Redefinition

Redefinition Reference: Haig Bosmajian's "Defining the 'American Indian': A Case Study in the Language of Suppression" which includes these types of redefinition: natural/religious, political/cultural and legal redefinitions. Without redefinition of the other as inhumane, satanic, non-existent, genocide could not be carried out. As Bosmajian points out, religious proscriptions against killing, moral obstacles, must be overcome before extermination can take place. He chronicles the redefinition of the Native Americans that made the mass murder of Native Americans palatable, while at the same time he points to similar redefinitions of the Jews by the Nazi Germans. Redefinition then is an integral part of genocide.