Identicide

Last updated

Identicide [1] [2] [3] is the deliberate, systematic and targeted destruction of the places, symbols, objects, including ideas, values and aesthetica, and other cultural property that represent the identity of a people, with the intent to erase the cultural narrative and memory of that people, demoralize a population, absorb it into another cultural/political entity, or to rid an area of that people altogether.

Contents

Examples of identicide can be observed in the destruction of the Bridge of Mostar and the National and University Library in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the willful damage of Islamic iconography and archaeological treasures such as Palmyra by ISIL in Syria.

Identicide offers a way to frame some of the destructive acts that precede genocide. The international convention on Genocide does not include this predictive framework. Genocidal acts must have already taken place for a situation to be legally termed "genocide." Because it cannot be named as such until after the fact, earlier intentional and destructive acts are often termed ‘potential genocide’ or ‘possible genocide’. Identicide is a term that captures the force of pre-genocidal acts and is a phenomenon unto itself. [4]  

In being a series of acts or pre-emptive stages of genocide or as an alternative to genocide, identicide incorporates many of the other more specific phenomena and related activities ending in “-cide”, including ethnocide, topocide, terracide, democide, memoricide, urbicide, gendercide, gynocide, sociocide and domicide. These other -cides are elements that contribute to cultural identity, denoting the destruction of a part or aspect of it. Identicide determines the destruction of the whole. [5]

Identity

Perpetrators of identicide understand that cultural identity is built into places created over centuries of living in place, and a marginalized group can be weakened and unalterably changed through the destruction of their places. The destruction results in people leaving their places, or a loss of distinctiveness in place, and can achieve the result intended by the perpetrators.

According to Meharg, identicide is a deliberate act, normally performed as a tactic of armed conflict, but more specifically is

a strategy of warfare that deliberately targets and destroys cultural elements of a people through a variety of means in order to contribute to eventual acculturation, removal and/or total destruction of a particular identity group, including its contested signs, symbols, behaviours [sic], values, heritages, places and performances.  Identicide is the intentional killing of the relatedness between people and place that eliminates the bond, which underpins individual, community and national identity….Identicide takes many forms but serves a single function: to negatively affect the relationships between people and their places. [6]

Identicide can be a precursor to genocide but does not necessarily result in genocide.

Etymology

The term was coined in 1998 by Sarah Jane Meharg, Ph.D. while completing her studies at the Royal Military College of Canada. It was later published in her Masters of Arts (War Studies) thesis in 1999. [5]

Cultural geography

Identicide, as argued by Meharg, is centered around erasing the link between people and their places, in order to weaken cultural identity and create anomie. [7]   These roots of identity are not only embedded within the people who inhabit a certain region, but also among the cultural infrastructure [8] (i.e. castles, houses, engineering feats, routes/paths, bridges etc.), [7] symbols [9] (i.e. monuments, statues), signs, language (i.e. any form of literature, libraries), and social behaviors that support the functionality and cohesiveness a given community and contribute to their uniqueness and specificity that could be recalled, affecting the memory of their unique heritage, historical power and environment [9] and ethnic leverage in a region over time.  The continued presence of such material and places allow a people’s identity to continue to live on, whether those people still exist, have evolved or have been eliminated, and as such their identity remains preserved in the memory of mankind and society.  Such examples include monuments and statues, which “are best thought of as devices of communication rather than aesthetic representations: as such, they underscore…the ‘reworking of memory.’” [9]

Armed conflict

The tactics involved in identicide involve those that eliminate the bond between places and people, to include (but not restricted to) the burning of libraries and literature, the bombing of symbolic and sacred sites, as well as the appropriation of the vernacular places that have no military importance during conflict with the exception that a group of people is rooted to these places and material and identifies with them.

The co-opting of place by identity groups is a threat to the status quo during conflicts, and it becomes a tactical approach to destroy that which represents identity (beliefs, ways, practices, rituals) and which inspires them as a people; this last point contributes to the end objective of sustaining gains in warfare by a belligerent by eliminating the ability of an enemy to retaliate in destroying its will through erasing its identity. Belligerents seek to systematically destroy identity elements, causing anomie and other behavioral and attitudinal reactions, which can result in the group moving away, or submitting to control. [7]

Peace

Identicide can take many forms, where the intense killing of a people in a short amount of time, as well as the physical destruction of its link with a place or region, are the more recognizable acts that fall within its scope.  However, longer term and more subtle acts, such as absorbing and integrating a culture within another through the transformation of religion, language, and social practices, or imposing/preventing demographic shifts within a community, [10] with a final outcome to deliberately eliminate the remnants of a specific people and their landscape, could also be viewed as forms of identicide. [2]

Implementation

Identicide [2] [3] includes willful acts of destruction of the places, symbols, objects and other cultural property that represents the identity of a people, with the intent to erase the cultural narrative of that people in a particular region over time. Targets are often "symbolic landscapes" that, according to Sarah Jane Meharg, "create a particularity of place, [and] also act as narratives of collective memory that underpin the cohesion and identity of groups." [11]

Examples

The destruction of National and University Library of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. [12]

The destruction of Stari Most, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, Afghanistan

Renaming of Māori place names, New Zealand

Renaming of English and French place names in Montreal, Canada

Renaming of Palestinian villages and places from Arabic to Hebrew names after establishment of the State of Israel.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genocide</span> Intentional destruction of a people

Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarajevo</span> Capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarajevo is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo Canton, East Sarajevo and nearby municipalities is home to 555,210 inhabitants. Located within the greater Sarajevo valley of Bosnia, it is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of the Balkans, a region of Southeastern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural genocide</span> Type of genocide

Cultural genocide or culturicide is a concept described by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, in the same book that coined the term genocide. The destruction of culture was a central component in Lemkin's formulation of genocide. Though the precise definition of cultural genocide remains contested, the United Nations does not include it in the definition of genocide used in the 1948 Genocide Convention. The Armenian Genocide Museum defines culturicide as "acts and measures undertaken to destroy nations' or ethnic groups' culture through spiritual, national, and cultural destruction", which appears to be essentially the same as ethnocide. Some ethnologists, such as Robert Jaulin, use the term ethnocide as a substitute for cultural genocide, although this usage has been criticized as risking the confusion between ethnicity and culture. Cultural genocide and ethnocide have in the past been utilized in distinct contexts. Cultural genocide without ethnocide is conceivable when a distinct ethnic identity is kept, but distinct cultural elements are eliminated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnic cleansing</span> Systematic removal of a certain ethnic or religious group

Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it also includes indirect methods aimed at forced migration by coercing the victim group to flee and preventing its return, such as murder, rape, and property destruction. Both the definition and charge of ethnic cleansing is often disputed, with some researchers including and others excluding coercive assimilation or mass killings as a means of depopulating an area of a particular group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genocide denial</span> Attempt to deny the scale and severity of genocide

Genocide denial is the attempt to deny or minimize the scale and severity of an instance of genocide. Denial is an integral part of genocide and includes the secret planning of genocide, propaganda while the genocide is going on, and destruction of evidence of mass killings. According to genocide researcher Gregory Stanton, denial "is among the surest indicators of further genocidal massacres".

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was the first legal instrument to codify genocide as a crime, and the first human rights treaty unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, on 9 December 1948, during the third session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951 and has 153 state parties as of June 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina</span>

More than 96% of population of Bosnia and Herzegovina belongs to one of its three autochthonous constituent peoples : Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. The term constituent refers to the fact that these three ethnic groups are explicitly mentioned in the constitution, and that none of them can be considered a minority or immigrant. The most easily recognisable feature that distinguishes the three ethnic groups is their religion, with Bosniaks predominantly Muslim, Serbs predominantly Eastern Orthodox, and Croats Catholic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruins</span> Remains of human-made architecture

Ruins are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate destruction by humans, or uncontrollable destruction by natural phenomena. The most common root causes that yield ruins in their wake are natural disasters, armed conflict, and population decline, with many structures becoming progressively derelict over time due to long-term weathering and scavenging.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnocide</span> Extermination of a culture

Ethnocide is the extermination or destruction of ethnic identities. Bartolomé Clavero differentiates ethnocide from genocide by stating that "Genocide kills people while ethnocide kills social cultures through the killing of individual souls". According to Martin Shaw, ethnocide is a core part of physically violent genocide. Some substitute cultural genocide for ethnocide, and other argue the distinction between ethnicity and culture. Cultural genocide and ethnocide have been used in different contexts. While the term "ethnocide" and "ethnic cleansing" are similar, the intentions of their use vary. The term "ethnic cleansing" has been criticized as a euphemism for genocide denial, while "ethnocide" tries to facilitate the opposite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferhat Pasha Mosque (Banja Luka)</span> Mosque in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ferhat Pasha Mosque, also known as the Ferhadija Mosque, is a mosque in the city of Banja Luka and one of the greatest achievements of Bosnia and Herzegovina's 16th century Ottoman Islamic architecture. The mosque was demolished in 1993 at the order of the authorities of Republika Srpska as a part of an ethnic cleansing campaign, and was rebuilt and opened on 7 May 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosnian genocide</span> Murder of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats during the Bosnian War

The Bosnian genocide took place during the Bosnian War of 1992–1995 and included both the Srebrenica massacre and the wider crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing campaign perpetrated throughout areas controlled by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). The events in Srebrenica in 1995 included the killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, as well as the mass expulsion of another 25000–30000 Bosniak civilians by VRS units under the command of General Ratko Mladić.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosnian genocide case</span> 2007 International Court of Justice decision

Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro [2007] ICJ 2 is a public international law case decided by the International Court of Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Višegrad massacres</span> 1992 mass murder of Bosniak civilians

The Višegrad massacres were acts of mass murder committed against the Bosniak civilian population of the town and municipality of Višegrad during the ethnic cleansing of eastern Bosnia by Republika Srpska police and military forces during the spring and summer of 1992, at the start of the Bosnian War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urbicide</span> Violence against a city

Urbicide is a term which describes the deliberate wrecking or "killing" of a city, by direct or indirect means. It literally translates as "city-killing". The term was first coined by the science fiction author Michael Moorcock in 1963 and later used by urban planners and architects to describe 20th century practices of urban restructuring in the United States. Ada Louise Huxtable in 1968 and Marshall Berman in 1996 have written about urban restructuring in areas like the Bronx, and highlight the impacts of aggressive redevelopment on the urban social experience. The term has come into being in an age of rapid globalization and urbanization. Though urbanization trends in the last century have led to a focus on violence and destruction in the context of the city, the practice of urbicide is thousands of years old.

The Oriental Institute in Sarajevo is an academic institute in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was founded in 1950 by the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is part of the University of Sarajevo. but it suffered significant destruction in 1992 during the Siege of Sarajevo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War</span> Deportations and persecutions that occurred during the Yugoslav Wars

Ethnic cleansing occurred during the Bosnian War (1992–95) as large numbers of Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats were forced to flee their homes or were expelled by the Army of Republika Srpska and Serb paramilitaries. Bosniaks and Bosnian Serbs had also been forced to flee or were expelled by Bosnian Croat forces, though on a restricted scale and in lesser numbers. The UN Security Council Final Report (1994) states while Bosniaks also engaged in "grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other violations of international humanitarian law", they "have not engaged in "systematic ethnic cleansing"". According to the report, "there is no factual basis for arguing that there is a 'moral equivalence' between the warring factions".

The RAM Plan, also known as Operation RAM, Brana Plan, or Rampart-91, was a military plan developed over the course of 1990 and finalized in Belgrade, Serbia, during a military strategy meeting in August 1991 by a group of senior Serb officers of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and experts from the JNA's Psychological Operations Department. Its purpose was organizing Serbs outside Serbia, consolidating control of the Serbian Democratic Parties (SDS), and preparing arms and ammunition in an effort of establishing a country where "all Serbs with their territories would live together in the same state." A separate group of undercover operatives and military officers was charged with the implementation of the plan. These people then undertook numerous actions during the Yugoslav Wars that were later described as ethnic cleansing, extermination and genocide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genocidal rape</span> Mass sexual assault during wartime as part of a genocidal campaign

Genocidal rape, a form of wartime sexual violence, is the action of a group which has carried out acts of mass rape and gang rapes, against its enemy during wartime as part of a genocidal campaign. During the Armenian genocide, the Greek genocide, the Assyrian genocide, the second Sino-Japanese war, the Holocaust, the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Bosnian War, the Rwandan genocide, the Tamil genocide, the Circassian genocide, the Congolese conflicts, the South Sudanese Civil War, the Yazidi Genocide, and Rohingya genocide, mass rapes that had been an integral part of those conflicts brought the concept of genocidal rape to international prominence. Although war rape has been a recurrent feature in conflicts throughout human history, it has usually been looked upon as a by-product of conflict and not an integral part of military policy.

Erinnerungskultur, or Culture of Remembrance, is the interaction of an individual or a society with their past and history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosnian genocide denial</span> Denial of Bosnian genocide

Bosnian genocide denial is the act of denying the occurrence of the systematic genocide against the Bosniak Muslim population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or asserting it did not occur in the manner or to the extent that has been established by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) through proceedings and judgments, and described by comprehensive scholarship.

References

  1. ↑ Meharg, Sarah Jane. "Identicide and cultural cannibalism: Warfare's appetite for symbolic place." Peace Research 33.2 (2001): 89-98.
  2. 1 2 3 Meharg, Sarah Jane. "Identicide: Precursor to Genocide." Centre for Security and Defense Studies Working Paper 5 (2006): 1-19.
  3. 1 2 Meharg, Sarah Jane. "Post-war reconstruction: humanitarian aid or profit-driven activity?." Peace Research 35.1 (2003): 65-74.
  4. ↑ Post, Jerrold M. "Terrorism and right-wing extremism: The changing face of terrorism and political violence in the 21st century: The virtual community of hatred." International journal of group psychotherapy 65.2 (2015): 242-271.
  5. 1 2 Meharg, Sarah Jane. 1999. "MAKING IT, BREAKING IT, AND MAKING IT AGAIN: The importance of identity in the destruction and reconstruction of war-tom societies." M.A. thesis. https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ44852.pdf
  6. ↑ Meharg, Sarah Jane (2011). "Restoration and Reconstruction for Environmental Security". In Machlis, Gary E.; Hanson, Thor; Špirić, Zdravko; McKendry, Jean E. (eds.). Warfare Ecology. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer Netherlands. pp. 177–188. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-1214-0_12. ISBN   978-94-007-1214-0.
  7. 1 2 3 Meharg, S. J. (2004). "Identicide in Bosnia and Croatia: The destruction, reconstruction, and construction of landscapes of identity".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ↑ Speight, Sarah (2007–2008), "Castles as Past Culture 2: Adaptation and Identity in the Post-Life of Castles" (PDF), The Castle Studies Group Journal, 21: 268–275 Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  9. 1 2 3 Osborne, Brian (2001). "Landscapes, Memory, Monuments, and Commemoration: Putting Identity in its Place". Canadian Ethnic Studies. 33 (3): 20.
  10. ↑ Toft, Monica Duffy (24 April 2019). "Identicide: How demographic shifts can rip a country apart". The Conversation. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  11. ↑ Borowitz, Albert (2005). Terrorism for Self-glorification: The Herostratos Syndrome. Kent State University Press. ISBN   978-0-87338-818-4.
  12. ↑ Galgano, Francis; Palka, Eugene J. (2012-02-06). Modern Military Geography. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-136-91980-0.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.