Redifining Genocide Settler Colonialism, Social Death and Ecocide

Historically known simply as systematic mass killing of a group of people, human genocide is, in reality, an extremely subtle and complex phenomenon. In the highly controversial and original Redefining Genocide, Damian Short systematically rethinks how academia currently characterizes genocide and how it actually should define it in the future. Short uses close empirical analysis of several controversial yet underdiscussed case studies worldwide, such as Palestine, Sri Lanka, Australia, and Alberta’s Tar Sands.

With intense examination of topical issues—such as fracking, environmental destruction, and the West Bank settlements—he reveals the key roles that settler colonialism, capitalism, finite resources, and the ecological crisis play in driving genocidal social death on a global scale. A provocative rethinking of how one of our world’s most disturbing aspects should be defined in the modern age, Redefining Genocide will be essential reading for all students and scholars of genocide studies.

Damian Short is a reader in human rights and director of the Human Rights Consortium and Extreme Energy Initiative at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. He is also Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Human Rights.