Is anyone capable of an act of violence? Does social experience condition people to be militant? How is violence collectively experienced, remembered, or forgotten? This course will consider violence as concept and event, from various vantage points and with geographical-historical references that include Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Topics to be considered include the idea of organized violence and the role of states; violence, collective memory, and public apologies; militias and cultural identity; mass media and violence; suffering and gender. Readings draw from approaches to the study of violence that are theoretical, analytical, comparative, ethnographic, and fictional. Authors to be considered include Wacquant, Mamdani, Said, Tilly, Stern, Venkatesh, Wagner-Pacifici, Foucault, DBC Pierre, and Malkki, among other authors. Participants will view visual representations of violence and examine the ways in which violence is used to construct collective pasts. Format: seminar. Requirements: full participation, class presentation, and a term paper. No prerequisites. Enrollment limit 19 (expected 15). Open to non-majors.

Hour: VALIANI