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Violence

Perspectives on Violence and Violent Death Edited by Robert G. Stevenson and Gerry R. Cox (Baywood) examines violence. It looks at the nature and types of violence, the causes of violence, and the emotional wake left by violent episodes. In the twentieth century, the world experienced two world wars and countless other wars. Many millions died violent deaths from murder, death squads, purges, riots, revolutions, ethnic cleansing, rape, robbery, domestic violence, suicide, gang violence, terrorist acts, genocide, and in many other ways. As we entered the twenty-first century, we experienced 9/11, the Red Lake School deaths, suicide bombers, and more mass death brought about by the actions of governments, revolutionaries, terrorists, and still more wars. The need to better understand violence, both lethal and non-lethal, to become aware of the many forms of violence, and to learn how to survive in the aftermath of violent death are the focus of Perspectives on Violence and Violent Death.

People are urgently seeking answers to these problems of violence, in its many forms. Some individuals and groups work to limit violence in a particular area. Others want to address broader issues, to limit violence in all of its many forms. If people do not want violence to continue at its present level, decisions have to be made. We know that no decision can be better than the information on which that decision is based. That is the seminal idea that led to the writing of this volume. A well-known and well-respected group of contributors provides information that can assist decision-makers with their difficult task.

Caregivers: counselors, chaplains, social workers, psychologists, and parents; educators: teachers and administrators in elementary and secondary schools and college instructors; and general readers.

Excerpt: In the twentieth century, the world experienced two major world wars and countless other wars. Many millions died violent deaths from murder, death squads, purges, riots, revolutions, ethnic cleansing, rape, robbery, domestic violence, suicide, gang violence, terrorist acts, genocide, and in many other ways. As we entered the twenty-first century, we experienced September 11th, Red Lake

School deaths, suicide bombers, and still more mass death by governments, revolutionaries, terrorists, and still more wars. The need to better understand violence and violent death, to become aware of the many forms of violence, and to better know how to survive in the aftermath violent death is the focus of this work.

These five chapters look at the nature of violence as it is seen in today’s world. It begins with an overview by Robert G. Stevenson, a noted educator and leader in managing violence in schools. “Good Violence/Bad Violence: Its Impact on Children and Suggested Responses” offers an overview of the book by explaining opposing views of violence, surviving violence, how to cope with violence, and why societies of the world need to understand and control violence.

Chapter 2, “Violence in the Family: Spirituality/Religion as Culprit and Comfort” by Reverend Richard Gilbert, helps readers to better understand that family violence is a part of our communities and affects all those around us. Gilbert, director of the World Pastoral Care Center and long-time practicing chaplain, offers an approach to ministering to those who are culprits and to comfort those who are victims. In Chapter 3, “Conflict and Violence in the Workplace: An Existentialist Analysis,” Neil Thompson illustrates a masterful model of workplace conflict and violence from an existentialist position and the perspective of a social worker. Gregory Paul Wegner, a noted historian of the Holocaust, next presents “Violence and the Dehumanization of Victims in Auschwitz and Beyond: Remembering Through Literature,” a powerful examination of Holocaust actions. In the next chapter, “Religious Violence and Weapons of Mass Destruction,” Timothy Kullman looks at religious actors in the arena of violence.

PART II:

ENCOUNTERS WITH VIOLENCE

This section includes four chapters that look at specific encounters with violence. It begins with “Resisting the Magnet: A Study of South African Children’s Engagements with Neighborhood Violence” by Jenny Parkes, who examines the ability of children in South Africa to manage violence. She offers suggestions from them that give some insight into how to better manage violence. Carr Maher, in “Silent Night, Violent Night: An Encounter With Unexpected Violence,” chronicles a tragic story of Christmas violence in a family and the impact of that unexpected violence on some of the police officers who responded. “Hispanic Families and Mass Casualties: The First 48 Hours” by Fernando Cabrera, examines the response of family members of those who perished when American Airlines flight 587 plunged into New York City shortly after takeoff. As a pastor and counselor, he offers solid suggestions for counselors and caregivers to use during the first 48 hours, with special attention to the needs of Hispanic families. The next chapter, “Grief and Guilt in the Military” by Carr Maher, offers an interesting perspective for managing the grief and “survivors guilt” of military personnel. It also speaks of the debt that those who have not served may owe to those who do.

PART III:

EMPIRICAL STUDIES

Each of these four chapters reports the results of specific studies related to violence and its effects. The first of these chapters, “Characteristics of Homicide: Victimization Across the Life Span” by Kimberly A. Vogt, examines the incidence of homicide across the life span. It provides insight into the extent of homicide today by examining violence and the factors of gender, race, age, culture, social structure, and the impact of violence on grief. The next chapter, “Grief and Attachment Within the Context of Family Violence” by Kimberly A. Rapoza and Kathleen Malley-Morrison, examines the connections between attachment, interpersonal violence, loss, and grief. In particular, the authors focus on the ways in which attachment theory can add to our understanding of the role of grief in violence. “Bereavement Following Violent Death: An Assault on Life and Meaning” by Joseph M. Currier, Jason M. Holland, Rachel A. Coleman, and Robert A. Neimeyer provides details and results of a study of grief and meaning making in the wake of violent death. The fourth chapter in this section, “Violence In Our Own Backyard: September 11th Revisited” by Barbara Melamed, examines reactions to September 11th in a study of survivors. This is a follow-up survey and reexamination of data initially gathered immediately after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

PART IV:

ALTERNATIVES TO VIOLENCE/

COPING WITH VIOLENCE

These final four chapters examine violence with particular emphasis on alternatives to break the chain of violence. Sir Colin Murray Parkes, noted English psychiatrist and pioneer in the field of thanatology, offers “Making and Breaking the Cycles of Violence,” wherein he develops strategies for ending the cycles of violence on personal, family, group/community, and national levels. Gerry Cox’s chapter, “Coping with Violent Death: The Role of Spirituality,” presents a model of spiritual coping as a means of surviving violent death. “From Violence to Peace: Posthomicide Memorials” by Inge Corless and Phyllis R. Silverman, discusses the ways in which families find solace and comfort after the violent death of a family member. It examines ways in which they memorialize those who died and how they act to prevent further violence by focusing on Boston’s Garden of Peace. Finally, we end this volume as we started it, by looking again at our young people and their schools. In “Talk it Out! Walk it Out! Wait it Out! Take Ten: An Intercultural Approach to Creating Safer Schools,” Kim Overdyke and Jay Caponigro offer a promising program that presents alternatives to violence in what may well be a first step in the globalization of nonviolence.

The book concludes with three more sections. The first is Appendix A, “Violence: A Statement of Assumptions and Principles.” This statement was a three-year project prepared by members of The International Work Group On Death, Dying, and Bereavement. The second section, Appendix B, is a quick summary of guidelines offered by authors of several of the chapters. Each is linked to its author so that a reader may quickly go to the appropriate section of the book, if they wish, for a fuller explanation. The final section, Appendix C, is an extensive bibliography on violence and grief, compiled by Dick Gilbert.

 

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