Causes and cures IV: The symbolism of violence

The past two years have been a landmark moment for violence prevention, with the publication of The Global Status Report on Violence Prevention 2014; a historic resolution on violence by the 67th World Health Assembly; and the release of multiple documents on violence by international and United Nations entities, with a corresponding building of momentum in scholarship. Most notably, in September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, addressing the need for violence prevention at an unprecedented scale. In this context, more than ever, violence studies have become a field of its own right. Still, a systematic approach of the topic has been lacking, and no textbook yet synthesizes the knowledge of multiple disciplines toward a cogent understanding. This article is the fourth of a series of fifteen articles that will cover, as an example, an outline of the Global Health Studies course entitled, “Violence: Causes and Cures,” reviewing the major bio-psycho-social and structural-environmental perspectives on violence. It discusses the symbolic nature of human actions, as studied through semiotics among other fields, and the reasons why religion, art, and iconography can become potent arenas for violent expression. Violence points to the most poignant aspects of human existence, which center around love and its consequences: emotional vitality (“spirit”) and a cognitive sense of importance (“meaning”). These characteristics can, in turn, facilitate creativity, compassion, and resilience in the face of crisis, which are powerful mitigators of violence.