scholarly journals “You Feel Like You Belong Nowhere”: Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and Social Identity in Post-Genocide Rwanda

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-59
Author(s):  
Myriam Denov ◽  
Laura Eramian ◽  
Meaghan Shevell
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
National Level ◽  
Ethnic Politics ◽  
The Self ◽  
Relational Dynamics ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
Massive Scale ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Modern Warfare ◽  
Depth Interviews

Globally, the systematic use of sexual violence in modern warfare has resulted in the birth of thousands of children. Research has begun to focus on this often invisible group and the obstacles they face, including stigma, discrimination and exclusion based on their birth origins. Although sexual violence during the Rwandan genocide has been documented on a massive scale, little research has focused on the relational dynamics between mothers who experienced genocide rape and the children they bore. This paper explores the post-genocide realities of these two under-explored populations, revealing two key tensions in relation to identity-building and belonging. Drawing upon in-depth interviews conducted with 44 mothers and 60 youth, we examine how youth participants’ quest for the truth in forming their own identities is often in conflict with mothers’ efforts to disassociate their identities from sexual violence and genocide. Furthermore, both mothers’ and children’s identities remain ‘caught’ in the rigid ethnic politics of the genocide at the national level. Ultimately, this article highlights that the distinction between the self and the larger politics of post-genocide Rwanda are not easily disentangled, as challenges faced by these families exist at the nexus of the personal and the national, the individual and structural.

Cosmopolitan Empowerments and Biographical Trajectories among Young French Fans of Hallyu

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (34) ◽  
pp. 95-118
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Cicchelli ◽  
◽  
Sylvie Octobre ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
The Self ◽  
French People ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article explores the passion of young French people for the Hallyu, within the framework of an analysis of the contribution of the “consumption of difference” (Schroeder 2015) to the formation of the self through the figure of the 'cosmopolitan amateur' (Cicchelli and Octobre 2018a). We will first look at the reasons for the success of Hallyu in France then discuss the different forms of empowerment stemmed from the consumption of Korean products, among young people (74 in depth-interviews with young fans aged 18-31) with no previous link with Korea, which nurture their biographical trajectories.

Compressed Identity

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 13-35
Author(s):  
H. Şule Albayrak
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
The Self ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
The Public ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Turkish State ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Depth Interviews

For decades the authoritarian secularist policies of the Turkish state, by imposing a headscarf ban at universities and in the civil service, excluded practising Muslim women from the public sphere until the reforms following 2010. However, Muslim women had continued to seek ways to increase their knowledge and improve their intellectual levels, not only as individuals, but also by establishing civil associations. As a result, a group of intellectual women has emerged who are not only educated in political, social, and economic issues, but who are also determined to attain their socio-economic and political rights. Those new actors in the Turkish public sphere are, however, concerned with being labeled as either “feminist,” “fundamentalist” or “Islamist.” This article therefore analyzes the distance between the self-identifications of intellectual Muslim women and certain classifications imposed on them. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with thirteen Turkish intellectual Muslim women were carried out which reveal that they reject and critique overly facile labels due to their negative connotations while offering more complex insights into their perspectives on Muslim women, authority, and identity.

Manageable Self in the Early Hellenistic Era

2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-36
Author(s):  
Vaia Touna
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
The Self ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
The Individual

This paper argues that the rise of what is commonly termed "personal religion" during the Classic-Hellenistic period is not the result of an inner need or even quality of the self, as often argued by those who see in ancient Greece foreshadowing of Christianity, but rather was the result of social, economic, and political conditions that made it possible for Hellenistic Greeks to redefine the perception of the individual and its relationship to others.

Monkey on My Back. An Autoethnographic Narrative of a Therapeutic Experience

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Wiesner
Keyword(s):  
Personal Experience ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
The Self ◽  
Symbolic Language ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Therapeutic Experience ◽  
Postmodern Philosophy ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Global Uncertainty

With a conscious attempt to contribute to contemporary discussions in mad/trans/queer/monster studies, the monograph approaches complex postmodern theories and contextualizes them from an autoethnographic methodological perspective. As the self-explanatory subtitle reads, the book introduces several topics as revelatory fields for the author’s self-exploration at the moment of an intense epistemological and ontological crisis. Reflexively written, it does not solely focus on a personal experience, as it also aims at bridging the gap between the individual and the collective in times of global uncertainty. There are no solid outcomes defined; nevertheless, the narrative points to a certain—more fluid—way out. Through introducing alternative ways of hermeneutics and meaning-making, the book offers a synthesis of postmodern philosophy and therapy, evolutionary astrology as a symbolic language, embodied inquiry, and Buddhist thought that together represent a critical attempt to challenge the pathologizing discursive practices of modern disciplines during the neoliberal capitalist era.

Informalitas Dalam Formalitas: Sebuah Kajian Budaya Organisasi Perusahaan Keluarga

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 200
Author(s):  
Hardiyanti Munsi ◽  
Ahmad Ismail
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
National Level ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
The Family ◽  
Formal Organizations ◽  
Religious Aspects ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Big Men

This article intends to identify and to describe the unique structure and the managing style that owns primordial characteristics, that is giving significance to kinship, religion, and local Bugis cultural values, which made up the cultural system of PT. Hadji Kalla family business. Theoritically, this research was inspired from Weberian perspective on the ideal types of bureaucracy, that observes organizations (in this case is the family business) as one of the socio-cultural phenomena which is neutral and value-free, that is place aside its subjective aspects. The research was conducted in two locations, the head office and one of the branch offices using qualitative approach that relies on participant observation, in-depth interviews, and literature studies. The results of the research shows that the family business of PT. Hadji Kalla that has advanced into national level still prioritizes kinship, ethnicity, and religious aspects in the daily activities of the company. The value even take parts in providing the company’s colour to the urban societies in various districts where the company stands. This means that although the society has undergone transformations, it doesn’t mean that the primordial value, and the elements that exist outside of businesses (such as kinship, big men, religion, cultural values, and interest) do not influence the activities that are held in formal organizations. Therefore, the interventions of subjective aspects will always appear, followed with the application of the modern management system that is implemented by PT. Hadji Kalla company.

Epilogue

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua S. Walden
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The book’s epilogue explores the place of musical portraiture in the context of posthumous depictions of the deceased, and in relation to the so-called posthuman condition, which describes contemporary changes in the relationship of the individual with such aspects of life as technology and the body. It first examines Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo to view how Bernard Herrmann’s score relates to issues of portraiture and the depiction of the identity of the deceased. It then considers the work of cyborg composer-artist Neil Harbisson, who has aimed, through the use of new capabilities of hybridity between the body and technology, to convey something akin to visual likeness in his series of Sound Portraits. The epilogue shows how an examination of contemporary views of posthumous and posthuman identities helps to illuminate the ways music represents the self throughout the genre of musical portraiture.

Pathways to Success Through Identity-Based Motivation

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphna Oyserman
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
The Core ◽  
Very Young Children ◽  
The Future ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Future Self ◽  
Fidelity Measures ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Taking Action ◽  
Minimal Effort

Everyone can imagine their future self, even very young children, and this future self is usually positive and education-linked. To make progress toward an aspired future or away from a feared future requires people to plan and take action. Unfortunately, most people often start too late and commit minimal effort to ineffective strategies that lead their attention elsewhere. As a result, their high hopes and earnest resolutions often fall short. In Pathways to Success Through Identity-Based Motivation Daphna Oyserman focuses on situational constraints and affordances that trigger or impede taking action. Focusing on when the future-self matters and how to reduce the shortfall between the self that one aspires to become and the outcomes that one actually attains, Oyserman introduces the reader to the core theoretical framework of identity-based motivation (IBM) theory. IBM theory is the prediction that people prefer to act in identity-congruent ways but that the identity-to-behavior link is opaque for a number of reasons (the future feels far away, difficulty of working on goals is misinterpreted, and strategies for attaining goals do not feel identity-congruent). Oyserman's book goes on to also include the stakes and how the importance of education comes into play as it improves the lives of the individual, their family, and their society. The framework of IBM theory and how to achieve it is broken down into three parts: how to translate identity-based motivation into a practical intervention, an outline of the intervention, and empirical evidence that it works. In addition, the book also includes an implementation manual and fidelity measures for educators utilizing this book to intervene for the improvement of academic outcomes.

Notes from the Trenches

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wendell Moller
Keyword(s):  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
Employment Opportunity ◽  
The Self ◽  
Deep South ◽  
Spiritual Beliefs ◽  
Urban Living ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Personal Empowerment ◽  
Self Worth ◽  
The Individual

This chapter details the vicissitudes of race and poverty shaped J. W. Green’s upbringing in the Deep South as well as his adjustment to urban living as an adult. His lack of education, employment opportunity, and personal empowerment led to a “life on the streets.” Stoic faith saw him through a life and death in poverty. Mr. Green teaches us that everyone comes to this phase of life with strengths to cull from their cultural and spiritual beliefs. Mr. Green also teaches us that dignified dying does not require the unfettered exercise of personal autonomy, although a deep and abiding respect for the self-worth of the individual is necessary.

The Crisis of Becoming-Nature in Howard Barker’s Recent Dramas

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-114
Author(s):  
Karoline Gritzner
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Elderly Women ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
The Self ◽  
Love Relationships ◽  
Late Style ◽  
Life Force ◽  
The Individual

AbstractThis article discusses how in Howard Barker’s recent work the idea of the subject’s crisis hinges on the introduction of an impersonal or transpersonal life force that persists beyond human agency. The article considers Barker’s metaphorical treatment of the images of land and stone and their interrelationship with the human body, where the notion of subjective crisis results from an awareness of objective forces that transcend the self. In “Immense Kiss” (2018) and “Critique of Pure Feeling” (2018), the idea of crisis, whilst still dominant, seems to lose its intermittent character of singular rupture and reveals itself as a permanent force of dissolution and reification. In these plays, the evocation of nonhuman nature in the love relationships between young men and elderly women affirms the existence of something that goes beyond the individual, which Barker approaches with a late-style poetic sensibility.

Women’s Antifascist Resistance on German-Occupied Territory Through the Lens of Soviet Leaflets, 1941–1945

2021 ◽  
pp. 002200942098804
Author(s):  
Regina Kazyulina
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Home Front ◽  
The Self ◽  
World War ◽  
Occupied Territory ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Second World ◽  
Unrealistic Expectations

During the Second World War, approximately 28,500 Soviet women fought in the ranks of the partisans on Soviet territory temporarily occupied by the Wehrmacht. Although Soviet propaganda destined for the home front often spoke about their contributions, they eschewed direct appeals for others to follow in their footsteps. In contrast, partisan leaflets distributed across occupied territory overtly called on local women to join the partisan movement and fight alongside men. This essay explores how Soviet propagandists attempted to engage with local women on occupied territory through partisan leaflets and the kinds of expectations they sought to convey. Partisan leaflets not only exploited the image of the self-sacrificing partizanka to encourage women to sacrifice themselves but also vividly and graphically detailed crimes committed against women and children in order to inspire hatred. Such depictions were meant to steal the resolve of local civilians, while simultaneously discouraging behavior that was thought to aid the enemy. The representations conveyed in partisan leaflets encouraged a duality that saw women portrayed either as Soviet-style amazons or victims of sexual violence and rape. While promoting partisan recruitment, such representations encouraged unrealistic expectations and foreshadowed the violence that awaited women who failed to live up to them.

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