Beauty.

Beauty is not race neutral. It is a racialized category/ perception which emerged through centuries of European colonization, Indigenous genocide, African/Black enslavement and indenture resulting in an aesthetic hierarchy with Blackness at the bottom. The coloniality of aesthetics means that still today hair perceived as Black in texture and styling and darker skin on African descent bodies are the repositories of anti-Blackness. However, Black women, children and men continue to fight back by (re)creating Black antiracist aesthetics focused on valorizing Black skin and hair.

The Care of "Small Things": Aging and Dignity in Rwanda.

In Rwanda, disruptions to family and social life as a result of the 1994 genocide, and the economic transformations in its aftermath, have complicated the fabric of elder care across the country. In this article, I focus on how elderly Rwandans are reconfiguring their care networks - many of which were destroyed during the genocide - by acting as caregivers and care receivers for each other on a daily basis. Although emotionally and physically taxing, elderly Rwandans emphasize that the "small things" embedded in the giving and receiving of care are intricately connected to how personal and collective dignity is cultivated.

Evaluation and training of Executive Functions in genocide survivors. The case of Yazidi children.

Executive Functions (EFs) development is critically affected by stress and trauma, as well as the socioeconomic context in which children grow up (Welsh, Nix, Blair, Bierman, & Nelson, 2010, Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 43-53). Research in this field is surprisingly lacking in relation to war contexts. This study represents a first attempt at addressing this topic by evaluating EFs in Yazidi children. The Yazidi community is an ethnic and religious minority living in Iraq. From August 2014 onwards, the Yazidi community has been the target of several atrocities perpetrated by ISIS and described as genocide by the international community at large. The University of Trieste, thanks to a program financed by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, developed a study aimed at (a) evaluating hot and cool EFs in children living in a war context and (b) developing a specific training method to enhance hot and cool EFs in Yazidi children of preschool age (N = 53). Data related to this group of children were compared with a sample of typically developing Italian children randomly assigned to either an EFs training group (N = 55) or a passive control group (N = 51). Results indicate different baselines in EFs in Yazidi and Italian samples and a significant effect of the program on both trained groups, especially in tasks measuring hot EFs. Data are discussed in terms of hot and cool EFs in children growing in adverse environments, as well as the evaluation of educational and developmental opportunities to prevent children who survived genocide from becoming a 'lost generation'. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://youtu.be/7t_08TbxR_8.

"I Asked Myself If I Would Ever Love My Baby": Mothering Children Born of Genocidal Rape in Rwanda.

The 1994 Rwandan genocide was characterized by brutal acts of widespread sexual violence against women that, for some, led to unwanted pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood. This study explores the perspectives and experiences of 44 Rwandan women with children born of genocidal rape through in-depth qualitative interviews. Emerging from the data are the themes of identity and belonging, ambivalence, and truth-telling in the mother-child relationship. Findings highlight the lasting and intergenerational legacy of genocidal rape, and practice and policy implications are discussed.

Doctors and the Armenian and Bosnian Genocides.

The extensive degree of mass murder that occurred throughout the twentieth century saw the rate of non-combatant (civilian) deaths rise by over seventy-five percent in the space of seventy years, amounting to a death toll exceeding 170 million. Where genocides are concerned, the central role of doctors is undeniable. Their participation arose from the preoccupation with eugenics for improving the health of the nation. From here, their belief in nationalism overrode the sacred duty to save lives. These doctors descended into moral anarchy, breaching an ethical code of two millennia. This paper examines the role of doctors in the Armenian genocide and that of psychiatrists (notably Radovan Karadzic), in the Bosnian genocide. That medicine contains the seeds of its own destruction is confirmed by the recurrent involvement of doctors in genocide.

Australia: The 'Good' Genocide Perpetrator?

In 1949, federal parliamentarians were indignant when asked to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (hereafter, UNGC). We could not in any way be associated with 'the unthinkable' crime, senior members claimed, because we are 'a moral people' with a 'clean record'. This essay assesses the 'decent' Australian democrats who, as the indelible records show, set out to kill the Aboriginal people they deemed 'vermin' and then later, decided to engage in a eugenicist fantasy to rid Australia of Aborigines by intermarriage or, failing that, forcibly removing their children in large numbers. The colonial frontier killings were justified as 'dispersing kangaroos'. Child removals were done 'in their best interests'. This essay attempts to gain an insight into the mindset of those who did commit 'the unthinkable' crime of genocide: killing, removal of children, and 'causing serious bodily and mental harm'. Subsequent policies infantalised the Aboriginal and Islander population and denied them basic human rights.

The legacy of gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS in the postgenocide era: Stories from women in Rwanda.

Drawing on qualitative interviews with 22 Rwandan women, we describe the lived experiences of women survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) more than a decade and a half after the 1994 Genocide. We argue that the intersection between GBV and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has long-term implications: the majority of women interviewed continue to endure trauma, stigma, social isolation, and economic hardship in the postgenocide era and are in need of expanded economic and mental health support. Our findings have implications for the importance of providing integrated psychosocial support to survivors of GBV postconflict contexts.

A palavra é genocídio: a continuidade de práticas racistas no Brasil / La palabra es genocidio: la continuación de las prácticas de racismo en Brasil / The word is genocide: the continuation of racist practices in Brazil

As práticas de extermínio no Brasil têm se dirigido a pobres, mas especialmente a negros pobres. A partir da análise da definição jurídica internacional de genocídio, empreendemos uma investigação acerca do que se produz como sentido sobre e para esta população, no cotidiano. Tomamos como estratégia metodológica a bricolagem, na busca de capturar o que escapa em atos do que o discurso racista busca negar. Nos diversos fragmentos apresentados, tomados de cenas comuns, compartilhadas na cultura e na história, podemos entender a lógica de desqualificação imposta aos negros, bem como uma lógica institucionalizada que aponta para esta população como sendo uma fonte potencial do mal, a ser controlada e eliminada. Além de tais práticas resultarem, de fato, em mortandade consentida de alguns, impõem um cotidiano que produz outros efeitos: diversas formas de morte em vida, seja pelo silenciamento, seja pela imposição de um lugar de desvalorização naturalizada.

Las prácticas de exterminio en Brasil son dirigidas a los pobres, pero sobre todo a los negros pobres. A partir del análisis de la definición jurídica internacional de genocidio, se realizó una investigación de lo que se produce como sentido sobre y para esta población, en la vida cotidiana. Tomamos como estrategia metodológica la "bricolage", tratando de captar lo que se escapa en lo que el discurso racista pretende negar. Son presentados diversos fragmentos, tomados de escenas comunes, de la cultura y de la historia compartida, para entender la lógica de desprecio, impuesto a a los negros y una lógica institucional que apunta a esta población como una posible fuente del mal, para ser controlado y eliminado. Además de estas prácticas resultaren, de hecho, en el consentimiento de la muerte de algunos, imponen una vida cotidiana donde se producen otros efectos, otras formas de muerte en vida: ya sea por el silenciamiento, o bien por la imposición de un lugar de devaluación naturalizado.

The practices of extermination in Brazil have been directed at the poor, but especially for black poor. From the analysis of the international legal definition of genocide, we undertake an investigation about the senses produced over and for this population on a daily basis. We take as a methodological strategy the bricolage, seeking to capture in actions, what discourse intends to deny. In several fragments presented, taken from common scenes shared through culture and history, we can understand the logic of disqualification imposed on blacks in Brazil, as well as an institutional logic that points to this population as a source of evil to be eliminated. In addition to result in a consented elimination of some people, such practices also imposes an everyday disqualification that produces other effects: different forms of death within life, either by silencing or by imposition, towards a place of naturalized devaluation.

Exposure to genocide and risk of suicide in Rwanda: a population-based case-control study.

BACKGROUND: In Rwanda, an estimated one million people were killed during the 1994 genocide, leaving the country shattered and social fabric destroyed. Large-scale traumatic events such as wars and genocides have been linked to endemic post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and suicidality. The study objective was to investigate whether the 1994 genocide exposure is associated with suicide in Rwanda. METHODS: We conducted a population-based case-control study. Suicide victims were matched to three living controls for sex, age and residential location. Exposure was defined as being a genocide survivor, having suffered physical/sexual abuse in the genocide, losing a first-degree relative in the genocide, having been convicted for genocide crimes or having a first-degree relative convicted for genocide. From May 2011 to May 2013, 162 cases and 486 controls were enrolled countrywide. Information was collected from the police, local village administrators and family members. RESULTS: After adjusting for potential confounders, having been convicted for genocide crimes was a significant predictor for suicide (OR=17.3, 95% CI 3.4 to 88.1). Being a survivor, having been physically or sexually abused during the genocide, and having lost a first-degree family member to genocide were not significantly associated with suicide. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that individuals convicted for genocide crimes are experiencing continued psychological disturbances that affect their social reintegration into the community even 20 years after the event. Given the large number of genocide perpetrators reintegrated after criminal courts and Gacaca traditional reconciling trials, suicide could become a serious public health burden if preventive remedial action is not identified.

Making and unmaking ethnicities in the Rwandan context: implication for gender-based violence, health, and wellbeing of women.

OBJECTIVES: To examine ethnicity and gender violence in Rwanda from cultural and historical perspectives and explore the encounters between cultural beliefs and practices and the new gender equality policy and programs and the implications of the particular encounters to the health of women. DESIGN: The study is a qualitative drawing from the growing range of interactive approaches and methods within an ethnographic framework of the research design. Twenty individual interviews, six focus group discussions and two 'community mobilization' dialogs were conducted. RESULTS: Violence has continued and there is a conflict between cultural tradition, the de-ethnicization, and gender equality policies. Some of the gender violence preventive programs are influenced by the ethos of the traditional norms, and therefore unwittingly perpetuate gender-based violence. CONCLUSIONS: In spite of the progress that Rwanda has made in political empowerment of women, it still seems a long way before real gender equality is achieved. It seems that women's empowerment is not only just an opportunity for political participation but also this is important. It is also about the capacity to make effective choices and to translate them into desired actions and outcomes, unfettered by cultural sanctions. Universalised, top-down gender policy programs have not furnished all women with the necessary capacity to make decisions that affect their traditionally all important reproductive functions; to challenge the embedded gender imbalance; and to strive for a holistic wellbeing of their families, where they play a central role. Indeed, some of the policies could have negative implications to the health of women, in particular, with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS.

Associations between prolonged grief disorder, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and anxiety in Rwandan genocide survivors.

A number of studies have demonstrated that symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) represent a symptom cluster distinct from bereavement-related depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The aim of the present study was to confirm and extend these findings using the most recent criteria defining PGD. The authors interviewed a total of 400 orphaned or widowed survivors of the Rwandan genocide. The syndromes were strongly linked to each other with a high comorbidity. Principal axis factoring resulted in the emergence of 4 different factors. The symptoms of depression, along with the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms of PGD, loaded on the first factor, symptoms of anxiety on the second factor, symptoms of PTSD on the third factor, and the separation distress symptoms of PGD on the fourth factor. This indicates that the concept of PGD includes symptoms that are conceptually related to depression. However, the symptom cluster of separation distress presents a grief-specific dimension that may surface unrelated to depressive symptoms.