The Anthropology Of Genocide - WNLibrary

13
Inoculations of Evil in the
U.S.-Mexican Border Region
Reflections on the Genocidal Potential of Symbolic Violence
Carole Nagengast
Simply describing genocide or denouncing it after it occurs has certain uses but is a far cry from
“doing good.”
gourevitch (1998)
INTRODUCTION
The shortcomings of the present world order have never been so glaringly apparent
as when we consider the failure of the international system either to predict or
forestall genocide. Political philosopher Richard Falk argues that international intervention
in genocide and, presumably, measures taken to prevent it will always
be interest-based rather than driven by moral values. In view of what Falk calls
the prevailing “politically conditioned moral advocacy” and the absence of clear
geopolitical rationales for prevention/intervention, liberal democracies and intergovernmental
agencies need to be pushed from below by transnational social forces
(Falk 2000:169–70). Few NGOs or other international actors are equipped to deal
with genocide or other extreme forms of political violence in a preemptive way,
however willing they might be, partially because it is not always possible for them
to recognize and evaluate genocidal processes until they are already well under way
and difficult or impossible to combat.
Alexander Hinton suggests in the introduction to this volume and in a forthcoming
publication that there are certain “priming mechanisms” that encourage
genocidal processes, or, to use another metaphor, processes or circumstances that
heat up and are capable of setting off a chain reaction. These ought to be apparent
at an early stage. Genocide, in this view, is the culmination of a number of apparently
far lesser occurrences of symbolic and physical violence performed against
groups that the dominant society has defined in one way or another as lesser human
beings. Indeed, genocide can only be committed against people who are perceived
as outsiders, never against equals (Chalk and Jonassohn 1990:28). The critical
word is perceived. The differences capable of triggering first ethnic violence and
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