ABC of War

Annotated Bibliography of Cultures of War

What are cultures of war?

War, in the sense of an armed conflict between different groups, represents an underlying anthropological constant. War can therefore be designated as a shared part of the human experience and culture. In order to analyze this experience in a comprehensive and appropriate way, a broad understanding of cultures of war is necessary that encompasses all aspects of human experience with and in war. Accordingly, we have a broad understanding of cultures of war, including on the one hand the norms, interpretations, attributions of meaning, and general reflections on war, and on the other the forms and practices of warfare (material and immaterial). With this term, both the mentality and the materiality that characterize a specific culture of war come into focus.

We include within cultures of war any phenomenon that deals in one way or another with an armed conflict, potential or actual, between different groups of people, or with the representations of such conflicts in all possible media. This definition allows us to connect and compare phenomena that previously might have seemed unrelated, and to analyze war as an integral part of human existence.

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