Vol 34, No 3 (2024)

The article discusses in a first step the explanatory power of mimetic theory as René Girard has applied it himself and as many other scholars in different academic fields. Girard understood his approach as a hypothesis that must be proven. His scholarly attitude is underlined with two examples of self-correction that he undertook during the unfolding of his theory. Today also people outside academia show an increasing interest in mimetic theory. It has also become a helpful approach to explain the current stage of our world by the example of two books, which is discussed at the end of the first section of this article. The second and third parts address important roads for future research in mimetic theory.

Girard’s scapegoat theory has recently been discussed with archeologists at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Central Anatolia. This discussion as well as new research by primatologists may help to develop a more nuanced understanding of how an originary violence has shaped human culture. The second part of this article will refer to recent publications in this direction. The third and final part will explore possibilities for mimetic theory to reach beyond its usual focus on Judaism and Christianity. It recommends a closer connection with the axial age thesis and today’s world religion in general. It is important to note that Jewish as well as Muslim scholars have recently applied mimetic theory in their own works. I especially highlight Adnane Mokrani’s Islamic theology of nonviolence that he developed in dialogue with Girard’s approach. The dangerous stage of our current world necessitates an emphasis on nonviolence in the different religious and cultural traditions.

Identifying key features in feminist theory over four decades that still inform feminist thought today, Reineke argues that René Girard’s mimetic theory offers a compelling intervention in “identity politics”, a concept which some feminist theorists have employed to analyze inequalities. So also does it shed light on escalating rivalries among groups with similar interests, as exemplified in recent rivalries among feminist scholars and advocates. In turn, feminist theory can contribute to mimetic theory. Mimetic theory has neglected the central role of sensory experience in human life, whether as a vehicle of trauma and suffering or healing and transformative agency. Mimetic theory will be enhanced when Girardian scholars locate the impetus for a change from violent mimesis to intimate mediation in sensory experience, reclaiming for mimetic theory a perspective on sensory experience that feminist theory has illuminated.

Published three years prior the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad’s short story An Outpost of Progress (1896) hosts all the themes explored in his indictment of colonial imperialism. Unlike the multilayered narrative strategies of the Heart, the short story engages a traditional, third-person narrative point of view in its more detailed portrayal of two colonial agents who find themselves complicit in the slave trade for the acquisition of ivory. This discovery on their part causes their previously fraternal interaction to degenerate into fratricidal hostility, a violence of mimetic doubles that results in the murder of the one and the suicide of the other. The narrative concludes with unmistakable apocalyptic imagery that the resolutely anti-Christian Conrad draws from the figurative inventory of Western literature and that, according to René Girard, is the legacy of the biblical critique of sacrificial practices. Massive historical material on colonialism unveils the sacrificial mechanisms at work in this system. Thus the Outpost can be read as a chapter in “mimetic history” that Girard explores in the Battling the End with special attention to the “movement to extremes” of violent reciprocity. For Conrad, murder and world-destroying madness are twin themes that align with mimetic theory’s scrutiny of Western institutions.

The article explores the concept of a non-essentialist view on violence related to therapeutic and social work, as well as community self-organization practices. According to the authors, the Girardian perspective on relevant ways of dealing with violence ethically and methodologically aligns with the principles of narrative therapy. The article examines such narrative concepts as deconstruction, externalization, and narrative metaphor, in relation to the concepts of scapegoat and persecution representations.

The article demonstrates the tools that narrative therapy employs while working with individuals involved in violence, survivors of violence, and the community that has witnessed such incidents. It explores such ethically aligned concepts and methods as restorative justice, restorative circles, and the VASCA model that could be effectively applied to this work. Additionally, it examines the allies narrative practice could find in related approaches. The article investigates the current initiatives undertaken by communities and projects aiming to progress in this direction. Furthermore, it explores how René Girard’s ideas could complement the narrative toolkit and explains why establishing a dialogue between Girardian theory and narrative practice holds importance for us, both in terms of theory and practice.

Illustrating a practical implementation, the authors of the article present the readers with insights and conclusions drawn from a reflective group’s engagement in a series of narrative conflict mediations and therapeutic interventions with individuals responsible for violence and survivors.