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Understanding the unthinkable

Canada’s recent attempts at understanding and addressing issues related to mass ethnic violence and genocide are reflective of international social trends seeking appropriate methods of societal reconciliation and criminological responses. The 2013 Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Committee for investigating the abuses and experiences of Aboriginal children during the Indian Residential Schools system brought to the fore of Canadian consciousness both the violence of Canada’s colonial past and the necessity for expression, resolution, and reconciliation (Stanton, 2011). In 2009, the indictment of Rwandan foreign nationals involved in the Rwandan genocide was an indication of the current trend towards domestic prosecution of foreign national war criminals and people involved in genocidal activities. Finally, the trend towards the increasing governance of previously relatively ungoverned areas as a way of redressing previously traumatized places and preventing future atrocities is reflected in the circuit courts of the eastern Canadian Arctic (p. 217). These events have brought to the Canadian consciousness the complexities associated with addressing past mass traumas, public and governmental recognition, and the necessary healing and recovery after episodes of mass ethnic violence. As Brannigan states in his exploration of the criminological responses to genocide and ethnic violence, “there are gaps between memory (truth telling through the recollection), justice (establishing culpability of specific individuals according to stringent legal standards based on such revelations), and reconciliation (the subsequent ‘healing’ of previously divided communities)” (p. 195). Augustine Brannigan’s study on the social psychological and criminological responses to genocidal activities is a fascinating and detailed contribution to reframing the foundations of predominant interpretations of the genocidal mentality, social discourses, and the various transformations of the domestic and international legal response in contexts that have experienced mass ethnic violence. The title intentionally evokes Hannah Arendt’s (1963/2006) interpretation and coverage of the Adolf Eichmann trial in Jerusalem in 1961. The influence of Arendt’s coverage of the Israeli trials came from the stark conclusion that the most horrific and brutal violence in human history was carried out by seemingly normal people within a complex bureaucracy carrying out their duties as any other worker might in a normal desk job. The understanding that authority established a kind 590436 TAP0010.1177/0959354315590436Theory & PsychologyReview book-review2015