The Anthropology of Violence

One particular class that I am excited about this term is "The Anthropology of Violence." I think in my quest to create peace, it is important to understand what thoughts already exist on the reasons for violence. This class intendes to look at violence cross culturally, exmaining whether violence is unpredictable and inexplicable or its opposite. Anyways, I am hoping to do a better a job of writing my class notes/reflections in my blog. I've realized recently that I have done very little processing of the ideas and experiences I am having. This needs to be change. Anyways, here's what we covered from my first class:

So to begin, we started with some definitions:

Aggress:
"to commit the first act of hostility'

Agression:
"hostitlity of attack upon another, whether overt, verbal or gestural."
"overt behavior with the intention of inflicting damage or other unpleasentness on another individual."

Violence:
"rough or injurious force, action or treatment, an unjust or unwarented exertion of force and power."
"the inf liction on people of physical injury or death or the threat to do so."
"any attitude, word, action that treatens or destorys the human dignity of a human person or groups of persons"
"any act of agreesion of abuse which causes or intends to cuase injury. IN some cases criminal, or harm to a person, and to a lesser extnet animals or property."

So when harm takes a step further to injury and is goal oriented this is an act of violence.
How does human diginity factor into this? Do we include the injury/harm of human diginity in violence?
What are the methods of violent conduct?
Unlike other animals, humans have developed intra-species killing. Human have the inention to harm, to negate and destroy its own species. When animals attack other animals for food, that is considered predation and not violence.

This class will look at the possible deeper patterns of violene through examination of case studies from around the world. Its nice to be excited about a class, maybe a thesis idea will come from this.