Three centuries of conflict in East Timor Klappentext: One of the most troubling but least studied features of mass political violence is why violence often recurs in the same place over long periods of time. Douglas Kammen explores this pattern in Three Centuries of Conflict in East Timor studying that regions tragic past focusing on the small district of Maubara. Once a small but powerful kingdom embedded in long distance networks of trade over the course of three centuries the people of Maubara experienced benevolent but precarious Dutch suzerainty Portuguese colonialism punctuated by multiple uprisings and destructive campaigns of pacification Japanese military rule and years of brutal Indonesian occupation. In 1999 Maubara was the site of particularly severe violence before and after the UN sponsored referendum that finally led to the restoration of East Timors independence. Beginning with the mystery of paired murders during East Timors failed decolonization in 1975 and the final flurry of state sponsored violence in 1999 Kammen combines an archival trail and rich oral interviews to reconstruct the history of the leading families of Maubara from 1712 until 2012. Kammen illuminates how recurrent episodes of mass violence shaped alliances and enmities within Maubara as well as with supra local actors and how those legacies have influenced efforts to address human rights violations post conflict reconstruction and the relationship between local experience and the identification with the East Timorese nation. The questions posed in Three Centuries of Conflict in East Timor about recurring violence and local narratives apply to many other places besides East Timor from the Caucasus to central Africa and from the Balkans to China where mass violence keeps recurring Introduction : situating recurrent mass violenceContested origins Maubara and the Dutch East India Company Vassalage and violence 1861 1887 The uprising and devastation of 1893 High colonialism and new forms of oppression 1894 1974 The end of empire and the Indonesian occupation 1974 1998 Serious crimes and the politics of the past 1999 2012.