Maggie Zraly and Laetitia Nyirazinyoye's journal article in Social Science & Medicine "Don't Let the Suffering Make You Fade Away": An Ethnographic Study of Resilience among Genocide-Rape Survivors in Southern Rwanda" is now online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.01.017
Rape has been used in contemporary armed conflicts to inflict physical, psychological, cultural and social damage. Though previous findings from resilience and coping research are robust, few studies have actually investigated resilience among genocide-rape survivors in cultural context in non-Western settings. This paper presents ethnographic data gathered over 14 months (September 2005 to November 2006) in southern Rwanda on resilience among genocide-rape survivors who were members of two women's genocide survivor associations. Resilience among genocide-rape survivors in this context was found to be shaped by the cultural-linguistic specific concepts of kwihangana (withstanding), kwongera kubaho (living again), and gukomeza ubuzima (continuing life/health), and comprised of multiple sociocultural processes that enabled ongoing social connection with like others in order to make meaning, establish normalcy, and endure suffering in daily life. The findings from this research suggest that ethnographic methods can be employed to support resilience-based post-conflict mental health promotion efforts through facilitating collective sexual violence survivors to safely socially connect around their shared experiences of rape, neutralizing social threats of stigma and marginalization.
Rape has been used in contemporary armed conflicts to inflict physical, psychological, cultural and social damage. Though previous findings from resilience and coping research are robust, few studies have actually investigated resilience among genocide-rape survivors in cultural context in non-Western settings. This paper presents ethnographic data gathered over 14 months (September 2005 to November 2006) in southern Rwanda on resilience among genocide-rape survivors who were members of two women's genocide survivor associations. Resilience among genocide-rape survivors in this context was found to be shaped by the cultural-linguistic specific concepts of kwihangana (withstanding), kwongera kubaho (living again), and gukomeza ubuzima (continuing life/health), and comprised of multiple sociocultural processes that enabled ongoing social connection with like others in order to make meaning, establish normalcy, and endure suffering in daily life. The findings from this research suggest that ethnographic methods can be employed to support resilience-based post-conflict mental health promotion efforts through facilitating collective sexual violence survivors to safely socially connect around their shared experiences of rape, neutralizing social threats of stigma and marginalization.
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