Emotions and Mass Atrocity Philosophical and Theoretical Explorations

The study of genocide and mass atrocity abounds with references to emotions: fear, anger, horror, shame and hatred. Yet we don't understand enough about how 'ordinary' emotions behave in such extreme contexts. Emotions are not merely subjective and interpersonal phenomena; they are also powerful social and political forces, deeply involved in the history of mass violence. Drawing on recent insights from philosophy, psychology, history, and the social sciences, this volume examines the emotions of perpetrators, victims, and bystanders. Editors Thomas Brudholm and Johannes Lang have brought together an interdisciplinary group of prominent scholars to provide an in-depth analysis of the nature, value, and role of emotions as they relate to the causes and dynamics of mass atrocities. The result is a new perspective on the social, political, and moral dimensions of emotions in the history of collective violence and its aftermath.

1. Introduction – emotions and mass atrocity Thomas Brudholm and Johannes Lang; Part I. Causes and Dynamics: 2. Mass exterminations and the history of emotions – the view from classical antiquity David Konstan; 3. Fear, hope, and the formation of specific intention in genocide Neta C. Crawford; 4. The proud executioner – pride and the psychology of genocide Johannes Lang; 5. Pondering hatred Thomas Brudholm and Birgitte S. Johansen; 6. Social science and the study of perpetrators Arne Johan Vetlesen; Part II. Emotional Responses: 7. 'Destroy your sight with a new gorgon' – mass atrocity and the phenomenology of horror Adriana Cavarero; 8. Perpetrator disgust: a morally destructive emotion Ditte Marie Munch-Jurisic; 9. Unravelling the meaning of survivor shame Alba Montes Sánchez and Dan Zahavi; 10. Beyond empathy and compassion: genocide and the emotional complexities of humanitarian politics Andrew A. G. Ross; Part III. Repair and Commemoration: 11. Hope(s) after genocide Margaret Urban Walker; 12. Traumatic emotions Jeffrey Blustein; 13. Embarrassment and political repair Nir Eisikovits.

A new perspective on collective violence and its aftermath, this unique collection of essays foregrounds the importance of emotions in and after mass violence or genocide. The authors are drawn from a range of disciplines and provide sophisticated and provocative analyses of the emotional responses to mass atrocity.

Thomas Brudholm is Associate Professor in the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Johannes Lang is Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark.