Killing in the Name of Identity: A Study of Bloody Conflicts

by Vamık D. Volkan

“Why do they hate us so?” Vamik Volkan has the most compelling, humane, and universal response to the riddle of our time. In this extraordinary and timely book, Volkan explains better than anyone the relationship between large-group identities and massive traumas and current events and ongoing conflicts around the world, including those related to the horrific attacks of 9/11. In Killing in the Name of Identity , Volkan has taken us further, and deeper, into the dark and vulnerable collective mind of ethnic, religious, cultural, and national group conflict. Through his eyes and words, we find ourselves looking into and making contact with the universal elements present in humanity and in ourselves, which converge in producing the conditions for great human tragedies. No one understands nor writes about large-group terror and violence in a more compassionate and profoundly instructive way.

Genres: War

307 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Vamık D. Volkan (born in 1932 in Nicosia, Cyprus) is a Turkish Cypriot Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, the Senior Erik Erikson Scholar at the Erikson Institute of Education and Research of the Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and an Emeritus Training and Supervising Analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, Washington, D.C. Before coming to the United States in 1957 he received his medical education at the School of Medicine, University of Ankara, Turkey. He Professor Volkan holds Honorary Doctorate degrees from Kuopio University, Finland (2005) and from Ankara University, Turkey (2006). Academic Positions and Appointments in the USA Dr. Volkan was Director of the Gender Identity Clinic, University of Virginia Medical Center (1970-1976); member of the Task Force on Psychiatry and Foreign Affairs, American Psychiatric Association (1971-1977); Acting Chairperson of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Virginia School of Medicine (1977-1978); Consultant, Agency for International Development, Cyprus Mental Health Project, Department of State, Washington, D.C. for the design and construction of a Community Mental Health Center in Lefkoșa (Nicosia), North Cyprus, with a capacity for 100 inpatients (1977-1982); Chairperson of the Advisory Committee, Division of Social Work, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center (1981-1983); Co-chair of the Sexual Deviations Study Group, American Psychoanalytic Association (1982-1992); Chairperson of the Committee on Psychiatry and Foreign Affairs, American Psychiatric Association (1983-1985); Chairperson of the Committee on International Relations, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (1986-1996); member, Advisory Board, Center for Psychological Studies in the Nuclear Age, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts (1989-1992); member, Advisory Board, Margaret S. Mahler Research Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1992-2005); Chairperson of the Select Advisory Commission of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Critical Incident Response Group that examined the 1993 Waco, Texas incident (1995); Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts (2001); member of Working Group on Terror and Terrorism, International Psychoanalytic Association (2002-2004); Guest Instructor, Berkshires Psychoanalytic Institute, Stockbridge, MA (2007). Blue Ridge Hospital Dr. Volkan was the Medical Director of the University of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Hospital (a general hospital) (1978-1994). Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction (CSMHI) Dr. Volkan was Founder and Director of the Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction (CSMHI) (1987-2002) at the School of Medicine, University of Virginia. CSMHI applied a growing theoretical and field-proven base of knowledge to issues such as ethnic tension, racism, national identity, terrorism, societal trauma, transgenerational transmissions, leader-follower relationships, and other aspects of national and international conflict. Because no single discipline can fully illuminate such deep-seated and complex issues, CSMHI's faculty and board included experts in psychoanalysis, psychiatry, psychology, diplomacy, history, political science, and environmental policy. Their combined perspectives and experience provided in-depth analyses of political, historical, and social issues and the psychological processes that invariably exist beneath their surface.[1]

International Negotiation Network (INN) Professor Volkan was a member of the International Negotiation Network (INN) under the directorship of the former President Jimmy Carter (1989-1998). In 1987, President Carter founded INN as a flexible, informed network of former heads of state, Nobel Peace laureates, eminent persons and conflict resolution practitioners dedicated to resolving international conflicts through peaceful means. In 1992, Dr. Volkan traveled with President Carter and othe

Reviews

[Mary Gail O'Dea · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book that provides a theoretical tent for much that has happened in this country since 9/11. Saw Volkan at the American Psychological Assoc. Annual Meeting this summer -- he was intriguing. He has been active in a plethora of diplomatic activities that include psychoanalysts. His theory of large group identity, something that remains under the radar much of the time but that can become intensified through a trauma like 9/11, is comprehensive and integrated. He theorizes that a large group can regress in that situation -- regressing instead of working through a mourning process. They become exclusionary, suspicious of those they define as "other," hyper-protective of borders, etc. -- all of which we have witnessed in some aspects since 9/11. They embrace a myth about the large group -- e.g. American exceptionalism -- whether or not facts support the myth. The myth becomes larger than truth and is defended even if it means killing innocent others or resorting to sadistic actions -- e.g. waterboarding. The US is diverse enough that this is unlikely to become as pervasive as say Estonian demonization of Russians, or Serbian and Bosnian mutual hatred. But, it can be nasty as we have seen. Volkan's theory also helps explain the seeming indifference to the kind of ignorance glorified by Palin and Bachmann. When a group is obsessed with preserving a myth, fact and truths and meaning can be destroyed as long as the iconic figure doing the destroying is appealing to the myth. It is scarily reminiscent in some ways of pre-Nazi Germany, but Volkan seems to think America's great religious, ethnic, racial, intellectual diversity will protect it from devolving into a Germany or a Serbia. An important book.

[fundalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ele aldığı konu ve bu konu ile ilgili çözüm süreçlerini, uygulama örneklerini anlatması itibariyle önemli bir kitap bence. Sanıyorum çok fazla tarihsel örnek aktarıldığı için kitap çok keyifle ilerlemedi. Yer yer sıkıldım ancak aktardığı bilgiler çok değerli olduğu için okumuş olmaktan dolayı memnunum.

[Pinar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yazarın diğer kitaplarına göre biraz sıkıcı kalsa da, yine de okunmasını tavsiye ederim. Bir miktar kitabın başlığının içeriğiyle tam örtüşmediğini düşündüm.