

violence,henwe would urely ay hat he ocial onstructionf thnicitysrelevant

to the

xplanation.

This

point eturns

s to

thequestion

f

what he

propositionidentitiesre

so-

cially

onstructed"

eans.

he

glossgiven arlier

was

really

oo

narrow-the laim

can

suggest

more han

ust

that he ntension

nd

extension

f,

ay,

"Serb"

varies

over

ime s a result

f

speech

nd action. t

can also invoke

specific rocessby

which

dentities

re

produced

nd

reproduced

n

action nd

speech.Unfortunately,

general tatementsbouthow this

process

works re hard

o

find n constructivist

writing.

Wesuggesthree ays o characterizehat onstructingn dentityntails. hese

approachesiffer

n

whether

hey

ee broad

tructural

orces,

iscursive

ormations,

or

ndividualss the

gents

hat ct o

produce

r

reproduce system

f ocial

atego-

ries.We

proceed

o sketch

ut

what ach

approachmightmply

or constructivist

theory

f

ethnic iolence.

Keep

n mind

hat

constructing

n

dentity" ay

efer o

either

he ontent

f a

social

category,

uch

s

making

erbs

believe hat erbs

an-

not ive

with

roats,

ndvice

versa,

rthe

oundaryules,

uch

s

making

Montene-

grins

elieve

hey

re

Yugoslavs,

r

peasants

n

Gascony elieve

hey

reFrench.

12.

ButArmstrong

hows hat t east omeboundaries-such s those

etween

omance nd

German-

speaking eoples-have

not

hanged

t all over

he

ourse f a millennium.

rmstrong

982.

To

be

sure,

change

has occurred

n the social

content f

what

haracteristics

embers f

each

category ught

o

exemplify.

13. Nor s an

explanation

or

nterstate

ar n

general

hought

o

require

n

account f

why

here

s

a

states'

ystem,hough

he

question

s

certainlynteresting

nd fundamental

or

nternationalelations

theory.ee,

for

xample, uggie

983;

nd

Spruyt

994.




Social and

Economic

rocesses s Agents fConstruction

The iteraturen nationalismssociatedwithKarlDeutsch, rnest ellner, enedict

Anderson, nd others epresentserhaps hebest developed case

study" f the

socialconstructionf n

dentity-namely,

ational

dentity.

hese uthorseject he

primordialistiew

of

nations s historicallymmanent,rguingnstead

hat he dea

of nationalityecame ompellingo peopleonly

n

themodern eriod s a result f

economic ndattendantocial

changes.

orthese

uthors,

ationaldentitiesrethe

local political nd psychological onsequences f macrohistoricalorces. or in-

stance,Gellner rgues

hat

y making pwardmobility ossible

or he iteratend

school-educated,

conomicmodernization

oliticized

acets

f

culture

hat

werepo-

liticallyrrelevantn the remoderneriod.National dentitiesrise s people ealize

that ow

they

ommunicate

andespecially

heir irst

anguage)

eterminesheirife

chances.Andersonddsthe dea that heboundaries

f

nationaldentitiesavebeen

shaped s an almost

ccidental

y-product

f

"print apitalism,"

he creation f

vernacular

eading

ommunities

y

booksellers

eeking

markets

eyond defunct

Latin nd

the

imited pread

f

ocal dialects.

4

It s difficulto ee how uch broad istoricalrocess s economic

modernization

could

xplain

iolence etween

articular

thnic

roups, xcept ossibly

s

part

f

a

"necessary

ondition"

rgumentoncerning

he ormationfthe thnicdentitiesn

the irstlace.Not llcontiguousroups ight-farromt-whereas conomicmod-

ernization

nd

he

reation

fethno-nationalommunities

hrough

odemmassme-

dia are

processes

hat ave ffected

ll

groups.

Social Construction

y

Discourse

An alternative

nterpretation

f he

rocess

nvoked

y

ocial onstructionocates he

action t the evel of

supra-individualhings

ike

discursive

ormationsr

symbolic

orculturalystemshat ave heir wn ogicoragency.

5

Inthese nalyses,ndividu-

als are

pawns

or

products

f

discourses

hat xist nd move

ndependently

f the

actions f

anyparticular

ndividual.

or

example,

ne

might rgue

hat

general

modern,

Westem iscourse f

ethnicity/nationalism

s a crucial

nderlying

actor

n

explaining

thnic

iolence.

Kapferer

akes

uggestionslong

hese

ines,

onnect-

ingethnic

iolence

o

modem olonialism.

6

Butas with he ase ofeconomicmod-

emization,

olonialismnd ts ttendantiscourses

re

ubiquitous

nAfrica nd

Asia,

butviolence

s

not.At best,

he

modemdiscourse

f

ethnicity ight

e seen as a

necessary

onditionor

oliticized thnicity

ndthus thnic ar.

As anotherxample, akethepropositionhat hesocial constructionfgroup

identitiesecessarily

nvolves

ifferentiating

ne's self

rone's

group

rom n

Other,

and

that herefore

dentity

onstruction

ecessarily

ntails he

otential

or

violent,

antagonisticelationship

ith heOther.

lthough

his

roposition

eems oundercut

14. See Deutsch

953;

Gellner

983;

nd

Anderson

983.

15. On "discursive ormations"s

a source f

explanation,

ee Foucault

972, hap.

2.

16.

Kapferer 988,

0-91.




the entral onstructivistlaim hat dentitiesan be constructedn nonantagonistic

ways, t s still constructivist-typergumentue to ts laim hat otgenesbut he

internalogicofdiscourses rives dentityonstruction.17

Thepropositiononly mpliednthis enre) s that necan analyze nddiscern he

logicofthe iscourse r ymbolicystemhat onstructsndividualsndgroups, nd

makepredictionsrom his s to the ikelihood f a range f practices,ncluding

violence.Geertz, or xample, xamined hediscursive ormationurroundinghe

Balinese ockfight. hilehe warned gainst sing tfor redictiveurposes, e did

suggest hat heBalinese o feared heirpresumed)apacity o actwith he erocity

of heir

cocks" that hey rganize hemselvesocially o that motional isplays re

considered

nappropriate.eertz uggests hat is analysis f the ymbols sed n

cock fightingwherewe see theferocious ocks as metaphorsf thebeneath-the-

surface motionshat edevil heir wners) ivesus an understandingf themassa-

cres hat ook

place

n Bali in

1965,making

t seem "less like contradictiono the

laws

of

nature" hat n extraordinarilyeserved nd peaceful ociety ould be ca-

pableof sudden utburstfunimaginableerocity.18

Sometimes iscursiveogics re thoughtf as cultural scripts"

n

which eople

unreflectivelylay

their roles." n his

reconstruction

f

a 1990 pogrom

n

post-

SovietKirgizia

n

which 20 Uzbeks, ifty irgiz, nd one Russian

werekilled n a

week,Valery

ishkov

writes hat he "youngKirgiz n horseback

were

trying

o

demonstrateheirtrengthndsuperiorityy iftingpanopponent yhis egsand

smashing

im

down n theground-exactlyn theway he egendary irgiz eroes

supposedly verpowered

heir nemies.

We

have read

bout

t

a

lot,

but

his s

the

firstimewe've hadthe hance o

try

t

out

for

urselves ', hey

aid."

19

This

symbolic pproach

o

identityuggests

hat he

development

f discursive

formationsan setone

group

n

opposition

o

another

r

predispose

hem

o see the

other s a

threat r

natural

ubject

or

violence, ndependent

f

any

morematerial

basis for

hostility.

hile his

pproach

s

elegant

nd not

necessarilyubject

o

pri-

mordialist

ssentialism,

e would till

ike

to

knowhow

these

discourses re sus-

tained nd

why,

n the

brink f

violence, hey

re

not bandoned

r

reinterpreted.

Indeed,

he

only

extended

ttempt

o

apply

uch

an

argument

n thebooks

under

review-Kapferer'srgumentoncerning

he iscursive

ormation

f

Sinhalese

myths

of

Vijaya,

whichwe treatn the hirdection-comes ut

ounding

oth o us andto

some

ofhiscriticsike

primordialistxplanation

ndnot constructivist

ne.

This

rony

s worth

xploring.

n

practice,

he

onstruction-by-discourse

iew

has

close affinitiesith

n older

tyle

fculturalist

nalysis

nthatt

macks fessential-

ism. Olderculturalist

pproaches ortrayed

ultures

s

highly ounded, nternally

coherent,nd static ntitieshat tronglyeterminehebehaviorf themembers f

the

roups hey

onstitute.20he newer onstructivistulturalism

ejects

he dea that

17.

Ferejohn

eferso

"subtler

deational

ogics"

hat

may

xist n the

phere

f

meanings,eeing

hem

as distinct rom he

rational hoicecalculations

n

the

phere

f action

n

explaining

ocial events nd

practices. erejohn 991,

85.

18. Geertz

973,452.

19.

Tishkov

997,

154.

20.

A

classic

tudy

n this

egard

s

Benedict 959.



Violence ndEthnicdentity

onstruction 53

culturesndthediscourse hat

hape

r

define hem rebounded,

oherent,r static.

For example, onstructivist

ritingn ethnic elations as stressed

ow thepresent

conception f, ay, aste n ndiaderives rimarilyrom ritish olonial heories.21

But t retains he dea that

iscourses/culturesefine dentitiesnd

shapeor deter-

mine

ctions.

How is it

possiblefordiscourses o shape action f discourses

hemselvesre

complex,multifaceted,

nd

subject

o

all

manner f

nterpretations?o give a con-

crete

xample, onsider

he

Catalonian iscourse

round

he

oncept

f

seny,which

implies pragmatic

eet-on-the-groundpproach o ife hat elpsCatalans o differ-

entiate hemselvesrom he

maginednefficiency

f

Spaniards.

an

we saythat his

discourse hapesCatalan ehavior? o do

so

we

wouldneedto ask why he qually

availableCatalandiscourse n raxha,which uggests hespontaneousndmore

ribald

spect

f Catalan

ulture, lays

far ess

a

role

n

contemporary

atalan elf-

revelations.atalan iscourses re o multifacetedhat arts fthose

iscourses an

be

appropriatedo

naturalize

whole

range

f

cultural

ractices.

his

problem ill

be raised

gain

whenwe ask whetherheres

evidence

f

pecific

ultural iscourses

producing

iolence

n

the

ase studies nder eview.

Individuals

s

Agents fConstruction

A

third ossibilitys that thnic

dentities-theontentndboundaryules fethnic

categories-might

e constructed

y

the

ctions

f ndividuals

eeking arious nds.

Consider,

or

xample,

he

proposition

hat thnic

iolence ccurswhen

political

elitesconstruct

ntagonistic

thnic dentities

n

order o

strengthen

heir old

on

power.

n

this

pproach,

he

nsights

f a

"constructivist"

pproachmergewith,

r

becomehard o

distinguishrom,

rationalist

r

strategic

hoice

pproach.

Strategic

ction

by

elites. What

he

pre-constructivist

iterature

n

ethnic onflict

termedelite heoriesf thnic iolence" rovides romisingroundsor construc-

tivist

heory

fethnic iolence n this ense.

ndeed,

t s

striking

ndno

coincidence

that

irtuallyvery

elf-identifiedonstructivisthohas writtenn ethnic

iolence,

andmost

learly

rass

mong

he uthorsfreviewed

exts,

as tended oblame lite

machinationsnd

politicking.22

n

these

rguments,

thnic iolence s

explained

s

both means nd a

by-product

f

political

lites' ffortso hold or

acquire ower.

Elitesfoment

thnic

iolence o

build

political upport;

his

rocess

as the ffectf

constructing

ore

ntagonistic

dentities,

hich avorsmore

iolence.

rguments

f

this

ort avebeen roundn

political

cience nd

sociology

or

long

ime, hough

withouthe onstructivistanguage.23

The

puzzle

for uch heoretical

rguments

s to

explain

how

elites

an convince

their ollowers o

adopt

falsebeliefs

nd

take

ctions

hat hefollowers ouldnot

want otake

f

hey

nderstood hat

he

eaderswere

p

to.

fthe

lites

re

ustdoing

21.

See

Pandey

990.

22. See

also

Tambiah 996

nd

1986.

Kapfererrgues imilarlysee

footnote

8).

Kapferer

988.

23. See

Simmel

1955;

and

Coser 1956. See also the

diversionary

ar

iterature,

or

xample, evy

1989.



854 International

rganization

what heir

ollowers ant hem o do,then

tseems nappropriate

oblame he

lites.

In other

ords,fviolence nd

hardenedthnic oundaries

erve lite

utnot opular

interests,henwhat xplains opular thnic ntipathies?uppose hat he eader f

one group rovokes

violentncident

ithmembersf

nother roup.

Why runder

what onditionshould

his ncident construct"

he

group n a more ntagonistic

manner,

ncreasingupport or

he eader

nd disposing hegroup

oward et

more

violence?

These rethe uestions

hat

coherentonstructivist

heoryfethnic iolence

in

this ense

of

"identities

re socially onstructed")

eeds to answer,

nd they re

difficult

uestions.24rass,

for xample, resents

n elite heory

f ethnic iolence

that rawsheavily

n

constructivist

riting.

e argues hat ndian

lites ngaged

n

contestsor ower ometimes indt ntheirnterestopublicly rame iolentnci-

dents

s

"communal,"

n

interpretation

hat s then ccepted y

publicsfavoring

more iolence.

utwhy o publics

o readily redit lites'

ramings?ttimes

rass

seems ware hat

t

s odd

that e should

ind hepoliticians'machinations

ranspar-

entwhilethe ndian

public

s duped.For instance,

fter escribing

particularly

absurd llegation

eported

n

the

partisan ress

n ndia,he explains

hat it s

likely

that

Muslims]

would

have

been

so

enraged by

his

llegation]

hat hey

wouldnot

have seen through

he evident

use

nvolved

n thiskind

of

reporting,

hichhas

Goebbelsian

ualities."25

usan

L.

Woodward, qually

hocked

t

mass

acquies-

cence to themachinationsf national lites, laimsthey ngaged uccessfullyn

"psychological

arfare."26

One

class of answers

o this

uzzleproposes

hat nnate

r

earned

sychological

bias eads

membersf thnic roups

odiscount r gnore

heir

wn

eader's nvolve-

mentnproducing

thnic onflict,

o

that

heOther akes ll

the

lame.

or nstance,

following ajfel's

social identityheory,"

f

people

have

an innate esire

or

elf-

esteem,

hen

hey

may

be

irrationally

eluctanto

believe

hat

members

f

their wn

group,

nd

especially

heir

eadership,

ouldbe

responsible

or

eprehensible

cts.27

Anotheret fpossible nswers roposeshatsymmetricnformationllows eaders

to

manipulate

heirmore-or-lessational)

ollowers' eliefs.

or

nstance,

ui J.P.

de

Figueiredo,

r.,

nd

Barry

R.

Weingast

bserve

hat

ven

f

people

do

not

know

which

ide to blamefor

hefailure

f

constitutionalegotiations,

n ethnic

iot,

r

incident

f ethnic iolence, hey

o know

hat

ne

or both

ides re

to

blame.

Thus,

observingny

uch vent

hould ead

them

ationally

o ncrease

heir

elief

hat he

other

roup

r ts eaders

may

e

dangerous

r

at

fault,

ven

f t

happens

n this ase

that

heir

wn

eadership rovoked

he onflict.

f an ethnic

ublic

s

very

cared f

what

might appen

f

the other

roup

harbors

ggressive

ntentions,

his

may

be

enough or hemo ncrease heirupportfthe ncumbents a defensive ove.28

24.

Nor

are

they

well

answered

n

the

nternational

elations

iterature

n

diversionaryar,

but

see

Downs

ndRocke

1994;

Hess

and

Orphanides

995;

and

Smith

996.

25. Brass1997,

142.

26. Woodward

995,

28.

27.

Tajfel

1978.

The

astonishing

enials ncountered

rom osnian

erbs

onfrontedith

vidence f

the rebrenica

assacres

may

e

a

good

example

f

thismechanismt

work.

28. De

Figueiredo

nd

Weingast

999.

By

this

rgument,

uspicions

hat

heir

wn

eadership

s

trying

to

manipulate

hem hould lso

gain urrency

n

seeing

n

event

ike

his.




More

broadly,olitical

eaders

sually

avebetternformationbout

whetheron-

flictwith nother roup s thebestcourse f action t a particularime. ollowers

thus ace classical gency roblem,ne consequence fwhichmaybe that eaders

can

temporarily?)

ncrease

upport yexploiting

he rust

hey avedevelopedwith

followers.

A third ossibilitys that eaders re not o muchdeceiving ollowerss taking

advantage

f

constitutionalndothernstitutionalules ndnorms hat llow hem o

centralizer

rrogateower

f

hey

an claim hat he

roup

aces

security

hreat.

n

other

ords,

thnic iolence

may

be

provokedimply

o

egitimize coup

d'etat.

y

fomentingiolencewith n out-grouphe eaders fthe n-group aybe able to "tie

the

hands"

ftheir o-ethnics.n-groupeaders ncrease heir o-ethnics'emand or

protectionromhe ut-groupndatthe ame imemake ure heresno alternative

set

of

eaders o

protect

hem. o some

xtenthe

Hutu

eadership

n

Rwanda nd he

Serbian

eadership

n

Yugoslavia mployed

uch actics.29

A fourthnswermight e developed s a more onstructivistariantn the sycho-

logicalbias approach oted arlier: eoplemaybe so totally linded y a discourse

of

ethnicity

nd

ethnic

elations hat

t

determinesow

they

raw

nferences

rom

data n ethnic elations. he accounts

yBrass, runier,ndKapfererll suggest his

possibility

t

times.

Finally, bserversmay be concluding oo quickly hat opular nvolvement

n

"ethnic iolence" nd upportor xtremisteaders s motivatedna straightforward

fashion y underlying

thnic nimositiesnd fears. n someof

his essays particu-

larly

n

the hapterntitledTheft

f an

dol"), Brass

hints t

a possible esponse r

resolution

f

he

uzzle long

hese ines.He

suggests

hat he

rdinary

olk nvolved

in

"communal iolence" re

n

fact

pursuing

heir wn diverse

gendas hatmay

have ittle

o

do with ommunal

ntipathieser

e. When

politiciansnterpret

ocal

disputes

n an

ethnic

rame,hey

re

merely iving eople

he icense o

pursue

heir

own

agendas

nder hebanner f "communal onflict." hisvaluable

uggestion

s

taken p ater; vidence or tappearsnseveral fthe asestudies. hemechanism

also

appears

n

mportant

ecent tudies n civilwar.For

example,

tathis

alyvas

argues

hatmuch iolence n civilwars s

produced y

ocalswho nlist

upport

rom

the

government

rrebels o

pursue

ocal

grudges

ndfeuds.30

Strategic

ction "on the

ground."

The individuals

ho constructthnic

denti-

tiesneednot e political rother lites.

A

persistentntuitionnconstructivistriting

is that ocial dentitiesre

produced

nd

reproducedhrough

he

verydayctions f

ordinaryolk,

hat

s,

"on

the

ground."

ndividualshink fthemselvesn terms f a

particularetof socialcategories, hicheadthem oact nwaysthat ollectively

29.

In

"security

ilemma"

xplanations

or

thnic

iolence,

osen

ndHardin

rgue

hatwhen cen-

tral

uthorityollapses

thnic iolence

may

ccur

s individualsoalesce

long

thnicines

o

seek self-

protection.

osen

1993

and

Hardin 995.These

rguments

reat he

ollapse

f

government

s

exogenous

and

thus

annot

ddress

he

uestion

f

why

ollowers

ollow eaderswho

deliberatelyring

n "anar-

chy."

The

argument

n

our ext

as

eaders

reating anarchy"

ecause

hey

now hat ollowers illbe

unable o coordinaten differenteaders

nd

thus

willhaveto

support

he nes

responsible

or he

prob-

lems.

30.

Kalyvas

1999.

See also

Bax

1997;

ndStoll

1999.




confirm,einforce,ndpropagatehese dentities.31embers fmarginalizedatego-

ries,

r

ndividual issidents, ay uietly ubvertr oudly ontestommon ssump-

tions bout articularategories. heir ctionsmay hen esultn the onstructionf

new or altered dentities, hich hemselveshange ultural oundaries. ffortso

change oundaries ay ead to violent trategiesythosewhohave n nterestn the

previouslyccepted oundaries.While

recent

ccounts f popular nvolvement

n

ethnic iolence

avefocused

n

security

ears f

ndividuals-themotivationo

kill

one's neighborsefore eingkilled ythem32-here e willelaborate n a comple-

mentaryonstructivistccount.

As

a

first ut,

t

is useful o point ut that thnic roups ave morepermeable

boundaries han tates.33 ith onsiderable

uccess,

tates

n

themodern ra con-

structnd police definiteerritorialorders.34n contrast,he inesbetween thnic

and national

roups

re ess definitend muchharder o

police,

ince

they

an

be

altered r infringedponby assimilationnd other verydaycts that lur r call

boundaries

nto

uestion.

n

a seminal

ssay,

rederik

arth

rgued

hat

thnicity

s

defined ot

by

the

ultural

haracteristicsf

groupmembers utby

thedifferences

thoughto distinguishhem rom thers.35

n

a more ulturalistpproach,William

H.

Sewell,Jr., mphasizes

he

mpossibility

f

approaching

ultural

niformity,

ven

under otalitarianonditions.

ultural ractice

or

ewell

s less that f

celebrating

uniformitymong

membersf

group

han f

organizing

ifferences

etween roups.

Sewell's rgumentmplieshatwhen oundariesreunder hreat-forxample, hen

a

subgroup rganizes

o assert ts differencerom he

arger roup

n

which t had

been

part-those

who dentifiedith he nclusive

roup

re

ikely

o

oppose epa-

ration,

vento

the xtent

f

threateningiolent epercussions.attles verwhether

groups n theboundaries re the

ame as

those

n

thecore,

or

culturallyifferent

from

hem,

refor

ewell

normal

spect

fcultural

ractice.36

Such battles ave the

potential

orviolence.

n

Basque country,igh

evels

of

assimilation

y

a

regionalminority

nto he

ulture

f the entral tate

thereby

x-

pandingheboundaryfthe ocialcategory Spaniard" o nclude asques)threat-

ened

he

nterestsfthose

eeking olitical eparation.

ssimilation

trategies

n the

ground

ed

Basque separatists

o

provoke

he

enter's

olice

nto

punitive

ctions.

The

separatistsoped

ocause

not-yet-assimilatedasques

torevise ownwardheir

hopes

or

eing ccepted y

membersf he ominant

ociety

nd

herebytrengthen

the

rgument

or ecession.

asque separatistsursued

his iolent

action-reaction

31.

A

self-reinforcingystem

f

ocial

categories

anbe

seen s

an

nstance

f cultural

quilibrium,

patternfactions ndbeliefs uch hat he ctionsmake ense are optimal) iven hebeliefs,ndat the

same ime hebeliefs renotdisconfirmed

y

the

attern

f

actions.

or

nstance,

f

A's

and

B's

expect

o

be cheatedn nterethnic

ealings,

twillmake ense

o avoid

nteractions

ndto

try

o cheat n

those hat

occur,

hus

eproducing

he eliefs hatmake he ctions

ptimal.

or

examples

fcultural

quilibria,

ee

Laitin

998;

Mackie

1996;

andFearon

nd

Laitin

996.

32.

For

xample, ee

Posen

1993.

33.

Internationalelations

heorists,

uch s

Posen,

ind

tuseful o

gnore

his istinction.osen 1993.

See also

Hardin,

ho

portrays

thnic

roups

s well-delineatedteams."Hardin 995.

34. See Lustick

993;

nd

Sahlins 989.

35. Barth

969,

17.

36.

Sewell 1999.




cycle," s they escribed he trategy,or generation.37n such ases, ethnic io-

lence s a consequence fthe mbiguitynduncertaintyfthe oundaries elimiting

ethnic ategories.temerges rom eactions y elites o effortsy ordinaryeople

that hreatenoredefineocialboundaries.38

The permeabilityf boundaries an lead to violencenot only as a reaction o

potential

defection"

ut also as a strategyy marginalmembers o gain greater

acceptance

n

some

valued ategory. ereviolence s usedagainst resumedutsid-

ers

by

ndividualsf

marginaltatusn thegroup. xplanationsor iolence n these

cases typically roceed s follows:marginalmembers f groupA internalizehe

belief hatA's are superioro B's. Theymay hen ttackmembers f B in order o

prove o themselves

r to

others ecurely

n A

that hey re ndeedmembers.39his

mechanism ight e described s a strategyor aining cceptancen a valued at-

egory y out-Herodingerod with heAustrian alf-Jew itler s thenotorious

example).

Evidence on Identity Construction and Ethnic Violence

Is

ethnic

iolence result f processes

f

ethnic dentityonstruction?hese case

studies f

arge-scale

thnic iolence ndBrass'svolume n

episodes

fviolence t

the ocal evelprovidevidence osupportour esponsesothis uestion. irst,he

books ontain

mple

vidence

ejecting

he

rimordialist

heses hat

thnic

dentities

are

socially

r

genetically

ixed nd

unchanging,

nd that

thnic iolence esults

from

eceived,

mmutableultural ifferences.

econd,

he vidence or he

roposi-

tion hat iscourses

f

ethnicity

onstructdentities

n

ways

hat

ispose

ndividuals

toviolent onflicts atbest

mbiguous ere, lthough

he exts

nder eview rovide

some

grounds

or uch a

reading. hird,

hecases contain

onsiderable vidence

suggesting

hat

olitical

lites se violence

oconstruct

ntagonistic

thnic

dentities,

which

n

turn avormore

violence,

with

nterestinguggestions

bout

why

masses

would ollow. ourth,heres evidence hathe onstructionfeverydayrimordial-

ismfrom

n-the-ground

nteractions

an ead to ntra-nd

ntergroup

iolence.

Against

rimordialism

There s no evidence

n

these ooks

feither

enetically

ixed r

unchanging

ultural

values,

s

primordialists

ould

xpect.

o

varying egrees,

ll

the uthors

re con-

37. Laitin 995.

38. For similarxamples,eeGanguly 997, 5.Ganguly uggestshat ikhrevivalismn ndiagrew

out

of conservativeikhs'fears hat

young,wealthy,

rbanized ikhs

had

sought

o shear ff he

rap-

pings

f

their

aith," einvigorating

oncern hat

they

ould well become

bsorbed

within heHindu

fold."He makes

parallel rgumentegarding

conomicmodernization

nd

the

pread

fMuslim

unda-

mentalism

n

Kashniir.

39.

Chauncey,

or

xample, xplains

iolent ttacks

gainst

omosexuals

n

the irst

alf f his

entury

in

ust

these erms:

Newly

confined o

indoor,

ffice

obs

and under he

thumb f

giant orporations,

middle-class

men's sense

of

masculinity

as

in

question boundary ncertainty).heyresponded,

c-

cording

o

Chauncey, y hifting

he

onceptual

cheme

rom division asedon

masculine

ersus emi-

ninebehavior o

one

based

on

preference

n

sex

partnershomosexual/heterosexual)

nd

condoning

t-

tacks

n those

n

the ther ideofthenew

boundary.hauncey 994,

116.




structivists.runiermakes hemost nsistentase for constructivistosition. e

shows hat he abels "Tutsi" and "Hutu"

n

Rwandahad primarily class rather

than nethnicmeaningnprecolonialimes,ndnotes esearchuggestingporous

boundaryeparatinghem. urthermore,e shows hat hese thnicabelsare n the

present olitical

ense

thats,thenotion

f

foreignonquering aster aceover n

oppressed easant ociety) historical

iction

nvented y racialist uropeans nd

taken ver

y

ocal

political ntrepreneurseekingobs andpower, ndespecially y

Tutsi oliticians housedthe olonial deology s a means f materialndpsycho-

logical aggrandizement.he rigiddichotomy etweenHutu and Tutsiwas con-

structed

ycolonial

uthoritiesn

collaboration ith wandan lites

nd

hardeneds

a result f

political

onflict.

Similarly, oodwardnsistshat hehighly oliticizedontentsehindMuslim,"

"Serb,"

and "Croat"

n

theBalkans n the

1990s

are a result f the conomic ol-

lapse nd he reakdownf heYugoslav tate atherhan he ther ay round. ohn

McGarry

nd

Brendan

'Learygive

no

stock o

arguments

bout

iolence n

North-

ern

reland hat

rebuilt

pon

nheritedultural ifference.

heypoint

utthat

he

socialcontent

fthe

ategories

Protestant"

nd

"Catholic"

n

Northernreland as

changed

o

vastly

ver thecenturieshat

t

wouldbe hard o

find

set of

long-

standing

ultural ifferenceshat

eparate

he wo

populations.40

hile he ontentf

nationaldentitiess

in

flux,McGarry

nd

O'Leary

how

hat he

oundaries

that s,

the riteriaefining embership)fthegroupsre ong-standingndunquestioned.

Deng equivocates

omeon this ssue.He insists hat ertain

ategories

re

objective

andnatural. espite he

ocial

construction

f a

northernudanese Arab" dentity,

these

eople

re

really

fricans ho ssimilated

ntoArab

ulture. heir onstructed

Arab

dentity

erves o block north-southational

ntegration

n

Sudanthat ould

resolve he

bloody

onflict.

espite

his

nsistencen

objective

riteria

or

Arabness

and

Africanness,eng gives

onsiderable

ttention

o

boundary

reaswhere

orth-

ern nd

southern

dentitiesre n

competition,howing

ow both he

meaning

nd

boundariesf dentitiesresubject ochange.Kapferer,or ll hispostmodernre-

tensions,

nd to the

chagrin

f

many

f

his

critics,

inds

imself

eifying

trans-

historical

inhalese

dentity.

et

Kapferer's

ook

suggests

hat

nder

onditionsf

postcolonialism,ompounded y

economic

ifficulties,

thnic

dentitiesakeon a

stronger

ndmore xclusivisttrain.

herefore,

hereas he thnic

abels re

argely

givenby

descent

part

f the common

nderstanding

f

the

meaning

f "ethnic

group"),

heir

ontentnd

grip

n

ndividuals'

maginations

re

a

functionf social

andhistoricalonditions.

Furthermore,

o

the xtenthat

strong rimordialistosition

urns n the ncom-

patibilityfculturess the ource or iolence,heres no evidence or uch posi-

tion

n

the

books

under eview. our

of the studies

thoseby Brass,Woodward,

Prunier,

nd

Kapferer)

o not ven ddress

he ssue of

theviolent

otential

f cul-

tural ifference.

eng

is

explicit

n

rejecting

heclaim

that

bjective

measures f

cultural istance

matter. e

opens

his discussion

with he laim hat the ource f

conflict

ays

not

o much

n

themere act

f

differencess

in

the

egree

o

which he

40.

McGarry

nd

O'Leary 1995,

50.




interactingdentitiesnd their verridingoals are mutuallyccommodatingr n-

compatible.

n

the ontextf he

nation-state,onflict

f

dentitiesccurswhen roups

... rebel gainstwhat hey ee as intolerableppression y thedominant

roup."41

Muchofhisbook shows hat

bjectivelyand despite orthernmaginings)he ul-

tures fnorth

nd outh re loser han lite haracterizationsf hose ultures. o be

sure, eng,

n

suggesting

n

amelioratingolicy,writes:

If

Northernersalue the

unity f

their ation

bove

their

elf-delusionhat hey re Arabs,"peace

in

the

context f a united

udan

couldbe

attained. he cultural elief hat hey reArabs,

and

thereby

asters f

Africans, eng maintains,ustains

he

ivilwar.Here, ul-

tural

eliefs

re

constructed

n

antagonistic ays houghhey eednotbe, giving o

support

o the iew hat

bjective ultural

ifferences

mply iolence.42

McGarryndO'Learyattack he ultural istancergumentead on.They on-

sider

hepossibility

hat he

warring ods"

ofCatholics nd

Protestantslay role

in

leading

heir

dherents

nto ommunal arfare.

ndeed,

s

the uthors

oint ut,

Northernreland s

more

religious"

n

terms f church ttendancehanmost ther

European ocieties,

nd theres

a

high

orrelationetween

eligious

ffiliation

nd

voting.Many

f

the xtremistsfor nstance,an Paisley)

re

religious ealots. rom

these

points

numerous

bservers

nterpret

he Northernreland

onflict

s a war

between

ncompatibleeligions.

McGarry

nd

O'Leary, owever,

emolishhe

laim

hat

eligious

ifferencesause

the ommunal iolence. hey how hat

1. violence idnot ecede s the

ociety lowly

ut

monotonically

ecamemore

secular;

2.

cross-sectionally,here

as

more iolence

n

citieswhere eligiositys lower

than

n

villageswhere t s higher;

3. since

1969

there adbeen fair mount f nterchurch

ooperation

s vio-

lence

xpanded;

4. all ofthemajor artiesrparamilitariesamed hemselvesnterms f secular

criteria

nationalism,nionism),

ot

eligious riteria,nd,

n

fact,

the

politi-

cal

language

fboth

rotagonistsppeals

o the

discourses

f

nationalism,

he

principles

f self-determination

nd

democratic

ajoritarianism,

deas

which

are,

n

principle,

nd

n

practice,

etached

rom

eligious orld-views";

5. violencewas not

at east,

t

the ime hebookwas

written)

irected

gainst

religious

cons.

Loyalists

adnot ouched atholic

hurches,

nd

no Catholic

priests

adbeenkilled

y

a

loyalist unman,

ven

hough riests

alk he

streetsnd

provide asytargets;

6.

respondents

n

Northernreland ttributedhe ausesof the onflicto

politi-

callconstitutional

ources

ar

more han

hey

idto

religious

ifferences.

"Even

oyalist aramilitaries,"cGarry

nd

O'Learyreport,say they

re

happy

o

accommodate atholics

f

nd

when

hey ccept

he

Union";

41.

Deng 1995,

1.

42.

Ibid.,

2.




7. endogamys more he esult fneighborhoodegregationhan hepolicies f

religious rganizations.

While rimordialistsight ant oclaim hat eligions not xhaustivefcultural

difference

n

the ase of

Northern

reland,McGarry

nd

O'Leary ertainly

how hat

the

ultural

ifferencehat efines he ontentfthe thnic ivide annot e directly

linked othe ommunaliolence.43

The absenceof any mention f cultural istancenfour f thestudies, sharp

refutationf

the

hesis

n

the ifth,nda

full

xegesis

n

why ultural istance

s

not

driving

iolence

n

the ixth

ead

us to

reject

his ariable

s

a

powerful

actor

xplain-

ing

violent

thnic

onflict.n

fact,

he

esson

f

hese ooks, onsistent ith onstruc-

tivist heory,s thatwe cannot ssume hat ny fthe ountriesxamined ontained,

prior o theviolentonflict,deeply iven" roupswith undamentallyincompat-

iblevalues."These tudies ontainittle o supportheview hat he ulturalontent

ofethnic ifferences

y

tself ostersthnic iolence.

Discourse nd Violence

Discourse pproaches, favoredmethodologicalool of constructivists,re poten-

tially

n

tensionwith

principal

laim

of

constructivist

heory,

hat

eople

are

not

bornmprisonedytheir ultures.nfact, nlyKapferermong he uthors hose

work

s

under eview ustains

n

argument

n

favor

f

a cultural iscourse s a

powerful

nd

unchanging

ocial

force. The

fury

f the

anti-Tamil]

iotswas

de-

monic"he tellshis

reader,eadingKapferer

o examine heriots rom he

point

f

viewof

Sinhala

orcery

emons.

mong

he

inhala,myths

f

Vijaya the ounding

and

unruly rince

f

the

Sinhalapeople,

he

offspring

f

a lion

and an

Indian

rin-

cess,yet

e became

righteousing)

nd

of

Dutugemunuwho

reestablished

inhala

mastery,verpoweringhe

Tamil

king, lara) are,Kapfererxplains, reated

s his-

torical

act, eproduced

n

school

exts,

ndrecur s

images

n

contemporary

thnic

warfare.44npublicpamphletsncitingranalyzingheviolence, he "events"of

these

mythologicaligures'

areers re enumerated

s

part

f the

xplanation.

ven

leading cholars,iving broad,

re

admonished

ocally

for

ack

of

correspondence

between

heir laims nd

Sinhala

myths.

overnmentfficialsnfuse heir hetoric

with hese

egends,

nd "their udience

s

culturallyrepared

or hese eferences."45

Government

inisters ax about hese

egends

n

the

eriod

f

heightenedeligious

activity

n the

nnual

alendar,

nown

s

Asala. The

worst

iots

f

1977, 1981,

nd

1983

coincided

with

his

eriod.

Popular xorcism ites

re

part

f this

mythical

niverse.n the

exorcism,

he

"patient" egains ealthn a cosmic egenerationhat arallelshe process fhier-

archical

egeneration"

ound

n

the

myths

fthe tate.

n

"the

Suniyama,

he

person

is reborn,econstituted,rom hewomb

f the

tate quite iterally,

s

theperson

s

put

nto n

actualmodel f

a state

tructure],

state ebuilts an ordered

ierarchy."

43.

McGarry

nd

O'Leary 1995,

189-213.

44.

Kapferer988,

4-35.

45.

Ibid., 8-39.



Violence

ndEthnic

dentityonstruction 61

Kapferer

oints o parallels

ere n the egends f Vijaya

and

Dutugemunu.Their

violence, s

the violent

metaphorsnd acts

of

the

Suniyama ite, s

an

ordering

violence ngaged o the ormationrreformationfthewholeness ndhealth fthe

state.... Violence s appropriaten

the

xpungingf vil, n evilwhich y

definition

defies he nified

rder fthe

Buddhisttate."46

Kapferernsists

hat

oliticians re not manipulatinghe

masses,but

share n

ontological

round ith hem.

hus,

President

ayawardenen

becoming resident

(as opposed o a

primeminister,s in theolder

onstitution)xclaimed:

We have

had

an

unbrokenineof monarchs rom

ijayato Elizabeth

I

for ver

2,500 years

... andnow

myself,

he 06th

ead

of

state

rom

ijaya

n

unbrokenine."47n that

same speech,he referredo the

"wicked nd

corrupt" ing, Hindu,whose

reign

ended nrebellionySinhaleseords. hisspeech ndmany thersely nimages

frommythso

portrayamils

s

foreign,s

evil,

nd s

naturalubjects or iolence.

Further,

n

public ronouncements

fthe

ommanderf the ri Lankan

rmy

nd

in

admonitionsf

a leading

riestthat

e "woulddeal with ll

enemy

orces n

the

country

ith he

blessings

f

the

Triple

Gem

and

all the

protective

eities

f Sri

Lanka") the

mythsf tate renaturalizednto

dvocacy or

resent olicy.

n

popu-

lar cartoons

ayawardeneas

depicted s requiringxorcism

o that e

might

re-

store he

ncompassing

quanimity

f

an

ordered

ierarchy."his

sharing

f

myths

between lites nd

masses

resents

he dreadful

nd

violent

ossibility"

hat

eaders

andmasseswillfollow he "inner ogic" oftheir prereflective"ntology. iven

this

ontology,inhalese

will

take

any

opposition

o the state

s

threateninghem

personally.

Here

s

a

reason,

xtraordinary

s it

may

eem,

or he

udden,

lmost

inexplicable,

ransformationf a

normallyeaceful eople nto iolent nd

murder-

ously

rampaging

obs.... The

rioting

..

may

be likened

o

a

gigantic

xorcism.

Tamils,

he

gents

f

evil,

etto

break he

overarchingnity

f

the inhalese

tate,

are

rooted ut.

.

.

By

so

doing the

inhalese] esubordinatend

reincorporate

he

Tamil

demon

n

hierarchy."48

What o we make fthis rgument?tanley ambiah,mong numberfschol-

ars

who melled

rimordialism

n

t,

ook

xception.

apferer,

e

argues,

s

ahistori-

cal

as

he "makes

a

leap

from

cosmology

nferredrom

sixth-centuryytho-

historicalext ..

to

another

osmology

e

infers rom

resent-day

emon

ituals.

Does

a

possible omology etween he wo

osmologies

mean

continuity

n

histori-

cal

consciousness rom he sixth o the

twentieth

entury?"

ittle ffort

s

made,

Tambiah mphasizes,o

analyze he

hanging

ahavamsa

orpus,

hichwas

rewrit-

ten

everal

imes

ver he

enturies,

o see

f

his

ontinuity

s

being

ransmittedver

time.As we

suggested

arlier, rguments

hat

elyupon

discursive

ormationshat

havetheir wn ogicandagency end oportrayulturen a waythat ordersn

primordialism,

n

that

eople

re

ontinually

ade ndremade

y

discourseshat re

essential

roperties

fethnic

roups.49

46.

Ibid.,

8-79.

47. Ibid., 5-87.

48.

Ibid.,

100-101.

49.

Tambiah

992,

171.




Does Kapferer eed o treat inhalese iscourse n ethnicdentitys an unchang-

ingmonolithhat utomaticallyeterminesopular erceptionsndresponses hen

danger s alleged?Could he instead rgue hat orwhatever easons, n theearly

1980s his imply as a powerfuliscourse hat haped inhalese elf-understanding

and conditionedheactions f

both eaders nd followers

n

thedirection f vio-

lence?He had the pportunityo profferuch n argument,incehalf hebookcon-

cerns tate deology

n

Australia here hemythsf tate o not mpelwhite ustra-

lians to massacre he boriginal opulation. ut thebook merelyuxtaposes hese

cases ratherhan

omparing

hem

o

account

or hedifferentutcomes. s a result,

Kapferer oes not nvestigate ow violent iscourses re sustained r identifyhe

conditionsnderwhich tate iscoursesurn

opulationsiolentlygainst

he thnic

other.

Prunier oes seek suchan explanation.or themostparthe avoidsthe mplicit

primordialism

f

Kapferer,ttending

ore

arefully

o the reation fthe

discourse

in

thecolonialperiod nd ts evolution ith hanging ircumstances.runier uts

great tress n thediscourse f Tutsi acial uperiorityhat eveloped

n

Rwanda's

colonial

years.

his

portrayed

heTutsi s a distinctace of aristocratic

onquerors

whohadcome

originally

rom ar

way perhaps

ven

Tibet )

ndwerenatural ulers

over he

ood-natured

ut nferiorutus.

n

a subtle

nalysis,

e showshow heHutu

"democratic evolution"

f

1959

did not

fundamentallyeject

his

deology,

ut

"merelynvertedts ign. utsiwere tillforeignnvaders' hohadcomefromfar,

butnow thismeant hat

hey

ouldnot

really

e considereds citizens." he Hutu

were"the

only egitimate

nhabitantsf the

ountry,"

nd "a Hutu-controlled

ov-

ernment as now not

onlyautomaticallyegitimate

ut also

ontologically

emo-

cratic."50 runiermeans hat he uthoritariantate

n

Rwanda ationalizedtself s

"democratic" n the

argument

hat

democracy quals

rule

by

Hutus

the

demo-

graphicmajority),

hich

quals

exclusion f Tutsis rom

olitical ower.

hus not

only

did the

colonial

discourse reate an

aggressively

esentful

nferiority

om-

plex" among heHutubut n this "inverted" orm tssystemfthought ainted

Tutsis s evil

foreigners

ho

might

t

any

time eek to

reimpose

heir

yrannical,

"feudalist" ule.51

his,

Prunier

uggests,

as an invaluable esource or

heHutu

elites

ontrolling

he tate. aced with n invasion ed

by

the

rmy epresenting

he

Rwandan atriotic

ront,

he

predominantly

utsi

party

mobilized

n

exile,

Hutu

elites

ould

use

widespread cceptance

f the "democratic

deology"

o

publicly

rationalize hatwas

n

fact

coup

to avoid

haring ower mainly

ithHutus rom

another

egion).52

n

addition,

e

argues

hat he

deology

nd ts ffects

rethemost

important

actors

xplaining

utu

peasants' articipation

n

the

genocide. lthough

Prunier itesmany actors-desire or and andcattle, strong ierarchicalom-

mand tructure

n

which

onparticipation

ouldmean

eath,

nd

imple easantgno-

50. Prunier

995,

0.

51.

Ibid.,

.

52. In contrasto

Kapferer,

runier

onsistentlyxplains

he

ction

f

political

lites n terms f ma-

terial nd

power-seekingotivations,

ot

deology-for xample, runier,

41.The

only xception

ould

be

"extremist

deologues,"

who Prunier

ccasionally uggests

re

ust wrapped p

in

the

Rwandan is-

torical

mythology.



Violence ndEthnic

dentity

onstruction 63

rance ndcredulityfgovernmentronouncements-inhe ndhe says hat greed

was notthemainmotivation.t was belief nd obedience-belief n a deeply m-

bibed deology."53

Whereas

n

Kapferer's iewdiscourse prereflectively"criptshe ctions fboth

elites ndfollowers,

n

Prunier's iew discourses invoked s a resource or ower-

and

wealth-seekingoliticians

o

ustify ourses

f

action

n a

wayplausible o fol-

lowers, nd

a

source

f

ong-standing,eneral sychological ispositionssuch as

resentment,rrogance,nd uspicion)

with

egard

o

ethnic thers.

With

o theoreti-

cal

axe togrind, runier's arrativeeamlessly

eaves

ogetherationalistndividual-

based analysis nd a more iscursiveonstructivistpproach hat tresses his deo-

logical construct. he result s compelling, lthoughwe remain uzzled by two

problems egardingowthe iscursiveystem iguresnthe xplanation.hesegen-

eral

puzzles pply quallywell

to

Kapferer's

ook.

First, iscursive r cultural ystems

t

best create disposition

or

arge-scale

violence, ince they re relativelynduringtructures

hile

violence s episodic.

Thus, estinghehypothesishat omecultural iscourses avor thnic iolence e-

quires

hatwe can code discourses s more r

ess

nherentlyiolence-prone

cross

cases.

Kapferer

ndPrunier ust elieve his s

possible. hey rgue

hat he inha-

lese

and

Rwandan iscursive ystems ontain

ntrinsiceatureshat

ispose

hose

bound

p

n

them

o

violence

n

particularircumstances.

ut

there

reboth

mpiri-

cal andtheoreticaluestionsboutwhetheruch cross-sectionalrojectould uc-

ceed.

Empirically,

e

notice

hat n none f the ther our ooksunder eview oes

the uthor

ut ny

tress n a

specific

ultural iscourse

reating disposition

oward

ethnic iolence. t

best, eng,McGarry

nd

Leary,Woodward,

ndBrassreference

the

ffects

f

thevery eneralmodern

iscourse n

ethnicity

ndnationalism.s we

have

noted,

his iscourses too

widespread

o

explain

ariation

n

evels fviolence

across

ases.

Granted,

his

ample

s small nd

perhaps

ifferentuthors ould

lace

greater mphasis n discursive ystems

n

these ases. But theevidence

we

have

does notaugurwellfor project hatwouldsystematicallyode forpresence r

absence

fa

violence-prone

iscourse

n

both

igh

nd

ow

violence

ases.54

Second,

ndmore

undamentally,

t s hard o see how a structure

s

complicated,

rich,

nd multivalents Sinhalese

mythology

r even Rwandan

olitical deology

can

be

reliably

eemed o be

inherentlyrone

o

violence. his

observation

oses

a

theoretical

roblem

or hecross-sectional

mpirical rojectust noted,

ut

t also

raises difficult

uestion

bout he

mechanism

y

which iscursive

ystems ring

about ctions.

f

discourses

re

typicallyomplex nough

o

ustifymany

ourses f

action,

hen ow an

they

etermine

he

ctions

f hosewho reheld

n

their

rip?

f

theRwandan oliticalmythologyouldbe used to ustify range factions rom

genocide

o the

peaceful olitical

xclusion

ut

conomic

nclusion

f

Tutsis

n

the

1970s

nd

1980s

to imited

olitical ncorporationthe

Hutumoderates' iew

n

the

53. Prunier

995,

48.

54. Note hat runier's

ingle-case esign

annot stablish hat hediscourse e focuses

n mattersn

general

or

roducing

thnic iolence ecause

he does not

ample

ow violence

ases

to

ask if similar

discourses re

typically

bsent.

apferer

oes

with

Australia,

ut s

mentioned,

e does not ake dvan-

tage

f

his

design

o

test

isdiscourse

pproach.




early 990s),

hen

houldwe notbe asking bout hemotivationsnd ncentivesf

thosemost

esponsible

or he

framing?

f this

mythology erelymademass vio-

lencea thinkablepossibility" n thepart f Hutus, an we identifyiscourses f

ethnicity

n

other ases that nambiguouslyontain o suchpossibilities?

In

contrasto Kapferernd Prunier, rass dentifies diverse et of competing

discourses. uttheres little nalysis fthe ulturalontentfthese iscourses. or

does he

see

them s

independentorces etermininghe ctions hat roduce ollec-

tive

violence

n

ndia. nstead, orBrass, discourses a setof argumentsmployed

by

ome

ctors

n

ustifying

heir ctions ra

policy

hats

pursued

or ther easons.

Lurking ehind uchdiscourses s "criminalaw and order," caste and commu-

nity," faith nd entiment,"profit,"nd"Hindu-Muslimommunalism"s a nexus

ofpower nd nteresthat oolsboth illagersndoutside nalysts. onsistent ith

this oucauldian heme, rass nsists hat he iscourse fHindu-Muslimommunal-

ism

to choose but one)

"operate[s]

ervasively

n

northndia

as a

cover

for

he

political mbitionsf elites nd as a smokescreeno draw ttentionwayfrom he

consequences

or ts

people

of the

policies

f the

modernndian

tate

nd

ts ead-

ers."55 e

later

sksus

to

"consider

.

. thediscourse

ffaith

nd entiment

nd

the

interestserved y thosewho proclaim ts reality."

t

benefits,

rass

argues, ocal

politicians

ho

want

o

supplant

he

dominanttatediscourse

f

secularism. he

villagers uy

nto t

for hort-termdvantage,

ut

ltimatelyhey

ose

out, s they et

beaten ythepolice ndexploited ythe ocal politicians.56hose nauthorityen-

efit rom he iscourses

hey erpetuateimplicating

s

well

cholars ho

reifyhem)

in that

he

favored

iscourses substitute

. .

popular alues,

which re

said

to be

deplorable

ut ntrenched

n

the

ives

ofthe

eople,

or ndividual

esponsibility

nd

culpability

n

acts f

wrongdoing.

t

diverts lame rom

he

oliticians

or

nstigating

violence etween ommunitiesr

between he

police

and

villagers."57

sed

in

this

way,

iscourses

re

more

trategies

han

upra-individual

orceswith heir wn nter-

nal

ogics

hat etermine

ctions

ndevents.

Elites,Violence,

nd Social Construction

In three f

the ix

booksunder

eview,

he

uthors

xplain

heonset f

arge-scale

ethnic

iolence s a direct esult

f

eliteefforts

o retain r

grabpolitical ower

(Prunier,eng,Woodward).58

n a

fourth,

rass

puts

he

pportunism

felite

politi-

cians

at thecenter f his

explanation

or hemaintenancef communal

riot

ys-

tems"

n

India.

Whatoccasions

uch

elite

actions,

nd

what f

anything

oes

the

socialconstructionf

ethnicity

ave o

do

with hem?

Inthe hree learestases, he eader'smotivationo"play he thnic ard" merges

out

of

political ighting

ithin

he

eader's

thnic

roup

etween thnic xtremists

55. Brass

1997,

6.

56.

Ibid.,

67.

57.

Ibid.,

3.

58.

Kapferer

akes his

rgument

n

ess

specific erms,uggesting

hat

wealthy

inhalese

liteshave

fomentedonflictnd violence

with

he

Tamils s a

diversionary

actic

o

dampen

lass conflict ith

poorer

inhalese.

apferer988,

102.



Violence ndEthnic dentity

onstruction 65

andmoderates.xtremist

roups r eadersmay se violence s a strategyoforce

r

inducemoderates o increase heir upport orextremism

as in Yugoslavia

nd

Rwanda).Or threatso a moderateeader'spowerbase within is own groupmay

lead him oprovoke iolence

n order o gain he upportf xtremistsrthe roader

public as in Sudan, ugoslavia

o an extent,nd ome

ofBrass's ases n ndia).

The

constructionf

ethnicityan be involved n

theseprocesses n at leasttwo

ways.

Most

simply,

heprovocationf violence yelites an constructroups

n a

more ntagonistic anner-thats, alter he ocial

contentssociatedwith eing

member

f

each category-and

n turn et n motion

spiral fvengeance. econd,

extremistsho

provoke

iolence rpushmoremoderate

eaders o do so often ish

to "purify"heir ulture,o sharply elineatedentity

oundarieshat veryday

nter-

action ndmoderates'oliticalgendas hreateno blur. hisperspectivelignswith

the constructivistocuson the plasticityf group

boundaries, hich s we have

argued uggests aths

o violence

hroughntragrouptruggles

o define nd

police

boundaries.

In

Rwanda,

runiernsists hatnterethnicurderrior o

the

enocide

was

only

toolfor he

uling

action

f heHutu lite oavoid nternationalressures

or emoc-

ratizationnd o ustify

n the yesofthe easantswhy xtremistsatherhanmoder-

atesshould

peak

for

Hutu

nterests.59

uchof the

politics

e

analyzes

nvolve he

jockeying

or

ower

mong egionally ased

Hutu

lites

hat

s expressed

s a con-

flict etweenxtremistsnd moderatesn theTutsi uestion. xtremistsryo cast

theTutsis s

purely

vil andtheHutumoderatess their

tooges.

n

1992,

woyears

before he

genocide,

moderate utus

gained

ome

control verthe ense ituation

and

negotiated

cease-fire ith heRwandan atrioticront

RPF, guerrilla

ove-

ment hat

espite

eeking

multiethnic

onstituency,epresented

utsi

nterests)

t

Arusha.60 ut Hutuextremistsed

by

the

president's

ife,AgatheHabyarimana,

began taking

o the streets

gainst

he

ensuing eace

process. he

and her three

brothers

elped

orm he Zero Network" eath

quads,

he nstitutional

recursors

ofthegenocide. fter formalower-sharingeal wassignednJanuary993, nd

the

day

the nternationalommission

n Human

Rights

mission

eft,

he xtremist

Hutus ent

heir

quads

to thenorthwest

egion

where

hey

were

trong,

nd

three

hundred utsiswerekilled

n

six

days

of violence. he n-exile

utsi-led

rmy

hen

broke he

cease-firend marched

crossthe

Ugandan

border oward heRwanda

capital,

with

many

f the soldiers

efying

heir wn

moderate

eadership.

hese

wildcats ngaged

n

counterviolence,caringmany

Hutuswho

escaped

oZaire.

The effects f

these vents n the Hutu moderates nd

Hutu

peasants'

beliefs

closely arallel

e

Figueiredo

nd

Weingast'sxplanation

or

why ublics

ollow."

As Prunier rites,theexact ircumstancesf theRPF attackwerenot lear" and

"doubt bout

heRPF's motives ad

a tremendousffect n the

Hutu

opposition,"

effectivelyplitting

t.61 nable o

assign

lamefor he ailure f

the ease-fire ith

59. Prunier

995,

141.

Relatedly,

motivationor he

genocide

tself

as to

mplicate

utu

easants

n

crimes

hat

would

effectively

ake them

extremists,"

o

"reinforce

roup olidarityhrough

hared

guilt." bid.,

143.

60. On

the

RPF,

ee Prunier 998.

61. Prunier

995,

180.




certainty,utumoderatesncreased

heir stimatehat heRPF couldnotbe trusted

in

political egotiations,xactly hat he xtremistsad oughtntheir iolent

ttacks.

The story etsmuchgorier. nticipatinghe ntra-Hutuoup thatwouldresult,

President abyarimanaept ostponinghe ransitiono theArusha-approvedov-

ernment

n

early 994,despite reat

nternationalressure. eanwhile utu xtrem-

istswerewarning fthe onsequences

f giving p power nd stressed heneedfor

"vigilance" a euphemismormurder)

n their adio tation. ta meetingn 6 April

inDar es Salaam,Tanzania,

abyarimana as pressed yhis astAfricanolleagues

to

mplementhe ccords.On his return, ith resident taryamiraf Burundi,he

planewas shotdown s it approached

igali,Rwanda's apital.Who did t s not

known, ut the author easonably

uspects hatHutu extremistsad planned he

genocideftheArusha ccordswere ctuallymplemented.ettingidofthepresi-

dentwas a way orationalizeheir ower

rab ndput nto ction heir inal olution.62

During hegenocide tself,n

addition o theTutsideaths, ome 10,000-30,000

Hutus many f them ntellectuals ithmoderateeanings)were killedby other

Hutus.63 he warbetween xtremist

nd moderate utus ontinuedn therefugee

camps

of

Zaire even after hegenocide. The formereaders

of

the

genocide],"

Prunier ecounts, kept lmost otal

ontrol f their ubjects.Whoever isagreed

with hem

was quicklymurdered,quick

way

to

stop

eturnso

Rwanda."

t s thus

hard o imagine coherentccount f

thegenocide nd thefragilityf all peace

accords hat oes not nalyze owthedivide etweenmoderatendextremistthnic

leaders rove oth nto iolent ctions

gainst he thnic ther.

In

Sri Lanka,

when

President ayawardeneegan negotiating ith heTamils,

Colombo

treet

alk

was rifewith umors hat

he

was

really Muslim,

r

even a

Tamil.Accordingo Kapferer,his s

because

n

the yesofthe xtremistsisregime

was

not

killing nough

Tamils.64

n

order o establish

is

bona

fidesamongSin-

haleseunder uch ircumstances,

e

allowedhis

own

ministers

o organize ogroms

against

nnocent amils. ear of Sinhalese xtremistsatherhan amilsmotivated

Jayawardene.

In

Sudan,

ntra-northerneronflict

xplainswhy

resident

imeiri,

fter e

settled

thewar

against

hesouthern

ebels, nilaterallybrogated

he 1972 AddisAbaba

Agreement,

hichhad set a

framework

or leven

years

f

peace.

In

1983

he

im-

posed

shari'a on

the

ountryy presidential

ecree;

he also divided he outh

nto

three

egions

o

weaken

t. This led

to

a

resumption

f hostilities.

imeiri, eng

argues,

ad

decimated heCommunist

arty

fter

ts

abortive

oup

n

1971.

roni-

cally,

hismeant hat adicalMuslimswere he

nly

ttractive

nti-government

orce

for

young

orthern

niversity

tudents.

hese

radicalMuslims

ormed heMuslim

62.

Gourevitch

onfirmsrunier's

uspicions.

ourevitch995.

However,

heToronto ational ost

reported

n an

alleged

UN

documentn

which

utsi nformantsevealed

hat

PF

eader aul

Kagame

had

ordered

he

ttack. teven

dwards, Explosive"

Leak on Rwanda

Genocide,

oronto ational

ost,

1

March 000. The

allegation

n theUN documents

highlymplausible.

utu

aramilitary

nitsmobilized

and attacked

mmediately

n

the

ftermathf the

ssassination,

hich ouldhave occurred

nly

f

their

extremisteaders

new f

t beforehand.

hateverhe

ruth,

here

an

be no

doubt hatHutu xtremists

took

uick dvantage

f

he ssassination

o discredit utumoderatesnd o

ustify

hemass

murders.

63.

Prunier

995,

65.

64.

Kapferer 988,

100.



Violence

nd

Ethnicdentityonstruction 67

Brotherhood

nd

becamethe

principal hreat o Nimeiri's ule.Deng's interviews

amongnorthernershow hatNimeiri'smoderate olicy

n

regard o

the outhwas

consonant ith ublic pinion.65et he abandoned hemoderateosition. o some

extent,s Nimeiri elt ecure

hat e couldbreak ny outhernesistance,e was able

to disregardheAddisAbaba

Agreementndcentralize isrule.But

more mportant,

as theMuslim

rotherhoodained trengthnthenorth,specially ith n

extremely

lucrative osition n theFaisal

IslamicBank givenby the Saudis to

theMuslim

Brotherhood,imeiri as compelled o negotiaten hisright lank,nd

to showhis

Islamic olors.He began o

dress n Arabgarb, nd pressed or he hari'a. Those

who

protestedsuch

as

the

ong-time

eaderof the

moderate

Muslim

Republican

Brothers) ere xecuted. ear of his

ownradicals

atherhan

esire

o

slamize he

south roveNimeiri o ntimidatehe outh, riving udan nto ts econd ivilwar.

In

Yugoslavia, hepolitical

ynamics etweenmoderatesnd

extremistsre an

importantart fWoodward's

tory.

n

1987,

he

reports,erbia's

hen

ewpresident

Slobodan

Milosevic,

n

breaking

ith is

former

atron

van

Stambolic,

ade

protec-

tion f

Serbs

n Kosovo

a key ssue.

Like Milan

Kucan,

he

Slovene

party eader,

Milosevic

was

preempting

he

nticommunist

ationalists,

howere

lready rganiz-

ingamong erbs n other epublics. s with he lovene nd Croat

eaders

or

heir

nations, ilosevic

laimed istoric

njustice

or

erbs, mphasizinghepartitionf

Serbia

n the

federationnd economic

olicies

hat

avored

lovenia

nd Croatia.

Once thewarwith roatia egan, ehelped irculate rhetoricfSerbian ictimiza-

tion,

n old theme

f

Serbiannationalists. hile

this

heme s

quite

mplausible,

inasmuchs the

apital

f

Yugoslavia

was n

Serbia,

twas

consistent ith popular

cultural iscourse bout

ictimization

y

heOttomantate nd

by

he itoist

ystem.

The

conflict

etween erbianmoderates

nd

xtremistsas more hastly

n

Croatia's

krajina.

With onditions

orsening,

oicesfor

onciliation

isappeared,

n

part

e-

causeMilan

Babic's

radicals revived heir

ower hrough

elected ssassinationsf

moderateeaders."66

Overall,Woodwardeesmuch ftheBalkanviolence s induced yextremistso

justify

heir xtremismoth t home ndabroad. or

example,

heCroatian

overn-

ment

rovoked

he

"siege"

of

Dubrovnik;

nd

the

Croatian nd Bosnian

govern-

ments et

up

theirmortar atteries

n

hospitals,nducing

ire rom he

Yugoslav

People'sArmy. oth xamples

llustratehat n order o

gain

nternational

ympathy

as well

as foment

utrage

mong

heir

wn

moderates,

thnic

eaders

will

provoke

interethniciolence.67

McGarry

nd

O'Leary

tend o

emphasize

he

mpathy

hat

moderate atholics

n

Northern

reland

eel

or

he

militants,haring

heir

spirations.68

he authors own-

play hedivide etween adicals ndmoderates,t east n this ook.Yet nNorthern

65.

Deng 1995, hap.

11.

66.

Woodward

995,

21.

67.

However,

Woodward oes not

ee all

the ction n extremists

ushing

moderateeaders nto troci-

ties.She

analyzes

s well therole of the eaders

who

encouraged

he

mergence

f

ultranationalists,

n

order o

portray

hemselveso

the

est

f

heworld

s

"moderates"

olding

ack he ltras.

bid.,

55. But

here

s

well he ntranational

ockeying

or

osition

etweenntranationaladicals ndmoderates

layed

role n

drivingnter-nationality

iolence.

68.

McGarry

nd

O'Leary 1995,

hap.

.



868

International

rganization

Ireland rom 983to 1994,

n

elections

n

which he adical innFeinparty ecided

to participate,

ts

votehovered round 7 percent f theelectorate, ith hemore

moderate ationalisticocial Democratic nd LabourpartySDLP) gettinground

23 percent.69urthermore,here as a significantmount f ntragroupilling.70or

example,

2

percent

f

the

Loyalist illings

ere

gainst rotestants,ither

n

feuds

or because

they

were

nformers.mong heRepublican orces,

n

theperiod rom

1969 to 1993, ixty-fiveeathswere ttributedo Catholic ctivists illing atholic

informers.71study f he iolent onflictnNorthernreland yCaroline ennedy-

Pipe s rifewith ncidentsn which adical atholicsnthe rovisionalRA provoked

British

orces

with he

goal

of

garneringupport rommoderate nd uncommitted

Catholics nd

of

extremistntimidationf

moderates

n

order o undermineeace

efforts.72study y Begoana Aretxaga fthe "dirty rotest,"nwhichCatholic

prisonerspread

ntheir

odies heir

wn

feces

nd

menstruallood, uggeststrongly

a

dynamic

f

radicals

eeking

o demonstrateheir

ppression

ndresolve o Catho-

lic moderates.73nd nother

ritings, cGarry

nd

O'Learypoint

uthow ntrabloc

cleavages

work o constrain oderates.74

Why

do

publics

follow?

There s considerablevidence

n

these ase studies hat

intra-elite

ights

ccasion lite-led

rovocation

f ethnic

iolence

s a

strategy

or

grabbing

r

keeping ower

r to defend

hreatenedoundaries.

onetheless,

hese

accounts hat ocuson elites o somedegree egthequestion fwhy hemasses

follow.

Why

do

they ayextravagant

osts o

fulfill

lite

ower

nterests?

As

we discussed

arlier,

ne

possible

onstructivistnswer

s

that ome ethnic

groups

ustain

and

are

defined

y)

discourses hat

repare

nd

dispose

hem o act

violently

oward thnic

thers,

hileother iscourses o not.

n

our

discussion

f

Kapferer

nd Prunier e outlined he difficultiesf

testing

uch a

hypothesis.

second lass of answers oted arlier

uts

he

focus n

asymmetries

f nformation

betweeneaders nd

followers,

r

psychological

iases

on the

part

f

followers.

he

cases ustreviewed ontain ome upportor uch rguments,speciallyhemanipu-

lation

f

reasonable

ears,

s we saw in theRwandan ase. A final

ossibility,

lso

sketched

n

the theoretical

ection,

rawson Brass's

suggestion

hat

erhaps

he

"followers" re not

really ollowing

t

all,

or

at

eastnot

n

the

way typically re-

sumed.

We

take

p

the

ase

evidence or his

uggestion

ext.

Do

they

ollow?

he

construction

fethnic iolence.

Brassfocuses ot o much

on the

mpact

f

dentity

onstructionn ethnic iolence s

on

the

olitical

onstruc-

tion f "ethnic iolence."He

argues

hat

whether

dispute

s

in

fact thnic iolence

depends nthemotives ftheparticipants,hich retypicallyomplex nd often

69.

Ibid.,

02.

70.

Kennedy-Pipe997,

108.

71.

Ibid.,160;

see also data

from

utton 994.

72. Kennedy-Pipe997, 3,63.

73.

Aretxaga

995.

74.

See,

for

xample, 'Leary

nd

McGarry

1993,

04.



Violence nd

Ethnic dentity

onstruction 69

obscure r

unknowable.75

is carefulnvestigations

nto he

ircumstancesf vari-

ous local

disputesa rape, theft f a

religious con,

case of police brutality,ll

alleged)revealmore uestions han nswers s to exactlywhathappened nd why.

Much

clearer,

e

argues,s

that uch

mbiguous isputes ometimes

it hepolitical

needsof

ocal or national

oliticians, ho are then

esponsible or ublicly oding

them s "communal

iolence."Brass

uggests hat his oding tself

as ncendiary

implicationsnd

serves o perpetuater

foster ases

of arger cale communal io-

lence, uch s

riots.

In

the

nd,Brass's arguments an

elite heoryf

ethnic iolencewith twist. e

suggests t once

that 1) much f what s

referredo

as "communal iolence" s at

best

mbiguouslyo-that

is, "communal iolence"

ometimesutnot

lways on-

sists fdisputesntheground hat avenothingo do with ommunalmotivations;

and

2) the iolence s

perpetuatedy he ctions f

opportunisticoliticians.ollow-

ing Brass, a

constructivist

ight rgue hatwhat s

significants not that thnic

identitiesre constructed,

utthat

iolence s socially onstructeds "ethnic"

or

"communal,"

n

ndian

erms). ne might

sk,

for

xample,

f

here

as been

great

upsurge

n

ethnicwar ince he nd of

theCold

War,

r whether

ore

nsurgencies

are

now abeled "ethnic"

ue

to

opportunistic

edescriptions

nd

salesmanshipy

rebel eaders

eeking upport rom

reat

ower atrons ewly isposed o see

ethnic

ratherhan

eft-Rightonflict.

Brass's hesis hat hemotivationsf hosemplicatedn "ethnic iolence"may e

more

omplex

han

imple

atred or n

out-group

eceives ubstantial

upport

n

the

extended

ase studies nder eview.

everal fthese ccounts

onvey he ense hat

on the

ground,

hat s described s

ethnic iolence ooks

very

much ike

gang

vio-

lencewith o

necessarythnic imension.

ndeed, asedon these

tudies,

ne

might

conjecture

hat

necessaryonditionor ustainedethnic

iolence" s the vailabil-

ity

f

hugsinmost ases

young

menwho re

ll-educated,nemployed

runderem-

ployed,

nd

from mall

owns)

whocan be

mobilized

y

nationalist

deologues,

ho

themselves,niversityducated, ould hy wayfrom illingheir eighbors ith

machetes. hese case

studies o not xamine

n

minute etail he

recruitment

at-

terns f

nationalist

rganizations,

ndtheres no iterature

omparing

imilar thnic

situations

ith ifferential

vailability

f

young

warriors.76

etthe heme f

young

menwhocan be seduced

y

the

high"

hat

ccompanies

rime nd

given

honor

or

engaging

n

murder

erformed

or

ofty

oals

s relatedn

sotto oce

n

all thebooks

under eview.77

75. If he tandards

ordinary

anguagesage,

hen e

hinkrass

s

mistakeno

uggest

hatn vent

is

"ethniciolence"f nd

nly

f

he

articipants

remotivated

y

desireohurt

thnicthers.

nstead,

we

ordinarily

onsider

alling

iolenceethnic"f ither

1)

we hinkhe

articipants

re

motivated

y

generalized

nimosity

o

he

thnic

ther;2)

actors

irecting

r

eading

he

iolence

ustify

t

by aying

thatt

s

onbehalff n thnic

roup;

r

3)

attackers

re

ssentially

ndifferentbout he

dentity

f heir

victims

part

rom

heir

thnicity.

n

2)

and

3),

no

peculation

boutmotivations

s

necessary.herefore,

itwould e ncorrecto

ay

hat ecause e cannever

ully

nderstand

eople's

motives e cannever

know

f

omething

s

"ethniciolence."

76.

But,

or ome

vidence,

ee

Petersen

989;

nd aitin 995.

77. On his

oint,

ee

Katz

988;

nd uford993.




Deng's portrayalftheviolence t first lushhas ittle o do with ecruitmentnd

more o do

with

rmies mployed

o

dominatehe outh

n

thename fArabization.

He reportshat fter lite oliticalurmoilnKhartoumn1964,Muhammad hmed

Mahjoub

ecame

prime

minister

nd

decided

o

focus

his

attention

n the

ow-grade

insurgency

n

the outh.He gave the outherneadershipn ultimatumo surrender

or else, and shortlyhereafterrdered he rmy o engage n massacres f southern

populations.During henight fJuly in Juba, ome3,000grass-thatchedouses

were urned own

nd

more

han thousand eoplekilled ygovernmentorces."

fewdays ater he rmy ttackedn elitewedding artyn Wau,killing 6 southern

elites.

n

August 965

n

Shilluk,

he

rmy

illed187

people, llegedly

o

"prevent

them

oining herebels."All

this

drove outhernersnto

he

bush

or

exile,fearing

extermination.herules fengagement ere o treat ll villagerss guiltyfthere

were rebel ttack romwithin village.78 he Sudanese rmy ngaged n system-

atic ttacks

n

villages,murderingny

lites

who

howed southern

rientation,

ll

in the

name

f

bringing

ultural

nity

o the

ountry.

Yet

theviolencewas

not

imply

he

esult

f

army ppression.

raditionalocial

values

n

the

outh, eng reveals,

ustained

he

ge-set ystem

hat

ave separate

socialrolesfor

young

men.

While lders re

expected

o

negotiate iplomatically

n

affairsf

state, youth

warrior

ge-sets

ound heir tatus nd

dignity

n

warfarend

other ctivities

ssociated

with

hysical itality,ourage,

nd resilience."79

n

fact,

theviolent outhernesistance as madepossible y the vailabilityf youngmen

whofound route ohonor nd tatus

yengaging

n

guerrilla

arfare

gainst

orth-

ern

orces. ighting as

not

imited

othe

tatemilitary

orces.n the

order

oneof

the

NgokDinka,

when he tate

ffectively

educed he

prestige

f

Abyei their

d-

ministrativeenter), oung inkawarriors,

ed

byex-Anya ya the outhernrmy)

soldiers,

ent nto he

ush nd

began

errorist

perationsgainst

inka

nformers

o

northernecurity orces, illingmanyArabs living

n the

borderlands)s

well.

These skirmishesetween he

Dinka,

the

Nuer,

nd borderland

rab

groups

de-

pended pon he asyavailabilityfyoungmenwhocouldbe mobilized or iolent

conflict.

In

Rwanda, s in Sudan,the burden f the violencefell to youngmen

n

the

general opulation.

rom he

very eginning

fRwanda'sviolent

ontemporary

is-

tory,rregularouths

ave

played key

ole.For

xample,

he

park

f he

1959

riots

was the ssault

n

a Hutu

ubchief,

howas active

n

a

Hutu

arty,yyouths

f

the

Rwandan

ational nion

UNAR,

the

arty

f

theTutsi

ristocrats),

nd

rumorshat

he was

killed.

Hutu

bands

of

young

men

responded uickly,

nd killed nd burned

Tutsihomes f all social classes.

The

violence laimed 00 lives.

On the ve of the

genocide, hen he orcesepresentingheRPF had nvaded he ountry,heminister

ofdefensewent

n

the

adio nd asked he

population

o

"track own nd arrest

he

infiltrators."

his

icense

o killhad mmediateffects

n

theMutara

egion

where

78.

Deng1995,

42-44. earon ndLaitin iew

his

trategy

s

part

f a

"spiral quilibrium,"

consequence

f

he

overnmentavingoor

nformationbout ho

s

doing

hat

n

he

nsurgent

ide.

Fearonnd aitin

996.

79.

Deng 995,

7.



Violence ndEthnic


348 Tutsi ivilianswere

massacred. one of thevictims

was

in

theRPF. Even the

predationsf theRPF in 1994, n Prunier's nalysis,

wereperformedy the

disaf-

fected outhwhoacted ncontraventiono the rders fRPF leader nd ater rime

minister

fRwanda, aul Kagame.80

Woodward's

eports

n

who ustainedheviolence n

Bosnia, s part fthe

very-

day

reality,ocusupon rregulars.he notes hat

the actual haracteristics

f the

fighting

n

theground ..

reflectedhe

socioeconomic asis of thesepolitics ar

more han

he thnic olorationndhistoricalevenge

hat haracterized

oliticians'

rhetoric.or many, ar

became rare pportunityor

nrichment,hroughheftr

smuggling,

n

a

period f

serious conomic ecline." he describes he

"weekend

warriors,"

lost

generation,

ho

rampaged cross heborder n the

weekendswith

their alashnikov ifles,ndwent ackto their oor-payingobs inSerbia nMon-

day.

n

September991, fterhe

Belgrade nitiative

nnouncing

henew

Yugoslavia

(SerbiaplusMontenegro),ugoslav

eople'sArmy

eservistsrom

erbia

went

n a

shooting pree

n

Tuzla, a multiethnic

ity

n

northern

osnia.These cross-border

raids ecame onstant. UN

arms mbargo n

Yugoslavia nly erved o activate he

Serbian

iaspora

o

buy

rms or riendsnd

family

hoformedocal militias.

n

this

context,

many

f the

fighters

ere

rregulars,

ith

lmostno chainof

command.

Criminalseleased rom

ails,

who

igned p

with hese

militias,

eremost

ikely

o

engage

n

plunder

nd

rape.81

f

criminals ecomenationalist

arriors,

hereverse

process s also possible.McGarryndO'Leary point utthat atacollected ubse-

quent o

politicallyrganized

ease-firesn

Northernreland how rise n

nonpoliti-

cal crime.

ewly

onstrained

n

their ationalist

iolence,

he

hugsmay

have urned

to

criminal iolence.

In

the

ri

Lanka

case,although apfereroes not akeus down o the evelofthe

street,

e

does mentionhat

Sinhalese

angs

made

up

argely

f

mpoverished

nd

unemployedouth

ttacked amils

n

their ouses nd

shops, ettling

ld

scores nd

looting."82

n the

ground,

he thnic ar t ts

arly

tages

was

fought

n

the

inha-

lese sideby gangmembers ndcriminals, robablymore nterestednbooty nd

violence or tsown akethan

n

achieving roup oals.

This scenario

mayhelpexplain

he

puzzle

of

whypublics

ften

ppear

o follow

the

ltimatelyery ostly aths

fethnic xtremismometimeshosen

y

theiread-

ers.

Perhaps ublics

ften o not

ollow,

t eastnot t first.

nstead,

f

elites letthe

thugs o,"

who have motivationsesidesor

n

addition o ethnic

atred, rocesses

begin

hat eave themoderates

n

the

group

ittle hoicebut o follow similar

ath.

By

nitiating

iolent

it-for-tat

equences, hugs ring

bout he onstruction

f

more

antagonistic

roup dentities, aking

t rational o fear heother

roup

nd see its

memberss dangeroushreats.n addition,hugs iolently olicedissent rom he

ethnic xtremist

genda

within heir wn

groups,

incedissent

uestions

heir

egiti-

80. Prunier

995,

8.

81. Woodward

995,

48-65.

Criminalset ut f

ail

and

areerist

hugs

lso staffedhe erb

paramili-

taries n

Kosovo;

see JamesM.

Dorsey,

rom erb

Paramilitaries,

ales of

Killing

nd

Cash,

Wall

treet

Journal,

September999,

A18.

82.

Kapferer

988,

101.




macy.83hus,only fter guerilla

warhas begun re everyday rimordialist

enti-

ments ransformednto thnic ntipathieshat an motivatend sustain

widespread,

ongoing iolence. ven then, he xtent fethnic ntipathiess probably verstated.

Identityonstructionhroughtrategic

ction on theGround"

The strategicnterpretationf dentity

onstructioneednotfocus n Mt.

Olympus

and

the

nitiatives

f

elites, s argued arlier.t might

lso

be developed

yfocusing

on strategicction t groundevel by ordinaryolk.There s revealing

vidence n

the ase studies n how ethnic iolence an spiral ecauseof political

ontestation

over

group oundarieshat

re

not

he esult felitemanipulation.

Several f the uthors f thebooksunder eview ccept odifferentegrees he

notion hatdentityroups re onstructed

nd hereforerefluid eographicallynd

culturally.

et

they

re

argely

ilent bout he mplications

fthis

spect

f

dentity

constructionor iolence. eng,

n

histreatmentfthe udanese ivil

war, rovides

material

n

supportftheories

inkingmbiguous oundarieso violence.

erritorial

anomalies, eng's

book

nicely

llustrates, ay nvite

iolent

onflict.

he

territorial

divide etween he north"

nd

"south"

nthe

udan

s not

clean

ne,

s

illustrated

by

the

history

nd

geography

f theNgokDinka.ManyNgokbecameMuslim

nd

were

bilingual

n

Dinka and

Arabic,

ut

according

o

Deng,

"the

Ngok

have

re-

maineddistinctlyinkaand n somerespectsmore o than heir rethrenarther

South."84

onetheless,

heir ome rea s

in

the outhern

oint

f

the

northern

rov-

ince

of

Kordofan,s theNgok

n

earlier

imes ffiliatedith ordofano eekprotec-

tion

gainst

rab lave

traders.

n

the ra of

nationalism,oungNgok

ought o

be

incorporated

n

the outh, nd

this

esire ecame n ssuethat

ntensifiedhenorth-

south onflict. fterheAddis

Ababa

Agreement

hat nded he irstivilwar, umer-

ous

Ngok

were

o-opted

nto he

northern

amp,

ut nce

they xperienced

he ow-

status

ositions

n

which

hey

were

ontinuallyut, hey

eturnedo

the

Dinka

amp,

manyothe outhernrmy.nfact,everal f he ongs emandingouthernreedom

were

written

nArabic

y

Dinkaswhohad converted

o slam.

Ngok

failure o

get

fair eal

dentifying

hemselvess

northernersrove hem

wholeheartedly

nd esent-

fully

nto

he

outhern

amp.

Territorialnd cultural oundaries,

f

they

re

to

be maintained

leanly, equire

coordination.

f all

Ngok

Dinkassee themselves

s

unambiguously

outherners,

n

the ne

hand,

t willbe

extremely

ifficultor

ny

ne

Ngok

o

dentify

imself

s a

northerner.n the

ther

and,

f

the

Ngoks

redivided

mong

hemselves,ny

one

Ngok

has

a

broader

late

or

dentity.

nder onditions

here

roups

avenot oor-

dinated n an identity,ith hepossibilityf a tip n one directionrtheother,

in-groupshereNgoks,

whose dentifiers

ay

fear

group

xtinction

f the

ip

s in

favor f

a wider

dentity)

nd

out-groupshere

Arabized

ortherners,

hosemem-

bers, specially

he

marginal

nes,might

ee

Ngok

assimilation

s a

threat

o

their

83. For his

rgumentpplied

o

violence n

Yugoslavia,

ee Mueller

997.

Kaufmann as

argued

hat

ethnic

ar

lmost

rreversibly

hardens"

thnic

dentities

o

that

he

primordialist

ision

f

ethnicity

an

become true" n the ourse

fa

conflict. aufmann 996.

84.

Deng

1995, 44.



Violence ndEthnic


privilege

r

allegedpurity) an be driven ntodirect ction. hey eek to create

culturalquilibrium,n which n ndividual's eliefs hat e s really southerners

alsoperceived s his optimaldentityhoice, onfirmedy the orollaryhoices f

other

Ngoks.Through hismechanismf nterdependent

dentityhoice, veryday

primordialisman be seen as part f a cultural

quilibrium.n theNgok case, the

process eading othe onstructionf verydayrimordialisman nduce ndividuals

to engage

n

ntragroupnd ntergroupiolence.

Ambiguous ultural oundariesre as inflammatorys

territorialnes.Northern

militancy,

n

Deng's view, s propelled y fear mong orthernershat ccommoda-

tionwould

exposethem

s

"Africans."

he

fact f great hysiognomicimilarity

with

outherners,eng feels,

makes

northernersvenmore oncerned ith

phold-

ing ocialboundariesgainst he outh.85urthermore,ome womillion outherners

now ive n thenorth. ome are adapting o northern

ulture,nd their hildrenre

going

o

Arabic-languagechools. et omehave oined he

outhernutonomy ove-

ment

nd thus

epresent southernnfluence ithin henorthtself. o counteract

this

possibility,eng reasons,

heNorthernslamicFront arries hebanner f

a

"northernationalism"ven more

ssiduously.

s

cultural oundaries lur

n the

realworld, adicalnationalistsecomemoremilitanto

protecthehistoricallyon-

structed

oundaries.86

This phenomenons especially ruefornorthernersf the mostquestionable

Arabdescent. or xample,nthe onstitutionalebates f 1951, he roposal ogive

special

status nd

protection o

the

south

was

defeated,

nd received

trongly

negative esponses ydescendantsfformerlaves iving n

the

north.

eng quotes

MansourKhalid's analysis: Abd al-Tam

..

can be

deemed,

ike so

many ther

Sudaneseof

markedly egroid rigin, o

have been

compelled

o

take

positions

like that

n

order o out-Herod erod." Another orthernroupof questionable

status

s

Arabs,

he

Baggara,

whohaveno traditions

inking

hem

o the

rophet,

re

among

he

trongest

rab

hauvinists,specially

n their

rovocations

fthe outh-

ernDinka.87

Summary

We

have

argued

hat here

re

two main

ways

to

develop

the

nsight

hat thnic

identities

re

socially onstructed

n the direction f

explanations

or

thnic

io-

lence.88 ne route iews

dentity

onstruction

rom he

perspective

f ndividuals'

85.

Ibid.,

4.

86.

Ibid.,

181-82.

87.

Ibid.,

130-31.

An

nterestingxample

f blurred oundariesndtheir

mplications

or

iolence

s

suggested yJeganathan.eganathan

997.

On the utskirts

f

Colombo,

ri

Lanka,

amils

ive n

expec-

tation

f ethnic

iolence, iven

he

past

record f

periodic ogroms.

ome

Tamil

parents

herefore

ive

their hildreninhalese ames

nd

ngage

n

Sinhalese

ultural

ractices

o

that

hey

willnot e

dentified

as Tamils

hould

iots reak ut.

Yet this orm f

strategic anipulation

lurs heboundaries etween

groups

nd

enrages

inhalese

ationalists,

ho

point

o

such

practices

s evidence

f

Tamil

erfidy.

88.

We

discounted

third, amely,

hat

road,

ecular

ocial and economic

rocesses

an be seen

as

causes

for thnic

iolence, xcept ossibly

s

necessary

onditions.




actions-eitherhe liteswho onstructntagonisticthnicdentitiesnorder omain-

tain r ncrease heir olitical ower, r themasspublicswhose ndividual ctions

produce, eproduce,nd contest he ontentndboundaries f ethnic ategories.n

the econd oute, upra-individualiscourses fethnicityontainnternal,deational

logics hat onstructctors ndmotivaterdefine heir ossibilitiesor ction.

The narrativesnder eview ive details n how ethnic oundaries nd antago-

nisms ollow rom hepolitical trategiesf elites eeking o gainpower r under-

mine hallengers.everalmechanisms ere osited ywhich lites nduce hemasses,

who

pay

an

enormous

ost for

heviolence,

o

follow.However,

ome

evidence

suggestshat hemasses renot uped tall. Rather ethnic iolence" anbe a cover

forother

motivations

uch as

looting,

and

grabs,

nd

personal evenge;

nd the

activitiesfthugs et oose bythepoliticiansan "tie thehands" fpublicswho re

compelled o seekprotection

rom

he

eaderswhohave

endangered

hem. n

alter-

nate tory evelopinghe onstructivistoint bout ermeable roup oundaries as

non-elites rovoking iolence o prevent oundary crossing"

r to raise

their

n-

group tatus. n both f these ases theconstructionf ethnic ntagonismss the

result f ndividualtrategicction.

The thesis hat iscursiveogics xplain ehavior hould otbe discarded, espite

the

apparent rimordialism

n the

presentation

f these

ogics

n some

cases,

and

despite bstacles o testinguchargumentsmpiricallycrosscases. The Sinhala

logicofexorcism ndtheHutu econstructionfthe olonialmyth

f

Tutsi oreign-

nesscreate

cripts

f

proper

r heroic ction hat nvite

oung

men o

reenact hem.

Stories

eople

ell bout

hemselves,

s

with ishkov's

xample

rom

irgizia,

ven

when

couched

deeply

n

metaphor,

s

with

Geertz's

ockfight,

ecome

available

models or

pecific

ehaviors. s we havenoted n

our

discussion

f

eny

nd

raxha

in the ontext fCatalan olitics,making he nternalogicofcomplex,multifaceted

discourses xplanatory

s a difficultusiness.

till,

f

the

supply

f

culturallyp-

proved cripts

s

limited,

hen

n

times

f social stress r conflict

n

"availability

heuristic" ight

ellbe in

force,making

ocietieswith

cripts,

uch s

the

inhala

orthe

Kirgiz,

more

rone

o

ntergroup

iolence.89

Implicitn ourpresentation

s an

assumption

hat he

igid

ivide

n

methodologi-

cal debates etween ulturalistndrationalist

ccounts an be

bridged.

he

strategic

theories

inking

ndividuals

whether

lites

or

masses)

to

ethnic

iolence

nd the

discursiveheories

inking

iscourses

o

violent ehaviorsre ll constructivist

nthe

sensethat

hey osit

he ontentnd boundaries f ethnic

roups

s

produced

nd

reproducedy specific

ocial

processes.

he

specification

f what

hese

processes

are, he elineationfthe recisemechanismsywhich heyeadtoethnicallyased

violence,

nd the

testing

f

these

pecifications

ith

sample

of cases

exhibiting

both

igh

nd

ow violence emain

hallenges

o

rationalistnd

culturalistonstruc-

tivists

like.

89.

Tversky

nd

Kahneman

982,

13.




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