ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the topic of violence, insofar as it relates to questions of political identity. It suggests that under uncontrolled liminal conditions, however, the purification does not function, and the contagion spreads to become a part of the culture. The chapter examines the theme of scapegoating and sacrifice in liminal politics, the phenomenon of violence, and its social and political implications. It analyzes the cultural, anthropological and political significance of sacrifice and of the sacred, arguing that a lot of political violence taking place within the Soviet and post-Soviet region can be understood through understanding the violent, "sacrificial" mechanisms at the historical, intellectual and experiential levels. The chapter describes the circumstances needed for the sacrificial mechanisms to emerge, the character of a subject to which these violent acts are directed, and the anthropological reasons why these acts take place. It looks at the logics of scapegoating, sacrifice and violence, and how interrelated these social phenomena are.
