A Call for Integral Violence Studies

• Author: Christian Davenport
• Published date: 01 March 2021
• Date: 01 March 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/00027162211018980
• Subject Matter: Setting the Agenda

32 ANNALS, AAPSS, 694, March 2021

DOI: 10.1177/00027162211018980

A Call for

Integral

Violence

Studies

By

CHRISTIAN DAVENPORT

1018980ANN The Annals Of The American AcademyA Call For Integral Violence Studies

research-article2021

The legacies of racial violence are generally understud-

ied and thus not well understood. Extant academic

work on the topic generally focuses on a specific form

of contention like war or rebellion as well as specific

consequences like economic development or voting. I

use insights from a global evaluation of the political and

economic consequences of contention to identify the

pitfalls of this typical approach and argue for an alterna-

tive that I call integral violence studies: a comprehen-

sive approach that brings together the best that social

sciences and humanities have to offer in an effort to

understand legacy effects.

Keywords: violence; racism; white supremacy; conflict;

contention; research

For approximately 50 years, researchers

have been systematically investigating

diverse forms of contentious politics—protest,

counterprotest, terrorism, counterterrorism,

assassination, revolution, counterrevolution,

insurgency, counterinsurgency (i.e., civil war),

and genocide. In the 1960s, when this work

started to appear, a relatively small number of

individuals were generating theory about the

causes of distinct forms of political conflict/

violence, data capturing diverse aspects of the

relevant phenomenon (e.g., type, frequency,

scope, and degree of violence), and empirical

findings (e.g., Ted Gurr and Charles Tilly are

some of the most familiar). Today, the field has

essentially exploded, with more research being

generated than in any period before.

Christian Davenport is Mary Ann and Charles R.

Walgreens Professor of Human Understanding, profes-

sor of political science at the University of Michigan,

research professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo,

and elected fellow of the American Association for the

Arts and Sciences. His primary research interests

include political conflict, measurement, racism, and

popular culture.

Correspondence: christiandavenport@mac.com