Whereas the previous chapter explored the great unsettling of human security effected by the postmodern war-machine, we now turn to a critical examination of the violent consequences of the globalisation of modern codifying process – in particular, through colonisation and imperialism. The chapter turns to what on first glance appears to be relatively unmediated embodied violence. In descriptive terms, we move from drones to machetes. However, what we find in this violence is the clash of ontological formations as prior forms of identity and meaning are existentially unsettled by modern impositions. The broader argument here is that the global spread of unreflexively modern ways of organising meaning and identity, particularly in situations of unequal power, has had horrifying consequences in the Global South. Imperialism and colonialism have a lasting impact. Abstracting from prior dominant forms of customary and traditional life, it has ushered in forms of violence that were previously constrained: genocide, civil war, and never-ending localised transnational conflict. The chapter uses the Rwandan genocide and Sri Lankan ‘civil’ war as its key points of reference.