Global Human Rights Organizations and National Patterns: Amnesty International’s Responses to Darfur

This article provides an analysis of Amnesty International and its efforts to establish a global, human rights-based narrative on the mass violence in Darfur, Sudan, during the first decade of the 21st century. Interviews show how Amnesty’s narrative resembles that of the judicial field. Respondents insist that justice, once achieved, will help reach other goals such as peace. Relative unanimity in representing the violence supports the notion of globalizing forces highlighted by the world polity school, but national conditions also color narratives, in line with recent literature on national contexts of INGO work and a long tradition of neo-Weberian scholarship. Amnesty workers within national sections are aware of their government’s traditions, interests and policy foci when they seek to influence government policies. They are also mindful of nation-specific carrier groups, cultural sensitivities and business interests, when they attempt to mobilize volunteers and the public and raise funds. Such mindfulness, a precondition for effective work at the national level, resulted in nation-level variations of global human rights-based representations of mass violence in Darfur

Knowing about Genocide

This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)—a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries—and the generous support of the University of Minnesota. Learn more at the TOME website, available at openmonographs.org. How do victims and perpetrators generate conflicting knowledge about genocide? Using a sociology of knowledge approach, Savelsberg answers this question for the Armenian genocide committed in the context of the First World War. Focusing on Armenians and Turks, he examines strategies of silencing, denial, and acknowledgment in everyday interaction, public rituals, law, and politics. Drawing on interviews, ethnographic accounts, documents, and eyewitness testimony, Savelsberg illuminates the social processes that drive dueling versions of history. He reveals counterproductive consequences of denial in an age of human rights hegemony, with implications for populist disinformation campaigns against overwhelming evidence

Knowing about Genocide: Armenian Suffering and Epistemic Struggles

How do victim and perpetrator peoples generate conflicting knowledge about genocide? Using a sociology of knowledge approach, Joachim J. Savelsberg answers this question in the context of the Armenian genocide committed during the First World War. Focusing on Armenians and Turks, Savelsberg examines strategies of silencing, denial, and acknowledgment in everyday interactions, public rituals, law, and politics. He draws on interviews, ethnographic accounts, documents, and eyewitness testimony to illuminate the social processes that drive dueling versions of history. Ultimately, this study reveals the counterproductive consequences of denial in an age of human rights hegemony, demonstrating the implications for populist disinformation campaigns against overwhelming evidence.This book was funded through the TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem) Initiative at the University of Minnesota

Violações de direitos humanos, lei e memória coletiva

Institutional responses to gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law may affect future human rights records, partly by contributing to the collective memory of the dark chapters in a nation's history. This article begins with an exploration of various theoretical ideas concerning the impact of legal responses on collective memory and cultural trauma. It examines ways of empirically measuring the effects of law trials on collective memory, systematically analyzing the procedures adopted in recent studies into the collective memory of atrocities. Here it takes as examples the Vietnam and Balkan wars as reported in the New York Times and described in textbooks on the History of the United States. Some of the findings from these studies are explored, indicating the conditional and selective effects of criminal trials on collective memory. Finally, the article draws some conclusions for future research in Latin America and elsewhere.Respostas institucionais a violações maciças dos direitos humanos e do direito humanitário podem afetar os registros de direitos humanos futuros, pois, entre outras implicações, contribuem para aviventar a memória coletiva referente aos capítulos sombrios da história de uma nação. Este artigo explora, primeiramente, as idéias teóricas concernentes ao impacto que respostas legais podem ter sobre a memória coletiva e o trauma cultural. Em seguida, procede a um exame das formas de mensuração empírica dos efeitos de processos jurídicos sobre a memória coletiva, discriminando sistematicamente os passos seguidos em estudos recentes acerca da memória coletiva de atrocidades, tomando como exemplos as guerras do Vietnã e dos Bálcãs enquanto reportadas pelo New York Times e em livros de história dos Estados Unidos. Alguns dos resultados desses estudos são relatados, indicando os efeitos condicionais e seletivos de processos criminais incidentes sobre a memória coletiva. Por fim, são elaboradas conclusões visando a pesquisas futuras na América Latina e alhures

Soziale Probleme in Deutschland und in den Vereinigten Staaten: vergleichender Kommentar zu Best und Steinert und Vorschläge

Soziale Probleme haben in den Vereinigten Staaten ein anderes Gesicht als soziale Probleme in Deutschland; daneben geschieht der soziale Prozess der Definition sozialer Probleme in beiden Ländern unter unterschiedlichen Bedingungen; und schließlich findet die akademische Abhandlung sozialer Probleme und ihrer Definition in beiden Ländern in unterschiedlichen institutionellen Kontexten statt. Diese drei Unterschiede überlagern sich in den interessanten Essays von Joel Best und Heinz Steinert in diesem Heft. Der Beitrag versucht, diese Unterschiede wissenssoziologisch zu erfassen, versucht einen Vergleich einer amerikanischen und deutschen Standortbestimmung durchzuführen und nimmt die Beobachtungen und Vorschläge der Autoren Best und Steinert (Steinerts Kritik des Neoliberalismus und Bests Vorschlag der engeren sozialen Problemtheorie mit sozialen Bewegungen) kritisch für die eigene soziologische Arbeit auf. (ICH

Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and access among people experiencing homelessness in Germany: A qualitative interview study

Introduction: People experiencing homelessness face lower life expectancy, higher prevalence of somatic and mental diseases and a more difficult access to healthcare compared to people in secure living. During the COVID-19 pandemic transmission rates were higher among people experiencing homelessness and preventive public health measures were not properly adapted to the specific needs of people experiencing homelessness. Thus, goal of our study was understanding the determinants of acceptability and access of the COVID-19 vaccine. Materials and methods: We conducted a qualitative interview study with twenty guideline interviews with adult people currently experiencing homelessness in Berlin, Germany (August 2021 - April 2022). Participants were approached in a purposive sampling strategy. The interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. Results: Acceptance and attitude toward the COVID-19 vaccine is influenced by confidence in the vaccine as well as in the political and healthcare system, the individual COVID-19 risk perception and sense of collective responsibility. Overall, the acceptance of the vaccine was high among our participants. Facilities offering low threshold COVID-19 vaccines for people experiencing homelessness were perceived as helpful. Language barriers and the need for identity documents were major barriers to access the COVID 19 vaccine. Discussion: People experiencing homelessness are a marginalized and vulnerable group often underrepresented in the public and scientific discourse. During the COVID-19 pandemic, preventive public health measures, including the COVID-19 vaccine, failed to consider specific needs of people experiencing homelessness. Multidimensional strategy to enhance inclusive healthcare are needed to improve access and to reduce discrimination and stigmatization

Ant colony system for a VRP with multiple time windows and multiple visits

The vehicle routing problem with time windows is frequently found in literature, while multiple time windows are not often considered. In this paper a mathematical formulation of the vehicle routing problem with multiple time windows is presented, taking into account periodic constraints. A meta-heuristic based on Ant Colony System is proposed and implemented. Computational results related to a purpose-built benchmark are finally reported

Hiding or hospitalising? On dilemmas of pregnancy management in East Cameroon

Current international debates and policies on safe motherhood mainly propose biomedical interventions to reduce the risks during pregnancy and delivery. Yet, the conceptualisations of risk that underlie this framework may not correspond with local perceptions of reproductive dangers; consequently, hospital services may remain underutilised. Inspired by a growing body of anthropological literature exploring local fertility-related fears, and drawing on 15 months of fieldwork, this paper describes ideas about risky reproduction and practices of pregnancy protection in a Cameroonian village. It shows that social and supernatural threats to fertility are deemed more significant than the physical threats of fertility stressed at the (inter)national level. To protect their pregnancies from those social and supernatural influences, however, women take very physical measures. It is in this respect that biomedical interventions, physical in their very nature, do connect to local methods of pregnancy management. Furthermore, some pregnant women purposefully deploy hospital care in an attempt to reduce relational uncertainties. Explicit attention to the intersections of the social and the physical, and of the supernatural and the biomedical, furthers anthropological knowledge on fertility management and offers a starting point for more culturally sensitive safe motherhood interventions

Fear and rumours regarding placental biopsies in a malaria-in-pregnancy trial in Benin.

BACKGROUND: A multi-country, community-based trial on scheduled screening and treatment for malaria in pregnancy was conducted in Benin, The Gambia and Burkina Faso. Despite standardized procedures and outcomes, the study became subject to rumours and accusations of placenta being sold for mystical and financial gain by trial staff, leading to drop-out rates of 30% and the consequent halting of placental biopsy sampling in Benin. This paper explores the role of socio-cultural beliefs related to placenta and identified additional factors contributing these rumours. METHODS: A qualitative comparative emergent-theory design was used to assess social factors related to trial implementation and uptake in the three countries. Data from participant observation, informal conversations, group discussions and interviews were triangulated and analysed with NVivo Qualitative Analysis software. RESULTS: Despite similar sociocultural beliefs about the sacred nature of the placenta in all three study countries, these beliefs did not affect participation rates in Burkina Faso and The Gambia and placenta-related rumours only emerged in Benin. Therefore, the presence of beliefs is not a sufficient condition to have generated placenta-selling fears. The rumours in Benin reflected the confluence of placenta-related beliefs and factors related to the implementation of the trial (including a catalysing adverse event and miscommunication during the informed consent procedure). Furthermore, distinct socio-political factors contributed to the emergence of rumours, including the historical distrust in governmental organizations and the tense relationship between some of the actors involved in the trial. CONCLUSION: Transdisciplinary social science research designs should accompany the implementation of the trial. The integration of multiple stakeholders' knowledge and involvement is required to define and solve upcoming barriers