(Cross-posted to Ta-Nehisi Coates) In certain precincts of Albania, where familial ties still mean everything, minor grudges have a way of spiraling seriously out of control. Take the the sad case of the Morevataj clan, which has been embroiled in a decade-long blood feud thanks to a drunken spat that ended in murder. According to […]
In reading about the persistence of clan feuding on Mindanao, we got to thinking about how governments can best end such cycles of revenge. Our natural assumption is that these feuds exist where organized justice is in short supply, and so familial units take over the role of punishing offenders. But a University of Maryland […]
The practice of headhunting is typically associated with pre-colonial Southeast Asia, and for good reason: Prior to 1700, approximately one-third of the region’s populace engaged in the sadistic pastime. But the ritualized lopping off of skulls had its fair share of devotees in Europe, too. The tribes of Montenegro were avid headhunters, primarily targeting Ottoman […]
The nation-at-large first awoke to the notion of Appalachian feuding thanks to this 1885 New York Times article (PDF). Entitled “The Kentucky Vendetta,” the piece recounted a Rowan County spat that arose over a charge of horse thievery. The writer contended that when the courts were unable to provide appropriate redress, the Underwood and Holbrook […]
