Erin Jessee – författare

Grounded in extensive oral historical, archival, and ethnographic research in the aftermaths of the Bosnian (1992-95), Indonesian (1965-66), and Rwandan (1994) genocides, this book investigates the symbolic meanings associated with spectacular forms of torture, murder, and mutilation that perpetrators devise amid genocides to punish their intended victims. Often framed as "senseless" acts of cruelty in popular culture, the stories told by the survivors, eyewitnesses, and perpetrators examined in this book instead reveal the perpetrators' intentional use of symbolic violence to torture and kill their victims, and to undermine victim communities' social vitality in long-lasting ways. Erin Jessee and Annie Pohlman explore four inter-related forms of symbolic violence: the destruction of the victim groups' cultural heritage; atrocities against children and elders; forms of humiliation, assault, and mutilation that target victims in gendered and sexualized ways; and atrocities intended to undermine the spiritual vitality of living and deceased victims. They argue that these forms of extra-lethal violence intentionally inflict social death by drawing on culturally specific symbols and tropes. The cases examined in this book show how perpetrators undermine or destroy the biological elements of victim groups through torture and killings, alongside the constituent parts of the victim group's social vitality: the historical, cultural, and social bonds that give meaning to and sustain communities.

Researchers often face significant and unique ethical and methodological challenges when conducting qualitative field work among people who have been identified as perpetrators of genocide. This can include overcoming biases that often accompany research on perpetrators; conceptualizing, identifying, and recruiting research subjects; risk mitigation and negotiating access in difficult contexts; self-care in conducting interviews relating to extreme violence; and minimizing harm for interviewees who may themselves be traumatized.This collection of case studies by scholars from a range of disciplinary backgrounds turns a critical and reflective eye toward qualitative fieldwork on the topic. Framed by an introduction that sets out key issues in perpetrator research and a conclusion that proposes and outlines a code of best practice, the volume provides an essential starting point for future research while advancing genocide studies, transitional justice, and related fields. This original, important, and welcome contribution will be of value to historians, political scientists, criminologists, anthropologists, lawyers, and legal scholars.

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Oral History is a comprehensive examination of oral history which addresses a wide range of practitioners, from beginning students to graduate students and established scholars, community and freelance practitioners in the field, and those from other fields and disciplines interested in oral history. The purpose of the book is to provide a broad range of readers with:* An advanced introduction into and overview of the field;* Cutting-edge reflections on core themes in the field; and* Global comparative perspectives on oral history theory and practice The Handbook is arranged in five thematic Parts: Creating Interviews, Interpreting Oral Histories, Making Histories, Advocacy & Empowerment, and Big Questions & Future Directions. Each chapter documents the state-of-the-art in a particular subject area and surveys the international historiography and current debates. Each chapter concludes with a brief outlook of potential future developments in the field.With chapter authors from every region of the oral history world - North America, South America, Oceania, Africa, Asia and Europe - and each author making use of examples and scholarship from across the global field of oral history, this volume represents the first truly international handbook of oral history.