Death Squad: The Anthropology Of State Terror (ethnography Of Political Violence)

The first work to focus specifically on the anthropology of state terror. The first work to focus specifically on the anthropology of state terror.

"There is real personal danger for anthropologists who dare to speak and write against terror; by doing so, they potentially and sometimes actually bring the terror down on themselves."—Jeffrey A. Sluka, from the Introduction

Death Squad is the first work to focus specifically on the anthropology of state terror. It brings together an international group of anthropologists who have done extensive research in areas marked by extreme forms of state violence and who have studied state terror from the perspective of victims and survivors.

The book presents eight case studies from seven countries—Spain, India (Punjab and Kashmir), Argentina, Guatemala, Northern Ireland, Indonesia, and the Philippines—to demonstrate the cultural complexities and ambiguities of terror when viewed at the local level and from the participants' point of view. Contributors deal with such topics as the role of Loyalist death squads in the culture of terror in Northern Ireland, the three-tier mechanism of state terror in Indonesia, the complex role of religion in violence by both the state and insurgents in Punjab and Kashmir, and the ways in which "disappearances" are used to destabilize and demoralize opponents of the state in Argentina, Guatemala, and India.

"There is real personal danger for anthropologists who dare to speak and write against terror; by doing so, they potentially and sometimes actually bring the terror down on themselves."—Jeffrey A. Sluka, from the Introduction Death Squad is the first work to focus specifically on the anthropology of state terror. It brings together an international group of anthropologists who have done extensive research in areas marked by extreme forms of state violence and who have studied state terror from the perspective of victims and survivors. The book presents eight case studies from seven countries—Spain, India (Punjab and Kashmir), Argentina, Guatemala, Northern Ireland, Indonesia, and the Philippines—to demonstrate the cultural complexities and ambiguities of terror when viewed at the local level and from the participants' point of view. Contributors deal with such topics as the role of Loyalist death squads in the culture of terror in Northern Ireland, the three-tier mechanism of state terror in Indonesia, the complex role of religion in violence by both the state and insurgents in Punjab and Kashmir, and the ways in which "disappearances" are used to destabilize and demoralize opponents of the state in Argentina, Guatemala, and India. Death Squad is the first book-length treatment of the anthropology of state terror. It brings together an international group of anthropologists who have done extensive research in areas marked by extreme forms of state violence and who have studied state terror from the perspective of victims and survivors.The book presents eight case studies from seven countries -- Spain, India (Punjab and Kashmir), Argentina, Guatemala, Northern Ireland, Indonesia, and the Philippines -- to demonstrate the cultural complexities and ambiguities of terror when viewed at the local level and from the participants' point of view. Contributors deal with such topics as the role of Loyalist death squads in the culture of terror in Northern Ireland, the three-tier mechanism of state terror in Indonesia, the complex role of religion in violence by both the state and insurgents in Punjab and Kashmir, and the ways in which "disappearances" are used to destabilize and demoralize opponents of the state in Argentina, Guatemala, and India.In addressing the anthropology of terror, Death Squad presents a much-needed exploration of a critical yet overlooked topic. State Terror And Anthropology / Jeffrey A. Sluka -- A Fictional Reality : Paramilitary Death Squads And The Construction Of State Terror In Spain / Begoña Aretxaga -- Trials By Fire : Dynamics Of Terror In Punjab And Kashmir / Cynthia Keppley Mahmood -- State Terror In The Netherworld : Disappearance And Reburial In Argentina / Antonius C.g.m. Robben -- The Homogenizing Effects Of State-sponsored Terrorism : The Case Of Guatemala / Frank M. Afflitto -- For God And Ulster : The Culture Of Terror And Loyalist Death Squads In Northern Ireland / Jeffrey A. Sluka -- Ninjas, Nanggalas, Monuments And Mossad Manuals : An Anthropology Of Indonesian State Terror In East Timor / George J. Aditjondro. Murdered Or Martyred? : Popular Evaluations Of Violent Death In The Muslim Separatist Movement In The Philippines / Thomas M. Mckenna -- Parents And Their Children In Situations Of Terror : Disappearances And Special Police Activity In Punjab / Joyce Pettigrew -- Death Squads And Wider Complicities : Dilemmas For The Anthropology Of Violence / Kay B. Warren. Edited By Jeffrey A. Sluka. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents Illustrations Preface Introduction. State Terror and Anthropology Chapter 1. A Fictional Reality Paramilitary Death Squads and the Construction of State Terror in Spain Chapter 2. Trials by Fire. Dynamics of Terror in Punjab and Kashmir Chapter 3. State Terror in the Netherworld. Disappearance and Reburial in Argentina Chapter 4. The Homogenizing Effects of State-Sponsored Terrorism. The Case of Guatemala Chapter 5. "For God and Ulster". The Culture of Terror and Loyalist Death Squads in Northern Ireland Chapter 6. Ninjas, IManggalas, Monuments, and Mossad Manuals. An Anthropology of Indonesian State Terror in East Timor Chapter 7. Murdered or Martyred? Popular Evaluations of Violent Death in the Muslim Separatist Movement in the Philippines Chapter 8. Parents and Their Children in Situations of Terror. Disappearances and Special Police Activity in Punjab Conclusion. Death Squads and Wider Complicities. Dilemmas for the Anthropology of Violence Contributors Index State violence, especially the kind that circumambulates the law, that transgresses the law from within (questioning thus the hegemonic discourse of the state as public interest), that violence that materializes frequently in the assassinations of death squads, the torture of detainees, the disappearance of victims, and other like technologies of terror - such violence, simultaneously public and secret, is deeply wrapped in fictional plots and phantasmatic images. 6. Ninjas, Nanggalas, monuments, and Mossad manuals: An anthropology of