The Anthropology Of Genocide - WNLibrary

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Confronting Genocide and
Ethnocide of Indigenous Peoples
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Definition,
Intervention, Prevention, and Advocacy
Samuel Totten, William S. Parsons, and Robert K. Hitchcock
INTRODUCTION
The plight of indigenous peoples has been underscored by what one analyst has
characterized as “the often genocidal process of colonization and the long history
of land dispossession” (Burger 1987:5). Time and again, various indigenous groups
have seen their lands, cultures, and their very lives encroached upon, if not outright
destroyed (Chalk and Jonassohn 1990:194–222, 412–14; Churchill 1997; Hitchcock
and Twedt 1997). Indigenous leaders and writers have spoken out strongly on
what they believe are genocidal policies aimed at destroying them both physically
and culturally (Moody 1988, I:83–122; Churchill 1997).
Indigenous peoples are often seen, as Fein (1990:36–37) points out, as outside the
universe of obligation—the “other”—or as competitors for valued resources. Governments
of countries in which indigenous peoples exist have assigned them to categories
such as “wards of the state” and have denied them basic civil, political, and
socioeconomic rights (Burger 1987, 1990; Bodley 1999). Not only are indigenous
people some of the most impoverished and disadvantaged members of the societies
of which they are a part but they are also exposed in a number of instances
to harsh and unjust treatment (Hitchcock 1994; Maybury-Lewis 1997).
As Jason Clay of Rights and Resources has noted, there have “probably been
more genocides, ethnocides, and extinctions of tribal and ethnic groups in this century
than any in history” (Clay 1984:1). This is due in part to the fact that, according
to Clay (1993:48), some states spend more money to fight their own citizens than
they do for all social and economic programs combined. In 1988, the International
Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA:1) argued that a conservative estimate
of the number of deaths of indigenous people by violent means was around thirty
thousand annually, with many more dying through neglect and starvation. Since the
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