Date of Award
Spring 6-1-2023
Document Type
Honors Project
University Scholars Director
Dr. Christine Chaney
First Advisor/Committee Member
Dr. Rebecca Hughes
Second Advisor/Committee Member
Dr. Alissa Walter
Keywords
history, genocide, sexual violence, rape, holocaust, rwanda
Abstract
This research seeks to analyze and understand the approach and treatment of victims of sexual assaults stories and accounts using case studies of the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide. Research was conducted by collecting and reading first-hand accounts of survivors and their experiences of sexual assault, then analyzing the historical response following the events. The two case studies are synthesized and compared in this project to understand which attributes of political and social policy effected the reception of stories of victims and witnesses of rape and assault. Both genocides are affected by unique struggles in collecting witness accounts, as well as stigma around traumatic data of this nature, and approaches to these stories shifted widely between the Holocaust and the genocide in Rwanda. This research advocates for a treatment of sexual violence and rape in genocide as an unavoidable part of human history, not just a woman’s issue, and an area that demands more attention than has been given to it.
Recommended Citation
Silva, Marisa, "Survivor Accounts of Sexual Violence in the Holocaust and Rwandan Genocide: A Comparative History" (2023). Honors Projects. 184.
https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/honorsprojects/184
Copyright Status
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Additional Rights Information
Copyright held by author.
Included in
African History Commons, History of Gender Commons, Holocaust and Genocide Studies Commons, Military History Commons, Oral History Commons, Social History Commons, Women's History Commons
Comments
A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University Scholars Honors Program.