Genocide Culture: Cultural Habitus, Ethnic Engineering and Religious Doxa

By Kaziwa Salih.

This book considers different stages of Kurdish history, oppression, and genocide through a critical lens, offering an historiography of Iraq and colonialism. Divided into two parts, the first part conceptualizes the coined term “genocide culture” and examines dominant Iraqi cultural practices that fostered genocide. The second part contextualizes the experiences of the Kurdish community to examine the effects of cultural practices and the role of “civilian actors” in fueling the extermination of targeted groups.

Through semi-structured interviews, primary archival documents, and nonparticipant observation, the author studies the links between everyday cultural practices and microaggression in general and the nexus between the state and the general population in the implementation of macroaggression and genocide. The book is relevant for scholars and students interested in genocide studies and the relation of both genocide and culture to histories of colonialism, as well as those working in the fields of violence and cultural psychology, sociology, history, international relations, ethnic conflict, and Middle Eastern studies.

Kaziwa Salih holds a Ph.D. from Queen’s University, Canada, where she specialized in the cultural sociology of genocide/violence and the way microaggressions foster macroaggression. She is the multiple award-winning author of over 10 non-fiction and fiction books and has written many articles and academic articles. She founded and served as the editor-in-chief of two Kurdish journals, Nvar and Newekar, and currently, she serves as the Collection Editor for Middle Eastern Studies at Lived Place Publishing. Her commitment to human rights is evident through her involvement with various organizations across Canada, Kurdistan, Egypt, and Syria, including notable contributions to the United Nations Association and Amnesty International.

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