Cultural violence as a longue duree process: from colonialism to humanitarianism

Abstract

The main hypothesis of the paper is that Orientalism, as a form of cultural violence, represents a long-term historical structure which is reproduced through discourses and practices of various social systems. The authors apply genealogy and longue duree approaches to analyze discourses of colonialism, antisemitism, nationalism, and humanitarianism, indicating the long-lasting identity division along the West-East (Orient) axis, as well as continuity of the cultural content that implies the superiority of the Self and the inferiority of the Other. The analysis also shows that all these discourses, although mutually different, can be rooted in the Orientalist matrix and thus become instruments for legitimizing and justifying various forms of indirect (repression, exploitation) and direct violence (wars, genocide, ethnic cleansing). The paper aims to understand the different forms of violence and their complexity as precondition for violence prevention.