Narrating chaos : the 'normal lives' of Sarajevans during the Bosnian War

Erin Jessee reviews Sarajevo Under Siege: Anthropology in Wartime by Ivana Mače

Mobilizing Transnational Gender Politics in Post-Genocide Rwanda by Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel

No abstract available

<br>Review of Macek, Ivana, Sarajevo under Siege: Anthropology in Wartime.</br> Narrating chaos: the 'normal lives' of Sarajevans during the Bosnian War

No abstract available

Book Review: From War to Genocide: Criminal Politics in Rwanda, 1990-1994

No abstract available

Promoting Reconciliation through Exhuming and Identifying Victims in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide

Drawing upon interviews conducted with 24 Kibuye-based survivors, as well as GOR officials from around Rwanda, the paper argues that survivors — while appreciative of any effort to memorialize the 1994 genocide — are negotiating psychological and spiritual distress as a result of their inability to definitively identify and rebury the remains of their missing loved ones with respect. This distress, in turn, makes it difficult for them to envision a stable future for their communitythat includes multi-ethnic collaboration. For this reason, the paper asserts that the international community, in collaboration with the GOR and survivor communities around Rwanda, should pursue new humanitarian exhumations. These exhumations should be mandated to positively identify the anonymous victims of the 1994 genocide and return any identified remains to their surviving families for reburial

Rwandan women no more : female genocidaires in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide

Following the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the current government – the predominantly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) – arrested an estimated 130,000 civilians who were suspected of having some degree of criminal responsibility in the massacres and related atrocities that had ravaged the nation. Of these, approximately 2,000 were women, a cohort that remains rarely researched through an ethnographic lens. This paper begins to address this oversight by analyzing ethnographic encounters, including formal and informal interviews and casual conversations with eight female génocidaires from around Rwanda who had confessed to or were convicted of crimes during the 1994 genocide. I find that while female génocidaires endure various forms of gender-specific discrimination for having violated taboos related to appropriate conduct for Rwandan women, low-level génocidaires – those with minimal education, wealth, and social capital – were more likely to reference experiences of gender-based discrimination, often as a means of minimizing their crimes during the 1994 genocide and asserting claims of victimization. Conversely, high-level female génocidaires – those political and social elites who helped orchestrate or incite violence – seemed more resilient to gender-based discrimination, drawing upon a range of political and historical arguments when asserting claims to victimization in the post-genocide period. This difference in narrative is likely informed by high-level female génocidaires’ active participation in the political processes that made the 1994 genocide possible, as well as historical precedence for leniency where the actions of female political elites are concerned

Managing danger in oral historical fieldwork

This article offers an overview of the literature on anticipating and managing danger in qualitative fieldwork as it pertains to the practice of oral history in various settings. It offers an alternative perspective to the widespread assumption that oral history is an inherently positive endeavor that results in good relationships and positive outcomes. This article explores some of the circumstances through which danger can emerge in the course of oral historical fieldwork, both in relatively benign and in overtly hostile settings. It also offers preliminary recommendations for anticipating and managing these forms of harm

Reconciliation

In everyday usage, the term reconciliation references a process of restoring amicable relations or facilitating a shared understanding among otherwise conflicted parties. However, in recent years this term has been increasingly used to encapsulate efforts to promote social and individual repair in the aftermath of war and related mass atrocities, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide—all of which are prohibited in international law. As such, reconciliation is often closely associated with international criminal law and a range of transitional justice and peacebuilding mechanisms, including trials, commissions, commemorative sites and events, that aim to restore a sense of shared community, promote renewed trust and interdependence among civilians and parties to the conflict, enable social justice and civil rights, and ensure long-term political stability (Pham et al. 2004). It is likewise often pursued in tandem with community-based initiatives that seek to take universalized norms and practices related to reconciliation and render them more culturally and politically appropriate for a particular post-conflict setting, often by promoting locally conceived alternatives to international justice and commemoration. To this end, scholars and practitioners who study reconciliation in various settings have emerged from the disciplines of international criminal law, anthropology, history, politics, social work, the forensic sciences, and beyond, and many of the resulting studies are thoroughly interdisciplinary and cross-cultural in scope

The danger of a single story: Iconic stories in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide

In the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, the government of Rwanda—much like other transitional regimes around the world—has prioritized reconciliation initiatives that educate civilians with a highly politicized understanding of the conflict and encourage them to speak about the conflict and its aftermath in a manner that reinforces the legitimacy of the current government. However, individual survivors, bystanders, ex-combatants, and/or perpetrators of the genocide find various subtle ways to reinforce, resist, or complicate the current official history. This article analyzes a series of “iconic stories” that are repeated by Rwandans in different settings due to their historical and personal resonance for what they can tell us about the ethnic and political tensions that often continue to divide Rwandans and the overall challenges associated with everyday life since the genocide. Yet, engaging with these iconic stories places the researcher in a difficult position where the democratizing potential of oral history is potentially undermined. This article argues that even while qualitative researchers have an obligation to listen deeply to their informants, their moral and professional obligations to avoid reproducing narratives that promote potentially reprehensible agendas—for example, genocide denial or the legitimation of authoritarianism—make contextualizing their participants’ narratives in relation to the personal, historical, and political climate in which they are being produced essential