The nature of violent conflict in human societies:

Ethological, archaeological, historical evidence.

Classical anthropological models:

Their difficulty incorporating aggression and conflict in its epistemological foundations.

A short history of anthropological thought, from after its evolutionist foundations to the end of the "expansive moment". The enduring legacy of durkheimianism.

A look into the historical exceptions: Max Gluckman and the Manchester School, Sol Tax and the Chicago School - the importance of the "knowledge from the field", the case-study based approach.

Changing moments, missed opportunities: the African independences didn't change the conceptual paradigm.

Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Congo-Zaire: the problem with "localizing strategies".

David Graeber's seminal testament: The nature of violent conflict in human societies

https://www.eurozine.com/change-course-human-history/

Two case-studies:

The (ir)relevance of the work of Harry Turney-High for a renewed anthropological vision of the war in human societies.

The Napoleon Chagnon controversy as example of the enduring presuppositions in anthropology.

Towards an anthropology of war and violence:

Power, violence, and collective imagination. An add-on to Lévi-Strauss's model.

The phenomenon of war and the establishment of the nation-state.

The sacralization of power and state formation and dissolution (a reading of Luc De Heusch).

The cultural concepts of war and their relation to ideologies and political systems: readings of J. Kegan (The Face of Battle, A History of Warfare).

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