The Anthropology Of Genocide - WNLibrary

52 modernity’s edges
in an era of unprecedented globalization, the nature and function of the “nationstate”
is being rethought, and a major aspect of this rethinking has to do with the
continuing place of ethnicity and ethnic minorities in the states of the future.
It is no longer considered necessary or even possible that each state should correspond
to a single nation, possessing a mainstream culture in which all its citizens
(including those who are considered minorities) must participate. On the contrary,
states are increasingly expected to be pluralistic, permitting localized minorities
and indigenous peoples to retain their cultures and to enjoy a certain autonomy
within the system. Those states that make war on marginalized minorities are thus
states in which pluralism has either failed or has not been given a chance. Successful
multiethnic states are, on the other hand, the best guarantee of peace and the best
defense against genocide.
NOTES
1. My translation from the Spanish.
2. It has been generally accepted for some time that Truganini, who died in 1876, was
the last Tasmanian, but there are still a few people alive today who claim to be descendants
of the original Tasmanians.
3. It is astonishing to read the justifications offered by the overseers in the Congo, starting
with King Leopold himself, who stressed their philanthropic concern for the savages
whom they were in the process of civilizing.
4. I rely here on the book by Ken Saro-Wiwa, the distinguished Ogoni writer who was
hanged by the Nigerian government because of his ardent defense of Ogoni rights.
5. This discussion of the state is set out more fully in Maybury-Lewis 1997, ch. 4.
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