The violence of illusion -- Making sense of identity -- Civilizational confinement -- Religious affiliations and Muslim history -- West and anti-west -- Culture and captivity -- Globalization and voice -- Multiculturalism and freedom -- Freedom to think.

This volume contains selected papers given at the conference 'Violence, Culture and Identity' held at St Andrews University in 2003. It contributes to the debate on the role of culture in propagating, mediating and controlling violence in society, concentrating on the relationship between culture and identity-formation in Germany and Austria from the Middle Ages to the present. Bringing together the work of twenty-two scholars with expertise in different literary and historical periods, the volume probes the complexities of representations of violence enacted and suffered, of affirmative and non-affirmative violence in text and visual form, revealing the often blurred line between victim and victimizer. Violence in its discursive and material forms is investigated, using the theoretical tools of sociology, post-colonial and gender studies, history and psychology as well as of literary criticism. The collection of essays focuses particularly on the relationship between war and identity, on 1970s terrorism and identity, on violence and the construction of gender, and on contemporary writing in German.

With the collapse of the bipolar system of global rivalry that dominated world politics after the Second World War, and in an age that is seeing the return of “ethnic cleansing” and “identity politics,” the question of violence, in all of its multiple ramifications, imposes itself with renewed urgency. Rather than concentrating on the socioeconomic or political backgrounds of these historical changes, the contributors to this volume rethink the concept of violence, both in itself and in relation to the formation and transformation of identities, whether individual or collective, political or cultural, religious or secular. In particular, they subject the notion of self-determination to stringent scrutiny: is it to be understood as a value that excludes violence, in principle if not always in practice? Or is its relation to violence more complex and, perhaps, more sinister? Reconsideration of the concepts, the practice, and even the critique of violence requires an exploration of the implications and limitations of the more familiar interpretations of the terms that have dominated in the history of Western thought. To this end, the nineteen contributors address the concept of violence from a variety of perspectives in relation to different forms of cultural representation, and not in Western culture alone; in literature and the arts, as well as in society and politics; in philosophical discourse, psychoanalytic theory, and so-called juridical ideology, as well as in colonial and post-colonial practices and power relations. The contributors are Giorgio Agamben, Ali Behdad, Cathy Caruth, Jacques Derrida, Michael Dillon, Peter Fenves, Stathis Gourgouris, Werner Hamacher, Beatrice Hanssen, Anselm Haverkamp, Marian Hobson, Peggy Kamuf, M. B. Pranger, Susan M. Shell, Peter van der Veer, Hent de Vries, Cornelia Vismann, and Samuel Weber.

From prison interviews with violent offenders and a wealth of experience and research, an Australian psychologist explores the complex interaction between crime and culture. Fifteen convicted adult male violent offenders explain their understanding, motivations and rationalisations for their actions in relation to values. This nuanced understanding adds significantly to criminological theory, as well as providing suggestions for better policing, offender management, and rehabilitation.

An award-winning author explores why so many people commit crimes in the name of identity. "Makes for compelling reading in America today."--"The New York Times."

Drawing on cases, Stark identifies the problems with our current approach to domestic violence, outlines the components of coercive control, and then uses this alternate framework to analyse the cases of battered women charged with criminal offenses directed at their abusers.

. These essays will provide new insights and focus for understanding internal violence and its cultural connections to a broad audience of scholars, policy makers, and students of international politics and culture.