Violence Expressed

An Anthropological Approach

Violence Expressed explores the diverse expressions and manifestations through which the meaning of violent experiences and events is (re)produced. As language alone does not always suffice for the description of violence, this book focuses not only on the verbal and discursive expressions of violence, but also on the performative acts, material culture and the spaces that constitute these expressions. Such an approach provides a method of more comprehensively registering and understanding the manifestations and long-lasting effects of violence, whilst exploring violence both as an extreme subjective experience, and the ’ultimate truth’, thus overcoming a common epistemological antagonism in researching violence. Offering a variety of analytical approaches and methodological perspectives, Violence Expressed presents the latest empirical studies, ranging from the 'everyday' violence experienced by children, stories of rape, social memory and the discrepancy between private and public narratives, to rumours and silences or the iconography of violence. A compelling contribution to ongoing discussions on anthropological writing, this book will be of interest to anthropologists and social scientists working on violence, gender, collective representations and memory.