Social Thought &Commentary: Suicide Bombers, Terror, History, and Religion Author(s): Niccolo Caldararo Reviewed work(s): Source:

Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 79, No. 1 (Winter, 2006), pp. 123-131 Published by: The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4150911 . Accessed: 16/03/2013 21:47
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SOCIAL ANDCOMMENTARY THOUGHT

Suicide
and

Bombers, Religion

Terror,

History,

NiccoloCaldararo SanFrancisco StateUniversity

tendency manyexamples There cuss suicideand terrorism and to emphasizesome examplesfrom the

is a

to overlook

fromthe West whenwe dis-

NearEast.Thisis true both in the academicand popularpress.I will give fromeach. examples littlein recent in print the theoryof suiVery yearshasappeared concerning cide bombing or pastresearch in suicide.Even Durkheim or morerecentcomstudiesby people like Schneidman, and Litman prehensive Farberow, (1970) haveplayedminorroles,if any,in the popular discussion. Weare oftentreated to a history of the Assassins, a Middle Eastern sectwhichcameto considerablepower in the 12thcentury, andtheirleader, Hasan basedalmost as-Sabah, on the workof one man, Bernard Lewis. than 630,000citations More entirely on the world-wide web referto his workor interviews withhim regarding suiand is the primary sourcefor newsstories.Despite the definicide bombings tive tone of his book,Lewis admitsthe strange factthat,"The mostimportant life is his autobiography...No singlesourcefor Hasan's copyhasso farcometo In Lewis cites Ismaili sources light..."(1980:146). fact, capturedby the butall of whichweredestroyed or lost.Thesect is knownonlyfrom Mongols, the reportsof its enemies and some few eye witness reportslike that of
123

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Suicide Bombers,Terror, Historyand Religion

Noneof theseoriginal sources areused,and Joinville. Joinville's (like Chronicle) the followers of Hasan are characterized in usualtermsas fanatics, as-Sabah whileJoinville a picture of reason in the context of Medieval presents (certainly of like those the nature discussed Foucault ideas, by characterizing guilt 1977) and loyalty this information in his notesand commonto his time. Byputting notin histext,Lewis a lessnuanced one withgreater difference produces story, and distinction thanthe factsprovide. Onemighthaveexpected some moreancientbeginning, perhaps Appian's of the masssuicide of theXanthians aftertheirdefeatbyBrutus durdescription the Roman Civil a with the War or (42 B.C.), ing comparison description by of Hallcarnassus of theirmasssuicide Herodotus afterdefeatbythe Persians, or earlier whentheywerethe enemiesof theTrojans. Their refusal to submit is legandtheyeven resisted Alexander the Great, tells us,whenthey endary, Appian refused to but Arrian did. We sometimes surrender, again respect arguesthey thosewhochoosedeathoverslavery, of butthen,the central issueis the nature Karen has discussed in her as book Battle God. defeat, Armstrong cogently for Theentirepicture of assassination thatis related, is madeforeign to Europe and the restof the worldin, forexample,Karen Andriolo's essay (2002)recent Ifshe hadlooked in the American on assassination at the fanatAnthropologist. of the Crusades, icalfollowers a morebalanced viewwouldhaveresulted. But so we can expectthis result. A reference to the assasthen, she is usingLewis, in Europe sinations the late Middle and as detailed Renaissance, during Ages in his TheHistory and Gibbon in hisDecline andFall by Machiavelli of Florence the Roman would a different of these could be view. Many of Empire, provide and the frequency classedas "suicidal," becameso frenzied thatthe wearing of masks to prevent became common. recognition Andriolo is notaloneinthis myopic viewof suicide andIslam, yetthe nature of suicide anditsrelation to society a hasbeena topicof study by legionof scholarsoverthe past200 years. Current research hasbeendriven bythe emergency the of "Suicide feelingsregarding newly recognized phenomenon by Cop." fromthe USA indicate thatrates of suicidebypurposely a Estimates confronting 12% officer have risen to 10 to all individuals killed in the of line peace bypolice to Rebecca authorof a studyof the same name of duty,according Stincelli, Anumber "Wide of TV andradio PBS havetaken shows,including (2004). Angle" a moregeneral Tamil VietMinh, andtheTurkish PKK, approach including Tigers,
calling them "nationalistexceptions"to the religious phenomenon of Muslim

Insomecases,however, it is questionable suicidebombers. we areutiwhether

lizingacts derivedfrom policyand dogma or individualacts of revenge. 124

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NICCOLO CALDARARO

of patterns EmileDurkheim focusedon the roleof societyin the formation reinforced of histhesis(forexample,Maris of suicide.Restudies manyof 1969) centralfindings,but foundthat suiciderateswere influenced Durkheim's by and otherfactorsin complexrelationstatus(SES), socialrole,socialeconomic withthe of suicideclusters and Short(1954)associated patterns ships.Henry of suicide business cycle. A comprehensivecross-cultural study by 23 Farberow concluded thattherearesignifeditedby Norman researchers (1975) in the structure icantcultural influences on suicideand these weresignificant of formslike murder-suicide and protestsuicide,as occurred and frequency the or by earlyChristian monks Vietnam War Buddhist martyrs during among before250 C.E.This bringsup the issue of the natureof publicsuffering. were replaced with trials how publicpunishments Foucault (1977)describes in the 18th and 19thcenturies. revolutions afterthe greatwaveof republican and Public molten lead oils torture, pouredonto the fleshof still living using in openairdisplays, the fleshoffwith andquartering, drawing prisoners tearing andothermethods wereendedbythe endof the 19thcenredhotimplements, in England in 1834and in wereabolished tury,withfew exceptions. Brandings that the trial continuedthe France in 1832. He fails to recognize, however, of the grotesque of the spectacle, the public's nature physical replacing viewing humiliation has become so with the of which popular, suffering viewing public in the U.S.,beginning with as in the Moscow and as a television Trials, pastime and in trials as those of the HouseUnAmerican Activities such Trials, lately O.J. and Michael Jackson. Simpson of AbuGhraib, not of the imagery Thenwe shouldfocuson the importance inthe suffering it reported butinthecombination of malesuffering and pornogin his andas As Albert Moore describes C. raphy. of Religions Iconography (1977) Witcombe Christopher (1995, http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/f3worldcreated of womengeneralthe ancient documents, images women.html) the body whole and healthful. or representing ly as serene,contemplative, this idea of women havealso reinforced Recent of Chinese reappraisals images and Perrot R.Wang bysurveys 1992) (see Robin 2003).Thisis supported (Duby itself andcritical Schade 2002, appraisals distinguished (Lewis 2003).Christianity shotwith of malesuffering, on the cross, St.Sebastian through images e.g.,Christ followers also had to etc.. Catholic that arrows, contemplate dogmaexplained the psychological of Mary andthe femalesaints,but it wasthe males suffering
who were most often depicted in art suffering, even in hell. Breughel, HieronymusBosch, and some of the members of their following are minor exceptions,though even here the vast majorityare men. 125

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Suicide Bombers,Terror, Historyand Religion

Theuseof painto reachheightened orentryto the spirstagesof awareness it worldwasa routine meansbywhichpeoplecouldparticipate withthe godhead in manytraditional humansocieties.Altered states,out of bodyexperiand forms of are means ences, spiritual ecstasy bywhichthe ancientreligions usedto provide communication withthe worldof spirit andgods.Thebinding of the angakut whoseshouting and invoking chantsand cries (Inuit shaman), of suffering reach a levelof ecstasy, aresimilar to the images of suffering inthe in S&M and torture Brison mentioned the article Susan J. pornography by and in her book, Magazine (2002)in the July25th issueof the SanFrancisco Central of Nebraska ed. Press Eskimo, Boas,The Aftermath University (seeFranz for reference to the angakut). 1888publication Thisis not 1964,orthe original a uniqueexample.Self-flagellation and the spiritual abuseof the fleshwere commonin religions in of the past. Eliades' Shamanism: Archaic Techniques The Forms The Ecstasy (1964)Durkheim's Elementary of Life(1915) Religious documenthow religious acts of suffering playeda centralrole in manyreliearlyChristianity. gions,including Sincethe adventof Christianity suchspiritual was limitedto the suffering after the initial overpaganism, and then,after priesthood periodof triumph the massoutbursts of self-abuse the periodleadingup to and shortly during afterthe BlackPlague,it was sanctioned In manycases,such by the Church. withspirits withtransmission withdevils,as in communication wasidentified the case of Joanof Arc. suchpain-inflicted communicative stateshavebeenessential However, parts of martyrdom. Theoppressor the meansto the communicative state provides in ourimages so familiar of the suffering of saintsor in Christ, as in bytorture the recentMelGibson film.InthiswaybothIsrael andthe USmilitary prisons the routeforidentification withthe godhead haveprovided Thefact bytorture. that manypeoplearedriven withsuchimages to watchand participate reflects the power suchimageshadin Roman timesandgavesubstantial psychological momentum to the earlyChristian church. Themasses of peopleweretransfixed of Christ and the saints.Thestoriesof suffering by the imagesof suffering by torture werea effective tool fororganizing newfollowers, andthe sameseems to be truetodaywiththe experience Inthe samesenseas today, of Islam. many to Romans foundthisbehavior but no avail. distasteful, that manypeopledesireto experience Wemustrealize suchpublic expressions of suffering,either themselves or to be presentwhen it occurs. InJapan, however, we find another manifestation of this trend. Prior to the work of Yoshitoshi(for example, in his Twenty-eight Versesfor Famous Murders, 1867) 126

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NICCOLO CALDARARO

we find littlein the wayof brutal and death.Roger imagesof femalesuffering and and Keyes George Kuwayama (1980) Keyes (1989) arguethat the appearanceof cruelandevensadistic in Yoshitoshi's imagesof femalesuffering work, and othersat the time, reflects the generaldisintegration of the times under the collapsingTokugawa was known to have regime. ThoughYoshitoshi derived from of to pleasure images cruelty women,he wasalso known against haveuseda largenumber of Dutch as references. graphics Thereis no doubt,though,thatJapanese artistshaveextendedimagesof andotherpronography of Nobuyshi cruelty (forexamplein the bondage Arak) or "cutehorror" of Makoto Aida(Lee2005a, 2005b),whichexistedin earlier traditionsof a more unfettered sexuality(Prasso 2005).The use of pain to reachstatesof alteredawareness is certainly a partof the indigenous religion of Japan in the modern of suffering, (Blacker 1986).Thedifference expression bothin Japan and in the West, is thatthe present formcontemplates the sufin the Westfromthe contemplation of feringof anotherand is transformed the suffering of Christ andthe saintsto thatof women,and in Japan, fromthe of a spiritual seekerto the contemplation of the suffering personal suffering of women.Inbothcases,the representation hastakenon a pornographic elewhetheror notthis kindof pleasure was partof ment,thoughit is debatable the religious in the past.AnatoleFrance this problem in experience proposed his rendering of the storyof Thais. Inthe last200years, butmainly inthe past100yearspornographic of images females hasbecomea verycommonimagereplacing thatof malesufsuffering AbuGraib seemsto supplant thatin the present andthatwasa fering. context, remarkable event.A recentbookby PamelaPaul(2005) the expanding surveys roleof pornography and its nature as a contemtoday increasing non-participant exercise. Theroleof suffering in connection withsex is central. Theconplative of in acted as a of means recruitment at templation suffering earlyChristianity the time,a meansof identification fromthe dominant culture andgovernment. we see this in Islam. We can understand the Today present again powerof this to make the connection. Theinterpretation of the bombimageif we arewilling in the media refuses to see this and instead it describes as the mediadid in ings the mid19thcentury withRussian and Eastern nihilists European (seeKropotkin 1970and Paul Avrich This essentialism diverts us from and 1976). understanding to the problem. responding
In most currentmedia, the pictureof Muslimsand the Near Eastmore generally is made stereotypicby a lack of comparison.Nevertheless,even scholarly failure to acknowledgethat the modern era has seen similarwaves of assas127

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Suicide Bombers,Terror, Historyand Religion

sinationsduringperiodsof socialstressis perplexing, as in the acts of the or the of Franz with Russia assassination that in Nihilists Joseph is oftencredited WWI. is mostpertinent of suicidein Russia starting Paperno's study(1997) Irina condemned the association with here.Whilemostanarchists of assassination of the deed," the "propaganda whichmeantdestruction of property andsaboand the scholars anarchist tage,today popular many identify press philosophy at the time (for with assassination, that manyclearlycondemned something from overthe past200 yearsranged example,Kropotkin 1970).Assassination the personal, as whena judgewasmurdered in SanFrancisco in byhisex-lover of to the assassination and Federal Southern 1870, sympathizjudges agentsby War(Kirkham ers beforeand duringthe USCivil 1969).Mostassassinations, and religiousideals. From however,have been motivatedby nationalistic in Ireland, liketheTamils nationalists to the IRA demands Quebec byminorities in SriLanka withsuchacts.The19thcentury sawa great oftenare associated increase in attacks on authority, correlated with massivemovements of partly ruralpopulation fromthe landto cities.In England, assassinations reached a withindustrialization peakaround1840,in combination (Kirkham 1969).The TamilTigers' suicidebombing shouldbe seen in a similarcontext.Between from2.3% 1880 and 1980 the suiciderate in Sri Lanka increased to 20.1%. was 87%but between1950 and 1980, Between1900 and 1950 the increase Incontrast, therewasa 450% increase. the homicide rateincreased moreslowin in we from 4.7% 1951 to 6.7% 1969 The central ly question (Headley 1983). is occurring, but whythe haveto ask todayis not only whysuicidebombing mediaand manyscholars areportraying thispresent as andnew. phase unique of culturewith suicide bombingis reproduced in many The association and suicidebombrecentbooks.Onecan see this in threebookson terrorism in the Financial Times ing recentlyreviewedby LouiseRichardson (3 July written in Books the tend to suicide place post9/11 period 2005). bombings historyand limit them to the exotic rebels only in the contextof Eastern Astudyof the late19thcentury andearly20thwouldproagainstmodernism. vide a spate of examplesof suicidebombersand assassinsin the heartof AsJomoKenyatta the worldnearlya century admonished Europe. ago in his Mt.Kenya, ourselves "...wemuststartby knowing book,Facing first,andonly then proceed to the moreexoticsavageries." in the westernanalysis of presentsuicideattacksis the waveof Forgotten
terroragainst Royalistgovernmentsthat followed the atrocities of the revolutions of 1848, whose sacrifices by republicansare today glorified in cute theater pieces under the title of LesMiserables, made palatable for contemporary 128

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CALDARARO NICCOLO

audiencesfromHugo's text. Somehavesaid that there was a Sentimentalist fromthe Enlightenment cultof the heroicsuicidederived typifiedbyGoethe's of the in Werther and bombings character (Paperno 1997).Theassassinations in Europe in revenge, and the wereoftenundertaken 19thand 20thcenturies the relationship whetherit was the assassination of King publicunderstood in 1914.Inthe US,we havethe famous in 1900or thatof Ferdinand Humbert cases of Lincoln and of Garfield, though in the latter case madnesswas the motivations Kirkham of assassins were claimed.Butas reported by (1969), some personal as in the murders of judgesand otherlocaloffiquitediverse, from or sectionalfeelsome and others derived nationalistic cials, religious it trendin suicidebombings, and perhaps to the present ings.Mostpertinent is therefore and not an indigenous one derivedfromthe European tradition of Russia and nationalto the Middle is thatof the 19thcenturynihilists East, the time ists of Central and Eastern The of couched press Europe. European theirexistencein similar "barbaric." terms,"fanatic," "savage," in almost causes were a fashion identical to thoseof today. Many proposed, and and Slaviclanguages were blamed,the Russian "character" The Russian the of the of 1861 Slavic "soul." Herbert referred nihilists to Spencer bombings and social as the resultof a philosophical systemof "religious, governmental in of of Elbe Yetthe fetishism" the east the River." lifeways peoples originating of the French in similar termsby Blake massacres Revolution weredescribed of the East.Blake and reportedin -orror by emissaries to the governments candescribe these eventsas barbaric and yet notapplythe termto the "head the of the Triumvirs prescriptions followingtheir victory. during hunting" tells us thattens of thousands of headsweretakenand Appian (95to 165C.E.) the bounmurdered to receive centurions once removed the from gathered by in the Forum. Ofcourse,we turnawayfrom ty.Theheadswerethen displayed of African whichare the barbarism of slavery, or the lynchings Americans, as Cicero closerto us in time. Wemustavoidthe biasof the timesto prevent, of the of the action blindness admonished, passion. The questionof the association of suicideand assassination cannot be in 66 C.E. assassins definedabsolutely, butas Robert Pape(2005)notes,Jewish wereclearthat they had decidedon death even thoughtheirweaponwas a knife. Whether one usesa knifeor a suicide vest,the end is the same.Thepress to produce of Middle Eastern as bizarre hasemphasized someaspects bombings
a false sense of a malady specific to Islam or Arab-speaking peoples (Beyler 2003), but we also find teenage Jewishwomen involved in some of the bloodiest events of the reignof terroragainst the Britishin Palestine(Brown1979).
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Suicide Bombers,Terror, Historyand Religion

what is going on in the MiddleEasttodaywe If we want to understand mustreadourown history and findthe strength in ourown heartsto realize It is onlythe reference thatwe are no different. of time that haschanged. Charles Derber warned that senseless and brutal violenceis becoming (1996) in the UStoday. Noam hasdescribed a culture of Chomsky commonplace (1988) it the terror that bound to of rebels response authority. governmental against Kirkham of criminal and undeniable the tradition terror (1969)makesexplicit in the world. Wecannotignore in the and assassination the patterns of history Todo so canonlyresult in error What is happening andtragedy. today present. is no different thaninthe past,butthe effects aremagnified both bytechnology, in the weapons usedto produce endsand in the mediawhichinfluence deadly choices andfeelings.

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