ETHNIC CLEANSING - A METAPHOR FOR OUR TIME

The intense ethnic assertion of identity often translated into violenc e ethnic cleansing - can be largely explained as a consequence of the challenge to the project of modernity (economic development, justice, rule of law, the mass media, satellite technology and transport). Alth ough ethnic cleansing itself is not a new phenomenon, developments in the mass media allow it to play a crucial role in influencing people i n their perception of culture on an unprecedented scale. Hatred of the enemy, defined simply in ethnic or religious terms, is heightened thr ough the use of television. Honour, glory, past mythology and ethnic n ationalism are extolled, creating a predisposition for extreme argumen ts. Rape or sexual intimidation is extensively employed to terrorize a nd humiliate the ethnic enemy and explains the bitterness among combat ants. The article considers its theoretical and methodological implica tions. First, all such crises need to be looked at in a global frame, those who share the religion or race of the victims of ethnic intolera nce in one part of the world may be the aggressors in another. Second, we need to recognize that the discrete boundaries between academic di sciplines are redundant. Third, while we need to study the ethnic deat h and torture camps (like those in the Balkans) we must also spot othe r less obvious and more subtle but almost equally tragic forms of ethn ic cleansing resulting from racism and immigration policies (as in wes tern Europe), Finally, we need to recognize fragmentation, new mutatio ns, transformations, revivalisms and revisions. This fragmentation is both cause and effect of ethnic revivalism.