Revanchist ‘nature’ and 21^st century genocide

ABSTRACT

The natural world is responding to anthropogenic change through novel pathogens, antibiotic-resistant microbes, and pest infestations. This resurgence is part of a non-human reappropriation and transformation of human-altered environments. In this commentary, we argue that this ‘revanchism’ has prompted two new forms of genocide: the pre-emptive mass slaughter of non-human animals, and the annihilation of humans as expressed through COVID-19 and other pandemics; forms that will become exemplars for mass murder in the twenty-first century.

KEYWORDS:

• Genocide
• disease
• animal geographies
• anthropocene

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 From Anthony S. Kline, Ovid’s Metamorphoses: A Complete English Translation and Mythological Index (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Electronic Library, 2000). Accessible at http://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Ovhome.htm.

2 It is fitting that these ‘pest species’ are the names given to those dehumanized in Nazi Germany, Rwanda, Srebrenica, North America, and now Myanmar.

3 Ibid.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stian Rice

Stian Rice is a food systems geographer and Assistant Research Scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His work examines structural violence within food systems and the origins of historical famine. He is the author of Famine in the Remaking: Food System Change and Mass Starvation in Hawaii, Madagascar, and Cambodia.

James A. Tyner

James A. Tyner is Professor of Geography at Kent State University and Fellow of the American Association of Geographers. He is the author of numerous books, including Dead Labor: Toward a Political Economy of Premature Death.