The methodological crisis of theorising genocide in Africa: thinking with Agamben and Butler

Abstract

Theorising African genocide has reached a methodological crisis. This crisis is not only due to the poor understanding of contexts of genocide in Africa. Nor is it only caused by the continual theoretical reliance on Jewish Holocaust studies. This crisis is also due to the lack of analytical attention to how epistemological and theoretical frames might frame theorising African genocide. In response, I argue that it is essential to examine what frames approaches to theorising African genocide before we debate which approaches can be used. Put simply, we need to think through our approaches before we put them to analytical use. I develop my argument across two sites of analysis. I analyse Giorgio Agamben's statement about the Jewish Holocaust camp as being everywhere by unpacking the context of this statement, and the methodology behind it. I also examine the use of framing theory in contemporary explanations of African genocide by evaluating the degree to which this theory is effective in light of Judith Butler's recent work on political vulnerability and war. I conclude by exploring what Agamben's and Butler's works can do for developing ‘an archaeology of genocidal thinking’ as means of offering a more nuanced theorising of contexts of genocide in Africa.