Perpetrators, Animals, and Animality

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to bring Perpetrator Studies into conversation with the interdisciplinary field of Animal Studies. The chapter begins with a discussion of a recent hoax revolving around the role of guard dogs at the Berlin Wall. Contrary to the hoaxers’ intentions, I argue that the incident serves as an object lesson on the importance of the question of the animal and the discourse of species for the understanding of genocide and political mass violence. I proceed in three stages: first, I explore the question of “dehumanization” in order to consider how the language of animality haunts the discourse of genocide in the metaphorical or symbolic representation of both victims and perpetrators, and how this both invites and forecloses comparisons to the treatment of actual animals. I then explore the concept of genocide and the extent to which it can and should be applied to the extermination of nonhumans (e.g., in the case of settler colonialism and mass extinction). Finally, I consider the extent to which animals can be considered perpetrators of political and genocidal violence. Here I examine the question of nonhuman agency, with particular reference to the role of dogs as agents of (bio)political violence.