The institution of group and genocidal acts

pages: 123-134

Abstract

This critique is focused on a small theory regarding the constituting of a group through the simultaneous exclusion of some other group. Is it possible, then, to produce social and non-social acts (negative social acts) at the same time? Or is it possible to construct a group which acts ‘genocidally’, meaning that it destroys another group or “the groupness” of a group, and at the same time affirm its own unity and its ontological stability? (I have used the word ‘institution’ in the title, since we are dealing with a group that is lasting, and not temporary.) Finally, does this thematization of the group through inter-group antagonism have anything to do with Lemkin’s word ‘genocide’? [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 43007: Istrаživаnje uticaja klimаtskih promenа nа životnu sredinu: prаćenje uticаjа, аdаptаcijа i ublаžаvаnje i br. 41004: Retke bolesti: molekularna patofiziologija, dijagnostički i terapijski modaliteti i socijalni, etički i pravni aspekti] Keywords: group, genocide, Convention, negative acts, social genocide