Perpetrating Selves: An Introduction

Abstract

Bielby and Murer set out the main themes of the volume, as well as introducing the reader to the volume’s structure and 12 contributions. The introduction opens with a brief close reading of the volume’s cover image by artist and art psychotherapist Steve Pratt, ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ (2009). Bielby and Murer use that to launch themselves into a discussion of the contingency and contested nature of the category of ‘the perpetrator,’ the importance of understanding perpetration as a form of ‘doing,’ the book’s poststructuralist approach to self and the importance of gender to ideas around perpetration and violence. They then provide an overview of each chapter and interview in turn.