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Deferral and dispersal: The military violence of post-war clean-up

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Mark GriffithsORCiD

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Abstract

People engaged in post-war clean-up activities endure a protracted encounter with war: air, soils, and water are toxified, and human health is depleted by effects such as congenital anomalies and chronic disease. In this article we ask three questions: How are we to conceptualise “clean-up” in the context of war’s toxicity? How does war appear from the perspective of clean-up? ​​And thus, how are we led to more critical understandings of war’s violence in a “post-war” period? We address these questions via examples from fieldwork on post-war clean-up in Iraq, arguing that clean-up does not reduce harm but instead defers and disperses military violence. We further argue that this prompts critical intervention around three key themes: the bodies of war, the materials of war, and the time-spaces of war. In conclusion we emphasise the urgency of understanding clean-up as a harmful and constitutive aspect of war.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Rubaii K, Griffiths M

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Human Organization

Year: 2025

Pages: epub ahead of print

Online publication date: 07/01/2025

Acceptance date: 01/12/2024

Date deposited: 08/01/2025

ISSN (print): 0018-7259

ISSN (electronic): 1938-3525

Publisher: Society for Applied Anthropology

URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/00187259.2024.2429998

DOI: 10.1080/00187259.2024.2429998

ePrints DOI: 10.57711/vq1w-8h74

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