Culture of Revenge: Analysing Blood Revenge in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas

ABSTRACT

Revenge is a widespread phenomenon present in every culture. It is defined as a motivated retaliation against an offense or wrongdoing perceived as harmful or a violation of moral norms. Previous psychological research views revenge as an expressive action done for personal satisfaction. This article, however, will specifically focus on cases of blood revenge. The data for this study were collected through face-to-face in-depth interviews with students from Pakistan’s tribal areas. We explore a ‘culture of revenge’ wherein revenge is a social interaction in which peers, such as family, friends and opponents, stimulate an avenger’s desire for revenge by making honour-related paighor.¹ Consequently, the avenger enacts violent revenge to restore and uphold personal and cultural honour. Through this act, the avenger signals to the community that they have successfully defended and restored personal and cultural honour, thus deserve respect within the community. The implications of the findings are discussed.