In the last two decades, the field of comparative genocide studies has produced an increasingly rich literature on the targeting of various groups for extermination and other atrocities, throughout history and around the contemporary world. However, the phenomenon of "genocides by the oppressed," that is, retributive genocidal actions carried out by subaltern actors, has received almost no attention. The prominence in such genocides of non-state actors, combined with the perceived moral ambiguities of retributive genocide that arise in analyzing genocidal acts "from below," have so far eluded serious investigation. Genocides by the Oppressed addresses this oversight, opening the subject of subaltern genocide for exploration by scholars of genocide, ethnic conflict, and human rights. Focusing on case studies of such genocide, the contributors explore its sociological, anthropological, psychological, symbolic, and normative dimensions.

Innovative study in an emerging and controversial field

About the Author

Nicholas A. Robins is a lecturer in the Department of History at North Carolina State University. He is author of Native Insurgencies and the Genocidal Impulse in the Americas (IU Press, 2005); Genocide and Millennialism in Upper Peru; and The Culture of Conflict in Modern Cuba.

Adam Jones is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in Kelowna, BC. He is author or editor of a dozen books, including Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction.

Reviews

"The study of comparative genocide is one of the most important of our era. By focusing on acts of genocide (or near genocide) committed by oppressed people (or people who imagine themselves to be oppressed), this book sheds light on an important dimension of the problem." -Roger Smith, College of William and Mary

Book Information
ISBN 9780253220776
Author Nicholas A. Robins
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press