violence

Abstract: Acts of violence are often studied as facts, not as cultural and symbolic expressions. Within this article, the author will shed light on another dimension; explaining how a personal experience of unprovoked assault changed the author's scholarly vision of the intrusive nature of violence, as well as how violence influences the subjective perception of victims.

In situations of protracted armed conflict such as in sub-Saharan Africa, there exists a strong tendency to describe rebel violence as a senseless war of ‘all-against-all’. This ‘Hobbesian’ violence (a theory that people have the fundamental right to pursue selfish aims but will relinquish those rights in the interest of the common good) is often illustrated by the sight of drugged and gun-toting youths engaged in the harassment of innocent civilians.