Dehumanization in War and Peace: Encounters with Lebanon's Ex-Militia Fighters

Sami Hermez

doi:10.1111/aman.13271

Dehumanization in War and Peace: Encounters with Lebanon's Ex-Militia Fighters

Sami Hermez^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

NUQ Liberal Arts Program

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Between 2006 and 2009, I attended various peacebuilding and antiwar events in Lebanon, from dialogue sessions and workshops to lectures and demonstrations. One refrain at these events was that war should be avoided because it was dehumanizing or, in a slightly different form, that it results in a loss of humanity. Alongside these gatherings, I conducted interviews and ethnographic fieldwork with former militia fighters from Lebanon's war (1975–1990). Together, these encounters led me to question notions of dehumanization in discourses of war and peace. Did war dehumanize? Did dehumanization lead to war? Did perpetrators lose their humanity through acts of killing? Did their actions stem from the dehumanization of the other? This article explores these questions and interrogates the notion of humanity. I argue that in allowing the notion of humanity to shape our politics, and in centering the loss of humanity in discourses of war and peace, both war and peace are invariably depoliticized. [war, dehumanization, combatants, humanity, Lebanon].

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	583-594
Number of pages	12
Journal	American Anthropologist
Volume	121
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13271
State	Published - 2019

Funding

I wish to thank Muzna Al-Masri, Debbora Battaglia, John Borneman, Lara Deeb, Sabine El-Chamaa, Chris Garces, Carol Greenhouse, Abdellah Hammoudi, Diala Hawi, Helena Nassif, Michelle Obeid, and Rabih Saloum for various support and conversations as I developed this paper; audiences at Northwestern University, the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, and University of Pittsburgh for their feedback; Deborah Thomas for amazing editorial guidance; and five anonymous reviewers for their time and effort, and for their insightful and kind comments that helped transform the original draft into its current form. Finally, I wish to thank the Arab Council for the Social Sciences and Beirut Forum for Critical Security Studies working group for their support.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Anthropology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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10.1111/aman.13271

Cite this

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abstract = "Between 2006 and 2009, I attended various peacebuilding and antiwar events in Lebanon, from dialogue sessions and workshops to lectures and demonstrations. One refrain at these events was that war should be avoided because it was dehumanizing or, in a slightly different form, that it results in a loss of humanity. Alongside these gatherings, I conducted interviews and ethnographic fieldwork with former militia fighters from Lebanon's war (1975–1990). Together, these encounters led me to question notions of dehumanization in discourses of war and peace. Did war dehumanize? Did dehumanization lead to war? Did perpetrators lose their humanity through acts of killing? Did their actions stem from the dehumanization of the other? This article explores these questions and interrogates the notion of humanity. I argue that in allowing the notion of humanity to shape our politics, and in centering the loss of humanity in discourses of war and peace, both war and peace are invariably depoliticized. [war, dehumanization, combatants, humanity, Lebanon].",

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Dehumanization in War and Peace: Encounters with Lebanon's Ex-Militia Fighters

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