Born to a Turkish family on Cyprus, Vamik Volkan is a professor of psychiatry and is the founder of the Center
for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction at the University of Virginia. He is the author of many books, including
Life After Loss and The Immortal Ataturk. He lives in McLean, Virginia.
Review
"Volkan is an astute observer of both the small detail and the broader canvas of human behavior. An urgent
study of what transforms ethnic pride into violence against others."
--Kirkus Reviews
"The author is exceptional at clarifying chronological history and simplifying complex psychological thought."
--Publishers Weekly
"While this volume is erudite and richly documented, it clearly speaks to the average reader.� Volkan has
� drawn a convincing argument and has provided a valuable study."
--MultiCultural Review
"This is an important book for anyone trying to understand the persistence of ethnic conflict."
--Jimmy Carter
"Bloodlines should be compulsory reading for diplomats and international civil servants who have to wrestle
with the results of ethnic tensions. Vamik Volkan explians the psychology of large groups in a way readily understood
by those who have to propose and realize practical solutions."
--Richard Lewis, European Commission, Brussels
Perseus Books Group Web Site, Aug., 2001
Summary
In the wake of recent conflicts in Russia and the former Yugoslavia, ethnic terrorism and ethnic cleansing have
become household words. Yet we are at a loss to find solutions to such struggles. In Bloodlines, Vamik Volkan,
a world-renowned psychiatrist specializing in international relations, explores ethnic violence by examining history
and diplomacy through a psycho-analytic lens.Dr. Volkan leads the reader on investigative tours of battlegrounds
in the Middle East, Russia, Turkey, Cyprus, the Baltics, and the Balkans. In Serbia, he discovers that the Battle
of Kosovo, fought in 1389, is the rallying cry for modern nationalists, who view the past as prophecy. In Turkey,
PKK terrorist leader Apo reveals that he still considers himself an unloved child and orders his army of Kurdish
women to remain virgins because of his own disgust with "unclean" adult behavior. In Latvia, after the
dissolution of the USSR, Dr. Volkan learns that ethnic Latvians plan to disinter corpses and segregate cemeteries
in an attempt to establish a national identity separate from that of Russia. Drawing on a variety of disciplines,
Dr. Volkan analyzes these issues of identity formation, perceived versus real threats, the persistence of past
traumas, and the desire for revenge.The result is a work that lays the foundation for understanding the differences
between ethnic groups as well as the common ground they share. Timely, brilliant, and gripping, Bloodlines gives
fascinating insights into how personal identity intertwines with nationality, and why hatred of others becomes
a part of our sense of self.
Table of Contents
Deadly Distinctions: The Rise of Ethnic Violence
Ethnic Tents: Descriptions of Large-Group Identities
Anwar el-Sadat Goes to Jerusalem: The Psychology of International Conflicts Observed at Close Range
Chosen Trauma: Unresolved Mourning
Ancient Fuel for a Modern Inferno: Time Collapse in Bosnia-Herzegovina
We-ness: Identifications and Shared Reservoirs
Enemy Images: Minor Differences and Dehumanization
Two Rocks in the Aegean Sea: Turks and Greeks in Conflict
Unwanted Corpses in Latvia: An Attempt at Purification
A Palestinian Orphanage: Rallying Around a Leader
Ethnic Terrorism and Terrorists: Belonging by Violence
From Victim to Victimizer: The Leader of the PKK (Kurdish Workers' Party)
Totem and Taboo in Romania: The Internalization of a "Dead" Leader and Restabilization of an Ethnic Tent
Experiment in Estonia: "Unofficial Diplomacy" at Work
