Theory Of Violence Research Articles

Violent Interference: Structural Violence, Quantum International Relations, and the Ethics of Entanglement

Abstract Despite frequent reference in both academic and activist contexts, the concept of structural violence still poses a challenge for many ontological, epistemological, and political perspectives. While the ethical stakes of physical violence are generally accessible, conceptual barriers limit the ability to explore the important ethical dimensions of structural violence. Inspired by recent interventions into “quantum international relations,” I argue that the difficulty of understanding structural violence is because conventional social science abides a Newtonian physical imaginary. Drawing on Karen Barad's philosophical methodology of “diffractive reading,” I re-read Johan Galtung's landmark article Violence, Peace, and Peace Research through a critical quantum social–theoretic lens. Identifying key quantum-like elements of Galtung's theory of structural violence allows for a process of “quantizing by translation,” where quantum-like concepts are freed from the constraints of Newtonian social science. By approaching structural violence as a quantum-like social phenomenon, homologous to the concept of destructive interference, we gain an important conceptual model. In instances of structural violence, entangled social wavefunctions of social structures interfere destructively with constituent individuals and groups by limiting the spectrum of future potentialities. Conversely, structural privilege describes the constructive interference of those same social structures extending the spectrum of future potentialities for other constituent individuals and groups. To account for multiple and intersecting elements of identity and social standing, intersectional accounts of structural violence recognize the complex interaction of constructive and destructive interferences at play in delimiting spectra of future potentialities.

Sexual violence against women living with albinism in Nigeria: exploring abuse within a disability-specific context

The purpose of this study is to explore the disability-specific context within which sexual violence against women with albinism occurs. Drawing from feminist and disability theories, the violence, perceived vulnerabilities, post-assault reactions, and reporting behaviour of sexually assaulted women with albinism were examined. Findings indicate targeted sexual harassment and assault against women with albinism based on their perceived vulnerabilities and negative social perception. Victims were found to be either ignorant or averse to reporting their victimisation to the appropriate authorities, while they resort to self-help rather than seek therapeutic or counselling interventions. The study advocates special recognition and intervention of government, police officers, social workers, and other professionals in addressing the spate of targeted sexual violence against women with disability, specifically albinism.Practice impact statementThe study highlights the need for existing models and theories of sexual violence and disability to consider, more explicitly, the wider context within which perpetration and victimisation take place. Sexual violence vulnerabilities, experiences, coping strategies, and the reporting behaviour of victimised women with albinism were found to reflect the social and cultural interpretation of albinism and disability within the Nigerian context. Therefore, the need for interventions to consider the uniqueness of sexual victimisation of women with disabilities in formulating and implementing policies is emphasised.

Instruments of Symbolic Violence in George Orwell’s Animal Farm

This research focused on the discussion of symbolic violence in George Orwell’s Animal Farm with respect to Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence. Animal Farm is a satirical novel written by George Orwell and first published in England in 1945. The underlying theme is a criticism of communism, or at least of the way communism was implemented in the Soviet Union. This study discusses symbolic violence in Bourdieu’s theory, and aims to uncover the instruments of symbolic violence in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. By using Ricoeur’s hermeneutic method, the researchers analyze the instruments of symbolic violence as practiced in this novel. The results show that two instruments of symbolic violence are used in this novel, namely oral discourse and written discourse. This article also aims to present the reader with a novel perspective that they can adopt when analyzing literary work.

Spiral movement: Writingwithfascism and urban violence

How to move against the rise of the far-right and seemingly unstoppable autocratic leaders in many Western liberal democracies? Antifascism’s interest in the built environment is often limited to the collection of address data of right-wing extremists with the aim of locating its enemies. In this piece, I write with fascism and violence through vignettes of urban situatedness. I adopt an eclectic approach, engaging with diverse theories of violence and establishing loose connections between classical sociology and fascist urbanisation, liberalism in practice and historical fascism, and material aesthetics and right-wing spaces. In so doing, I highlight endemic forms of state and capitalist violence and their spatial manifestations of ghettoisation, beautification and overcoding. Acknowledging the limits of factual knowledge and liberal appeals to the truth in breaking through fascist worldviews of domination, the architecture of the text uses a circular infrastructure that connects various parties: ‘they’ (Twitter users), ‘I’ (author), ‘you’ (Walter Benjamin), and numerous ‘we’ who are thrown together in urban environments. Rather than developing a linear argument that tries to persuade fascists, I explore writing as a collective political practice that refutes totalising accounts. With the aim of opening meaning-makings through returning to and reworking numerous views, I respond to a spiral of violence with a movement that is organised around a shared commitment to an anti-oppressive, non-hierarchical world; a movement that is out of someone’s control and that spirals towards collective liberation.

Domination Portrayal in Sing Movie by Garth Jannings: Symbolic Violence Analysis

This article discusses about symbolic violence in Sing movie. Sing is a 3D animation movie produced by Illumination Entertainment 2016. The characters are animals that act like human with the specific characterization. The reason for choosing this movie because it is much entertaining, and it actually obtained the symbolic violence through its characters. This study is aimed to analyze the issue of symbolic violence, which is usually carried out by the superior owners to dominate people who don’t have power. This study is related to Pierre Bourdieu's theory called symbolic violence. The method of this study is descriptive qualitative. The data were collected through process of watching, pausing and interpreting and then the writer analyzed those data by using the theory of symbolic violence by Pierre Bourdieu. The result of the study shows that the forms of symbolic violence that are symbolic violence of superior to inferior (England to America), symbolic violence of family to children (Big daddy to Johnny), symbolic violence male to female (Rosita’s husband to Rosita), (Lance to Ash), (Grandfather to Meena), (Garth Jennings to Miss Crawly), and symbolic violence between the upper and lower classes (Superior to Jews). The writer concluded that England wanted to show that the super power countries in the world were England, not America. America gets strength from England and also America will not succeed if there is no Asia. Asia has an important role in making America successful and, getting recognition from the England.

Minimizing Violence: A Good Practice Local Elite-Based in the Madura Island, Indonesia

The success of democracy in a nation is measured by the existence of a peaceful, civilised social life. In Indonesia, however, ornaments of violence are still present while resolving issues, as in Madura. This study tries to outline the underlying factors that lead to the formation of violence and pinpoint the function that local elites play in curbing the use of violence. The Galtung theory of violence is utilised in the investigational analysis. In order to analyse the data for this study, we used qualitative research, a case study procedure, and an integration strategy. The findings demonstrated that violence has permeated the Madurese culture. Internally passed down and socially sanctioned, it has been used to cope with a variety of life concerns, such as issues involving wives or women, misunderstandings, inheritance, land, religion or belief, theft, and debts and receivables. Because they have historically served as a point of reference in times of conflict, local elites such as Bhuppa/Bhâbu, Ghuru, Rato (parents, Kiai or the leader in the Islamic religion/teacher, and government) are crucial to the realisation of a culture of non-violence. The local elite’s necessary development of their function does not restrict but rather dampens and empowers, notably among the Bâjing.

Strategic analysis of intimate partner violence (IPV) and cycle of violence in the autobiographical text -When I Hit You.

ObjectivesIntimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a globally recognized societal problem that requires intensive research to raise public awareness.AimAccordingly, the purpose of the study is to analyze IPV at the physical, psychological, and social aspects of abuse.MethodThe methodology of the study correlates IPV to the personal experiences of notable Indian writer, Meena Kandasamy, according to the autobiographical account of her abusive married life in the award-winning novel When I Hit You, which depicts the horrible treatment of women by their perpetrators within a closed sphere. To substantiate, the selected autobiographical work is compared with Lenore Edna Walker’s prominent Cycle of Violence theory, which best describes why women become victims and also the abuser’s tactics in controlling the women in a violent relationship.ResultsThe study’s findings suggest that IPV, a serious global problem, requires government intervention and severe legal enforcement to protect women’s lives from the clutches of the abuser.

Poor Prospects—Not Inequality—Motivate Political Violence

Despite extensive scholarly interest in the association between economic inequality and political violence, the micro-level mechanisms through which the former influences the latter are not well understood. Drawing on pioneering theories of political violence, social psychological research on relative deprivation, and prospect theory from behavioral economics, we examine individual-level processes that underpin the relationship between inequality and political violence. We present two arguments: despite being a key explanatory variable in existing research, perceived lower economic status vis-à-vis other individuals (an indicator of relative deprivation) is unlikely to motivate people to participate in violence; by contrast, although virtually unexplored, a projected decrease in one’s own economic status (prospective decremental deprivation) is likely to motivate violence. Multilevel analyses of probability samples from many African countries provide evidence to support these claims. Based on this, we posit that focusing on changes in living conditions, rather than the status quo, is key for understanding political violence.

Setting struggle in motion: From ‘non-violence’ to revolutionary anti-violence

In light of the rising anti-racist and decolonial struggles breaking out in the world, this essay seeks to displace the theoretical dichotomy between ‘violence’ and ‘non-violence’. We begin by revisiting Arendt and Fanon to argue that within the conditions of colonial-racial capitalism, ‘non-violence’ is merely a theoretical abstraction. Building on Fanon, who understands decolonial struggle as setting the ‘atmospheric violence’ of colonization into motion toward a new humanity, we develop our own vocabulary of revolutionary anti-violence that replaces a static dichotomy with a spectrum of spontaneous insurrectional activity, non-retaliatory anti-violence, self-defense, and offensive armed struggle. From these, we reinterpret various struggles and distinguish them from terrorism. By centralizing anti-violence as an ethical ideal and political struggle, we aim to overcome the unproductive pitting of ‘good’ (non-violent) movements from ‘bad’ (violent or terrorist) ones and offer a political theory of violence more appropriate to our times.

Climate change–induced population pressure drives high rates of lethal violence in the Prehispanic central Andes

Understanding the influence of climate change and population pressure on human conflict remains a critically important topic in the social sciences. Long-term records that evaluate these dynamics across multiple centuries and outside the range of modern climatic variation are especially capable of elucidating the relative effect of—and the interaction between—climate and demography. This is crucial given that climate change may structure population growth and carrying capacity, while both climate and population influence per capita resource availability. This study couples paleoclimatic and demographic data with osteological evaluations of lethal trauma from 149 directly accelerator mass spectrometry 14C-dated individuals from the Nasca highland region of Peru. Multiple local and supraregional precipitation proxies are combined with a summed probability distribution of 149 14C dates to estimate population dynamics during a 700-y study window. Counter to previous findings, our analysis reveals a precipitous increase in violent deaths associated with a period of productive and stable climate, but volatile population dynamics. We conclude that favorable local climate conditions fostered population growth that put pressure on the marginal and highly circumscribed resource base, resulting in violent resource competition that manifested in over 450 y of internecine warfare. These findings help support a general theory of intergroup violence, indicating that relative resource scarcity—whether driven by reduced resource abundance or increased competition—can lead to violence in subsistence societies when the outcome is lower per capita resource availability.

Factors of Family Violence in the Southern Province of Rwanda

BackgroundDespite the elevated prevalence and detrimental effects of family violence on survivors in developing countries, little is known about a dimensional empirically based comprehensive structure of family violence.ObjectivesBased on family violence theories, this study aimed to identify factors of family violence in a sample of Rwandans living in all the eight District Police Units of the Southern Rwanda. MethodsA sample of 89 spouses (females = 56.5%, males = 43.5%) were selected to participate in this cross-sectional study. From already existing family violence theories and family violent events lived by participants of this study, a 38-item self-constructed Likert questionnaire (α=0.80) was generated. An exploratory factor analysis approach was used.ResultsThe results showed that two factors mostly influencing violence in family were mainly based on individual issues (i.e. violence as a trauma, insecure attachment, aggressive behaviour learnt, reactive aggression, and learnt helplessness) and family-social issues (i.e. family life cycle and stress, dependency relation, need to maintain power and control, and low material satisfaction). ConclusionsThe results highlight that family violence is a very complex but assessable entity where individual and family-social factors intervene. Future studies should explore such combination in prospective longitudinal studies.
 Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2022;5(1):9-19

Aristotle’s Theory of Moderation, Capital Accumulation and Electoral Violence in Developing Societies

This paper sought to instigate a systematic application of Aristotle’s theory of the mean or moderation to an analysis of the electoral processes and outcomes in developing countries. The central objective was to relate Aristotle’s theory of moderation to the practice of democracy under dependent capitalism in Third World countries. It was an essentially qualitative study that depended on secondary sources for data collection and data analysis was historical, normative, exploratory, and interpretive. Aristotle’s theory of Moral Virtue served as the theoretical framework. A major finding was the pervasive trend of political leaders operating outside the parameters of democratic ethics. It arrived at the conclusion that the abdication of the normative virtue of self-restraint in the pursuit of power and wealth in underdeveloped economies often resulted in electoral violence and recommended that the ethical values that sustain democracy should be entrenched and strictly enforced in Third World democracies.

Preventing Communal Violence in Myanmar: Power and Legitimacy in Local Conflict Prevention

Violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar again reached international attention in 2017 when the newly elected democratic government failed to protect Rohingya Muslims from persecution. While inter-group violence is endemic, however, there are clear and strong examples of peaceful co-existence. This article draws on interview and ethnographic evidence from a case of prevented violence in Mingalar Taung Nyunt, Yangon, in 2017, to argue that engaging with the local, complex, and dynamic process of communal violence prevention can enrich contemporary theories of communal violence. The article draws specifically on insights from the theories of political manipulation and civic engagement to argue that the most effective analysis of communal violence will focus on the power dynamics that shape local responses to escalating threat. In Mingalar Taung Nyunt, violence was prevented through the concerted effort of individuals in unique positions that provided them with the legitimacy and political power that allowed them to successfully de-escalate tensions. The article contributes to the understanding of communal violence by emphasising how the role and importance of inter-group associations, government bodies, and others is shaped by the laws and norms of the community in which violence is escalating. The article’s conclusions furthermore outline how the recent military coup in the country will destabilise local peace-keeping efforts in central Myanmar and how such institutions may be rebuilt.

A monster, a pervert, and an anti-hero: the discursive construction of Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Louis C.K. in humorous #MeToo memes

ABSTRACT This article explores the portrayal of Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K. in Internet memes at the height of #MeToo. Investigating how they are portrayed on social media platforms that encourage humorous content, the article explores how this humorous discursive space frames sexual violence within a “just a joke” discourse. The portrayal of the three men reveals a discursive construction of sexual violence as “just sex” and puts the blame and the responsibility on the victims. Bringing together feminist theories of sexual violence with digital media methods, the article investigates the discourse unique to the Internet meme. The article demonstrates how certain notions about gender and sexuality are discursively reproduced in online spaces that privilege heterosexual men and exclude women and homosexual men. The article traces how sexual violence is characterized in different ways depending on who the men are: Weinstein as a monstrous other, Spacey as a perverted homosexual and pedophile, and C.K. as an antihero.

Cultural Violence towards the LGBTQ+ Community in Islamic Majority Country: A Case From @tabu.id’s Comment Section

Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country. Therefore, Islamic values can be found in every aspect of national and state life. The privilege and power that Muslims have as the majority were used to structurally marginalize the minority group. It changes the essence of religious people who worship God into fanaticism that deifies religion. This study aims to explore the mechanism of cultural conflict and violence against the LGBTQ+ community in the online landscape, primarily through the @tabu.id platform after the pandemic hit. This research uses theories of cultural violence from Johan Galtung and cultural hegemony from Antonio Gramsci. This research uses a thematic analysis method from the comment section of @tabu.id posts. From 19 LGBTQ+ themed posts in @tabu.id from March 2020 to November 2021, it was found that some audiences still perceive LGBTQ+ as a deviation, mainly from Indonesian and Islamic values. This leads to the justification of cultural violence towards the LGBTQ+ community and the rejection of acknowledging LGBTQ+ as part of CSE. These findings show the importance of CSE integrated curriculum that included the LGBTQ+ matter to form an inclusive society. Peace study is also seen as the solution to solve the cultural conflict, violence, and hegemony in Indonesia.

Grief, Translation, and the “Asian American Woman” in Hong Kong

Abstract This article draws on Judith Butler's theories of violence and grief in order to outline a self-reflexive narrative of teaching and speaking about the Atlanta shootings of March 2021 as a queer and feminist studies scholar of Japanese studies in Hong Kong. The article briefly explains how teaching about this occurrence of anti-Asian violence in East Asia might lead to important discussions of multiple imperialisms within/around Asia, while providing background on the broader potential of Asian American studies for pedagogical contexts within Asia. However, through a description of the author's own coming into being as a racialized, gendered subject in the act of teaching about the Atlanta shootings in Hong Kong, the focus is on a highly particular account of how grief and vulnerability might offer forms of political solidarity that are not defined by roles as distinct subjects belonging to recognizable groups and communities.

Philip Dwyer and Mark Micale, editors, The Darker Angels of Our Nature: Refuting the Pinker Theory of History and Violence

Philip Dwyer and Mark Micale, editors, <i>The Darker Angels of Our Nature: Refuting the Pinker Theory of History and Violence</i>

Ethnicity, Democracy, and Political Instability in Nigeria: An Appraisal

The article examined how ethnocentrism is used to further the interest of petty bourgeoisie leading to political instability in Nigeria. The establishment of elective principle midwifed liberal democratic party system in 1922. The Nigerian National Democratic Party in Nigeria was the first party to be birthed. The electoral requirements for candidates and electorates provided opportunities for the educated elite to hijack the process. The partitioning of the country into three regions-east, north and west in 1945 led to the formation of ethnic based political parties- National Congress Nigeria and Cameroon (east), Northern People Congress(north), and Action Group (west), which gave rise to fierce ethnic competition among the political elite. The political elites fell back to the region to consolidate their power base. The contention for space-dominance became more pronounced. However, over decades, this politics of ethnic acrimony has continued and increased the degree of political instability to the extent that almost all the general elections conducted in the post-independence era have been bedeviled with electoral violence leading to destruction of lives and properties. The study adopted clientelist theory and culture of violence theory in its theoretical underpinning. The study explored qualitative method of data gathering technique. The study unraveled that the competition for political position predicated on primitive accumulation of natural resources promotes ethnic cleavage. The study recommends amongst others that politicians indicted for electoral violence in past and present should be tried in the content court of jurisdiction to discourage political violence in Nigeria.

Overcoming the Wall: Educational Achievement and Growth in School Districts on the U.S.-Mexico Border

ABSTRACT This paper compares the educational achievement and growth of Latinx third through eighth-grade students attending school along the U.S.-Mexico Border and in the interior of the four Border states. The theories of structural and legal violence predict that powerful Anglos have created systems of social reproduction, concentrated disadvantage, and immigration law that reduce Latinx education close to the U.S.-Mexico Border. We test these theories with data from the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA), which contains information on Latinx achievement and growth in all public school districts in the four Border states. We find that Latinx achievement and growth are similar along the Border and in the interior except in Texas, where concentrated disadvantage dramatically lowers Latinx achievement and growth. We also find that social reproduction is more beneficial for Latinx youth along the Border because, surprisingly, Latinx adults tend to be more educated near the border than in the interior. We find no evidence that immigration laws reduce education more near the Border than in the interior. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and policy.

The reflective process of the perpetrator: representations of rape in novels of C.N. Adichie and V.T. Nguyen

ABSTRACT This article examines a new iteration of the representation of rape that is centered on the perspective of the perpetrator of sexual violence. By outlining advances in feminist discourses, critical men’s studies, and literary criticism, this article situates the current development within a tradition of theory and representations of sexual violence, which is followed by the author’s reading of rape in The Sympathizer (2015) and Half of a Yellow Sun (2006). Narrated as men who slide into passivity in the build-up to rape, the protagonists of these novels are at the same time not condoned and learn to accept their guilt, shame, and responsibility. These representations follow established literary conventions of repression and silence, but then move beyond the unspoken to a constant articulation of the meaning of rape for the perpetrator. Following calls for contextually sensitive approaches to the study of violent men, this article explores how both novels narrate the perpetrator’s circumstances, choices, reflection, and growing awareness of the implications of rape. The meanings of rape for perpetrators, as represented in fiction, and their potential to create narratives with which to combat sexual violence are discussed.