A 'licence to kill'?
Professor Aristotle Kallis, European Languages and Cultures
3.15 pm
Mass ('eliminationist') violence is a transgressive act akin to crossing a proscribed boundary. It requires a catalyst that generates a domain of extraordinary permissiveness and encourages extreme violent behaviour. Rather than assuming that such violence is the direct consequence of long-term intent (usually sustained by memories of conflict, fear, mistrust, and/or a sense of gross injustice), in my talk I will focus on the production of the violent act itself. I will argue that resort to extraordinary violence becomes possible in the wake of a special, authoritative derogation of ethical, cultural, and/or legal norms; and usually produces the momentum for further, more profound transgressive behaviour, based on a combination of authorisation, empowerment, and initiative.
At the heart of this analysis lies the concept of licence as the critical facilitator, precipitant, and determinant of violence. 'Licence' refers to a mandate, derogation or dispensation that generates (and then contributes to) a domain of transgressive violence, characterised by extreme empowerment and diminished accountability for violence against other humans of a kind that, in 'normal' circumstances, would be proscribed. 'Licence' is situated on the threshold of transgression, providing the critical catalyst for actualising violence. Like a chain reaction, it is diffused and radicalised through both hierarchical and impulsive agency. Therefore licence becomes the crucial all-pervasive interface between abstract desire and intent, short-term motivation, and the violent act itself. In this talk I will elaborate on this concept of 'licence' and illustrate its potential for offering new insights into the analysis of particular incidents of mass violence.
Biography
Aristotle Kallis studied history and politics at the University of Athens and completed a PhD in modern comparative history at the University of Edinburgh. Prior to moving to Lancaster he has worked at the universities of Edinburgh and Bristol. He is based at the Department of European Languages and Cultures and, from August 2010, at the Department of History.
Aristotle's main research interests lay in the fields of comparative fascism and mass violence/genocide. He has published four books and numerous articles/chapters on a variety of topics, including the theory of fascism, totalitarian propaganda, ethnic conflict, and urban planning.
In 2008 he was awarded the LU Pilkington Teaching Prize.