Identity-Based Mass Violence

The VIP Lab is working with partners around the world to explore the concept of Identity Based Mass Violence (IBMV) in urban contexts. As described in our upcoming edited volume, “This work is driven by a recognition that the structures and root causes of mass violence exist in the spaces where people engage one another, and where power brokers have influence over the degree to which those interactions are based on trust and peace, or not. This work is also driven by an acknowledgement that mass violence does not just look like time-bound incidents of horror, but also by slow, chronic violence that exists without end and terrorizes generations within certain groups in society.” We root our definition of IBMV in Protection Approaches’ work to clarify identity-based violence: “act of violence motivated by the perpetrator’s conceptualisation of their victim’s identity, for example their race, gender, sexuality, religion, or political affiliation.” We build on this definition by calling attention to ‘mass’ violence, by which we mean widespread or large-scale.

In 2020, together with the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, we produced a case study-based research project to explore the theme of IBMV across country contexts. From this, we co-hosted roundtable discussions and established a selective reference group of global experts to advise our thinking.

In 2023, we embarked - together with colleagues from the Stanley Center and La Coordinadora Regional de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales (CRIES) - on the development of an edited volume, to be published in 2025. This volume has gathered academics, artists, activists, educators, urban planners and more to explore themes in a variety of formats and through a variety of disciplines. In addition to writing their individual chapters, the VIP Lab and our partners have been intentional about convening our contributors for in-person meetings in San Diego, Barcelona and Punta Mita to foster collaboration and dialogue, through which the volume has become far more than the sum of its parts.

This work is dedicated to enhancing the fields of atrocity prevention, peacebuilding and urban violence prevention in such ways that, by exploring alignments and overlaps, can make each field stronger. By connecting the dots between structural and more proximate causes of violence, we are unearthing pathways far more effective, as well as just and human-centered responses. Through the volume and continued exploration of IBMV, we seek to break from siloed approaches to this work and foster inclusive engagements between fields and practitioners.