Why we kill : understanding violence across cultures and disciplines / edited by Nancy Loucks, Sally Smith Holt, and Joanna R. Adler.

Why we kill : understanding violence across cultures and disciplines / edited by Nancy Loucks, Sally Smith Holt, and Joanna R. Adler.

9781904750420 (pbk.)
1904750427

Hendon, London [England] : Middlesex University Press, 2009.

English

202 pages ; 23 cm

HV6515 .W49 2009

100

For such an evolved species, human beings can be violent far beyond the point of inhumanity. Infanticide, serial killings, war, terrorism, abortion, honour killings, euthanasia, suicide bombings and genocide. All involve killing one or more other people. Yet cultural context influences heavily how one perceives each of these. Indeed, some readers may have thought "But surely that doesn't belong with those others, that's not really killing." This book examines violence in many of its manifestations, exploring how culture plays a role in people's understanding of violent action. The first chapter tries to understand multiple forms of domestic homicide including infanticide, filicide, spousal homicide and honour killings. The final chapter is an account of the massacre at Murambi in Rwanda.

Includes bibliographical references.

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