Why we kill: understanding violence across cultures and disciplines

Loucks, Nancy, Holt, Sally Smith and Adler, Joanna R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2973-8503 (2009) Why we kill: understanding violence across cultures and disciplines. Loucks, Nancy and Smith Holt, Sally and Adler, Joanna R., eds. Middlesex University Press, London. ISBN 9781904750420. [Book]

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Abstract

Infanticide, serial killings, war, terrorism, abortion, honour killings, euthanasia, suicide bombings and genocide; all involve taking of life. Put most simply, all involve killing one or more other people. Yet cultural context influences heavily how one perceives all of these, and indeed, some readers of this paragraph may already have thought: 'But surely that doesn't belong with those others, that's not really killing.'

For such an evolved species, human beings can be violent far beyond the point of inhumanity. Why We Kill: Understanding violence across cultures and disciplines examines this violence in many of its manifestations, exploring how culture plays a role in people's understanding of violent action.

From the first chapter, which tries to understand multiple forms of domestic homicide including infanticide, filicide, spousal homicide and honour killings, to the final chapter's bone-chilling account of the massacre at Murambi in Rwanda, this fascinating book makes compelling reading.

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