Machine generated contents note: -- Preface Foreword : Dr Francis Deng Chapter I: Introduction: Narrating the Precariousness of Human Decency Abdelwahab El-Affendi Chapter II: Killer Narratives: Collective Nightmares and the Construction of Narrative Communities of Insecurity Abdelwahab El-Affendi Chapter III: Imagining Nationhood, Framing Postcoloniality: Narrativising Nigeria Through the Kinesis Of (Hi)StoryJames Tar Tsaaior Chapter IV: Sudanese Stories: Narratives of Grievance, Distrust and Fatalism in Recurrent Violence Alex de Waal Chapter V: General Elections and Narratives of Violent Conflict: The Land Question and Civic Competence in Kenya Kenneth Inyani Simala Chapter VI: The Violence of Security, Lethal Representations, and Hindu Nationalism in India Dibyesh Anand Chapter VII: Memories of Victimhood in Serbia and Croatia from the 1980s to the Disintegration of Yugoslavia Slobodan G. Markovich Chapter VIII: Insecurity, Victimhood, Self and Other: The Case of Israel and PalestineIlan PappeChapter IX: Resistance Narratives: Palestinian Women, Islam and Insecurity Mari HoltChapter X: State Insecurity and Intergroup Violence: The Case of Modern Iraq Ali A. Allawi Chapter XI: Islamophobia as a Securitisation Narrative: The Exclusionary Logic of Imperial Geopolitics Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Chapter XII: Killer Narratives in Western Popular Culture Anas El-Sheikh Ali Concluding Remarks Authors' Biographies.

"This book offers a novel and productive explanation of why 'ordinary' people can be moved to engage in destructive mass violence (or terrorism and the abuse of rights), often in large numbers and in unexpected ways. Its argument is that narratives of insecurity (powerful horror stories people tell and believe about their world and others) can easily make extreme acts appear acceptable, even necessary and heroic. As in action or horror movies, the script dictates how the 'hero' acts. The book provides theoretical justifications for this analysis, building on earlier studies but going beyond them in what amount to a breakthrough in mapping the context of mass violence. It backs its argument with a large number of case studies covering four continents, written by prominent scholars from the relevant countries or with deep knowledge of them. A substantial introduction by the UN's Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide demonstrates the policy relevance of this path-breaking work"--