Review: [untitled]

Author(s): Kathinka Frøystad

Source: Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Jul., 1998), p. 519
Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/425757 .
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* Brass, Paul R., 1997. Theft of an Idol: Text
and Context in the Representationof Collective
Violence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press. 298 pp.
This book is likely to contradict everything you
thought you knew about the causes and triggers
of collective violence - at least if you accept
Brass's anti-primordialist point of departure.
Instead of merely scrutinizing each violent inci-
dent per se, and then comparing with respect to
a set of variables,Brass urges us to contextualize
each conflict by investigatinghow and why some
achieve high political significancewhereas others
do not. The empirical material in this book is
gathered from India's Uttar Pradesh, a state
deeply marked by caste division and
Hindu-Muslim tension. Like a detective, Brass
startedby seeking the 'trueversion' of each of the
five conflict cases he presents, only to conclude
that the most salient characteristicsof such riots
were their multitude of interpretationsand dif-
ferent degrees of political utility. Whereas some
violent clashes involving persons from different
ethnic groups remainedlocal and confined, other
clashes- often strikinglysimilar- achieved enor-
mous symbolic significanceand escalatedbecause
they fit into the 'master narrative'of communal
or caste problems within the media, politics or
the social sciences. Talking and writing about
ethnic violence, thus, often perpetuatesthe prob-
lem it seeks to diminish. Moreover, the riots
which Brassstudies were rarelyspontaneous, but
often deliberately engineered or escalated by a
criminal-politician nexus for specific political
purposes. Although this approach is less novel
than Brass would make it, his introduction and
theoretical synthesis stand out as the most sys-
tematic and generalizablethat I have encountered
within this line of thought. On the negativeside,
the empirical material - contradictory, detailed
versions of each incident of collective violence,
presented by a number of the persons or groups
involved in each case - leaves the reader con-
fused. Or is this reallya minus? Perhapsit is just
one step closer to real life?
1998 JournalofPeaceResearch
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35, no. 4, 1998, pp. 519-526
B0 K N
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[0022-3433 (199807) 35:4; 519-526; 004674]
* Brown, MelissaJ., ed., 1996. NegotiatingEth-
nicitiesin Chinaand Taiwan.Berkeley,CA: Center
for ChineseStudies,Instituteof EastAsianStudies,
Universityof Californiaat Berkeley.335 pp.
The theme of this collection of essaysis the poli-
tics of ethnic identity in China and Taiwan.
'Ethnic identity' is here understood as fluid and
changeable- a realitywhich is actively concealed
by governments as well as leaders of ethnic col-
lectivities by creating narrativesthat make being
a member of an ethnic group seem inevitable,
fixed and passed down since time immemorial.
The articlesin this volume revealsuch narratives
by showing the processesof negotiation involved
in creating ethnic identities. Most of the articles
are case-studies of a particular minzu (ethnic
group or nationality): Janet Upton writes on
Tibetan intellectuals in Sichuan; Almaz Khan
and Wurlig Borchigud on Mongol identities;
Keng-Fong Pang on the repertoireof identities of
Hainan Muslims; Emily Chao on the invention
of Dongba culture; Siu-Woo Cheung on the Ge
in southeast Guizhou; and Stevan Harrellon the
Pumi in Yunnan and Prmi Zang in southern
Sichuan. Patricia Ebrey's chapter is a general
analysis of the importance of surnames in the
construction of Han Chinese identity. Melissa
Brown reconstructsthe negotiation of identity in
the history of the plainsAborigines(pingpuzu) of
southwestern Taiwan, while Hai Ren discusses
identity politics in present-dayTaiwan. This is an
excellent volume. All the articles are well re-
searchedand documented. However, all of them
also stop short of a thorough discussion of the
origins and early history of Chinese ethnology,
which is the main issue left unexplored.
AK
* Garment,David & PatrickJames, eds, 1997.
Wars in the Midst of Peace. The International
Politics of Ethnic Conflict. Pittsburgh, PA:
University of PittsburghPress. 302 pp.
With the end of the Cold War, the subject of
ethnic conflict has returned with a vengeance.
This volume concentrates on the international
519