scholarly journals Unhomeliness, unending phobias and liminality in Senait Mehari’s Heart of Fire

Literator ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick M. Tembo
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Political System ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Child Soldiers ◽  
Child Soldier ◽  
Trauma Studies ◽  
Psychosocial Issues ◽  
Parental Home ◽  
The Relationship

In Senait Mehari’s Heart of Fire, the legacy of childhood maltreatment is reproduced in the relationship between the father, Ghebrehiwet, and the daughter, Senait. A former victim of atrocity, Ghebrehiwet is a broken man with an identity that makes him transfer his traumatised childhood and his dissatisfaction with Eritrea’s political system to his family members. Because of these psychosocial issues, he gives his three daughters away to the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) to train and fight as child soldiers. Drawing on trauma studies, postcolonial theories as well as current research on child soldier narratives, this article examines Mehari’s depiction of her experiences with her father and, later, with fellow soldiers during the Second Eritrean Civil War. Specifically, it examines the concepts of unhomeliness and liminality, with reference to Mehari’s depiction of her anxiety in the tension-filled space of her parental home and the contingent ‘homes’ of the various ELF camps where she stayed as a child soldier. To that end, the article considers Mehari’s unending phobias as a recurring motif in Heart of Fire.

Justice for Child Soldiers? The RUF Trial of the Special Court for Sierra Leone

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gus Waschefort
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Child Soldiers ◽  
Active Participation ◽  
Mens Rea ◽  
Child Soldier ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Specific Instance ◽  
Actus Reus ◽  
United Front

AbstractThe Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was the primary agitator during the decade-long civil war that ravaged Sierra Leone. One of the hallmarks of RUF tactics was the abduction and military use of children. The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) issued an indictment against the high-command of the RUF. Each of the accused was charged with the enlistment, conscription or use of child soldiers. The Prosecutor v. Sesay, Kallon and Gbao case (RUF case) provides a cogent account of the crime of conscripting or using children younger than fifteen in hostilities. This paper tracks the development of the growing child soldier jurisprudence and plots the contribution of the RUF case. Specific emphasis is placed on the Court's application of abstract concepts to concrete situations, e.g. the determination whether a specific instance of child soldier use amounts to the child's 'active participation in hostilities'. The paper follows a progression whereby the chapeau requirements of Article 4 of the Statute of the SCSL are first assessed and thereafter the actus reus and mens rea elements of the substantive crime of enlisting, conscripting or using children in hostilities are examined in light of the RUF case.

Child Soldiers and the Contested Imaginary of Community after War

Out of War ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 198-217
Author(s):  
Mariane C. Ferme
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Child Soldiers ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Child Soldier ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
International War ◽  
War Crimes Tribunals

This chapter examines the emergence of the figure of the child soldier in African conflicts and of the criminalization of forced conscription of children in combat in international war crimes jurisprudence, particularly at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)—one of the first war crimes tribunals to secure convictions on this count. The chapter examines the context of a civil war that often split small-scale communities and of a society that offers individuals multiple communities of belonging, thus complicating choices about the reintegration of demobilized, war-affected youth. Through two cases of war-affected youth, the chapter questions the humanitarian application of “normative post-traumatic” practices of psychological narrativization of trauma, leading to ambiguous and ambivalent returns in communities of origin, where forms of collective forgetting were preferred as strategies for addressing harms and war reparations.

scholarly journals The Silence of Compliance: Child Soldier Trauma Narratives in Contemporary African War Novels

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1540-1547
Author(s):  
Vinod Kumar V ◽  
Gayathri S
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Child Soldiers ◽  
Child Soldier ◽  
Trauma Narratives ◽  
New Approach ◽  
War Novels ◽  
Grey Area

The victimhood of child soldiers is without any argument, a fact. In many wars, the illegitimate conscription of children under the age of eighteen has resulted in severe repercussions in the mental health of the child soldiers even after the war. Child soldier trauma depicted through many literary artifacts shows the intensity and gravity of the situation. The novels by Uzodinma Iweala, Chris Abani, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie viz Beasts of No Nation, Song for Night and Half of a Yellow Sun address the issue of child soldier conscription, the resultant trauma, and the slim chances of the betterment of the children even after the war is over. The paper moves toward acknowledging the victimhood of these children but at the same raising concerns about the agency of the trauma. The role of the child soldiers as perpetrators beyond their status of being victims and the necessity to provide proper psychosocio care to avert trauma and impending disorder in the society. A new approach concerning the grey area of in-betweenness in the victim/victimiser binary is needed while analysing desperate times like that of the Biafran civil war.

The Dynamics of Egypt’s “Semi-opposition,” 2004–11

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 83-103
Author(s):  
Mai Mogib Mosad
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political System ◽  
Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Relationship

This paper maps the basic opposition groups that influenced the Egyptian political system in the last years of Hosni Mubarak’s rule. It approaches the nature of the relationship between the system and the opposition through use of the concept of “semi-opposition.” An examination and evaluation of the opposition groups shows the extent to which the regime—in order to appear that it was opening the public sphere to the opposition—had channels of communication with the Muslim Brotherhood. The paper also shows the system’s relations with other groups, such as “Kifaya” and “April 6”; it then explains the reasons behind the success of the Muslim Brotherhood at seizing power after the ousting of President Mubarak.

The Concept of the Political

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin A. Schupmann
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mass Movements ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Relationship

Chapter 2 reinterprets Schmitt’s concept of the political. Schmitt argued that Weimar developments, especially the rise of mass movements politically opposed to the state and constitution, demonstrated that the state did not have any sort of monopoly over the political, contradicting the arguments made by predominant Weimar state theorists, such as Jellinek and Meinecke. Not only was the political independent of the state, Schmitt argued, but it could even be turned against it. Schmitt believed that his contemporaries’ failure to recognize the nature of the political prevented them from adequately responding to the politicization of society, inadvertently risking civil war. This chapter reanalyzes Schmitt’s political from this perspective. Without ignoring enmity, it argues that Schmitt also defines the political in terms of friendship and, importantly, “status par excellence” (the status that relativizes other statuses). It also examines the relationship between the political and Schmitt’s concept of representation.

Pax and the Politics of Peace

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Cornwell
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Roman Imperialism ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Pax Romana ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Insight Into

This book examines the two generations that spanned the collapse of the Republic and the Augustan period to understand how the concept of pax Romana, as a central ideology of Roman imperialism, evolved. The author argues for the integral nature of pax in understanding the changing dynamics of the Roman state through civil war to the creation of a new political system and world-rule. The period of the late Republic to the early Principate involved changes in the notion of imperialism. This is the story of how peace acquired a central role within imperial discourse over the course of the collapse of the Republican framework to become deployed in the legitimization of the Augustan regime. It is an examination of the movement from the debates over the content of the concept, in the dying Republic, to the creation of an authorized version controlled by the princeps, through an examination of a series of conceptions about peace, culminating with the pax augusta as the first crystallization of an imperial concept of peace. Just as there existed not one but a series of ideas concerning Roman imperialism, so too were there numerous different meanings, applications, and contexts within which Romans talked about ‘peace’. Examining these different nuances allows us insight into the ways they understood power dynamics, and how these were contingent on the political structures of the day. Roman discourses on peace were part of the wider discussion on the way in which Rome conceptualized her Empire and ideas of imperialism.

At the Edge of Reformation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Linehan
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Black Death ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
History Of ◽  
Portuguese Society ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

This book springs from its author’s continuing interest in the history of Spain and Portugal—on this occasion in the first half of the fourteenth century between the recovery of each kingdom from widespread anarchy and civil war and the onset of the Black Death. Focussing on ecclesiastical aspects of the period in that region (Galicia in particular) and secular attitudes to the privatization of the Church, it raises inter alios the question why developments there did not lead to a permanent sundering of the relationship with Rome (or Avignon) two centuries ahead of that outcome elsewhere in the West. In addressing such issues, as well as of neglected material in Spanish and Portuguese archives, use is made of the also unpublished so-called ‘secret’ registers of the popes of the period. The issues it raises concern not only Spanish and Portuguese society in general but also the developing relationship further afield of the components of the eternal quadrilateral (pope, king, episcopate, and secular nobility) in late medieval Europe, as well as of the activity in that period of those caterpillars of the commonwealth, the secular-minded sapientes. In this context, attention is given to the hitherto neglected attempt of Afonso IV of Portugal to appropriate the privileges of the primatial church of his kingdom and to advance the glorification of his Castilian son-in-law, Alfonso XI, as God’s vicegerent in his.

scholarly journals Populist radical right parties, welfare policy and population health in Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Rinaldi ◽  
M P M Bekker
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Population Health ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Political System ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Background The political system is an important influencing factor for population health but is often neglected in the public health literature. This scoping review uses insights from political science to explore the possible public health consequences of the rise of populist radical right (PRR) parties in Europe, with welfare state policy as a proxy. The aim is to generate hypotheses about the relationship between the PRR, political systems and public health. Methods A literature search on PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar resulted in 110 original research articles addressing 1) the relationship between the political system and welfare state policy/population health outcomes or 2) the relationship between PRR parties and welfare state policy/population health outcomes in Europe. Results The influence of political parties on population health seems to be mediated by welfare state policies. Early symptoms point towards possible negative effects of the PRR on public health, by taking a welfare chauvinist position. Despite limited literature, there are preliminary indications that the effect of PRR parties on health and welfare policy depends on vote-seeking or office-seeking strategies and may be mediated by the political system in which they act. Compromises with coalition partners, electoral institutions and the type of healthcare system can either restrain or exacerbate the effects of the PRR policy agenda. EU laws and regulations can to some extent restrict the nativist policy agenda of PRR parties. Conclusions The relationship between the PRR and welfare state policy seems to be mediated by the political system, meaning that the public health consequences will differ by country. Considering the increased popularity of populist parties in Europe and the possibly harmful consequences for public health, there is a need for further research on the link between the PRR and public health.

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Self-Compassion, Childhood Maltreatment and Attachment Orientation In High-Risk Adolescents

2021 ◽  
pp. 0044118X2110028
Author(s):  
Heather Mary Quinlan ◽  
Kellie Lynn Hadden ◽  
David Paul Storey
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distress ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Newfoundland And Labrador ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Attachment Orientation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Street Environment

The purpose of the current study was to explore whether selfcompassion predicted psychological distress over and above childhood maltreatment and attachment orientation in high-risk youths. Fifty-one youths (31 males, 20 females) aged 17 to 24, recruited from a community non-profit organization in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, were administered validated measures of childhood maltreatment, attachment orientation, self-compassion, and psychological distress. Results indicated that self-compassion was inversely associated with childhood maltreatment, attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and psychological distress. However, results did not support the hypothesis that self-compassion was a significant predictor of psychological distress over and above attachment anxiety and childhood maltreatment in high-risk youths. Our results indicated that self-compassion is not well developed in street-involved youths and may be a vital intervention target to heal negative internalized views of the self, while maintaining vigilance to threats inherent in the street environment.

Roles of Psychological Distress and Social Support in the Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment and Perceived Needs for Mental Health Care

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110063
Author(s):  
Tingting Gao ◽  
Songli Mei ◽  
Muzi Li ◽  
Carl D’ Arcy ◽  
Xiangfei Meng
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Perceived Needs ◽  
Perceived Need ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

Childhood maltreatment is a major public health issue worldwide. It increases a range of health-risk behaviors, psychological and physical problems, which are associated with an increased need for mental health services in adulthood. Identification of mediating factors in the relationship between maltreatment and seeking mental health care may help attenuate the negative consequences of childhood maltreatment and promote more appropriate treatment. This study aims to examine whether the relationship between childhood maltreatment and perceived need for mental health care is mediated by psychological distress and/or moderated by social support. Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health 2012 are analyzed. A total of 8,993 participants, who had complete information on childhood maltreatment and diagnoses of mental disorders or psychological distress, are included in this study. Structural equation modeling and the PROCESS macro were used to identify relationships among childhood maltreatment, perceived needs for mental health care, and psychological distress. Hierarchical linear regression was then used to verify the moderated mediation model. We found that psychological distress partially mediated the effect of childhood maltreatment on perceived needs for mental health care in adulthood. Social support played an important role in terms of moderating the relationship between maltreatment and perceived needs for care. For those with a history of childhood maltreatment, those who perceived a low level of social support were more likely to have higher levels of psychological distress and perceived need for mental health care. This is the first study to identify the separate and combined roles of psychological distress and social support in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and perceived need for mental health care. Selective prevention strategies should focus on social support to improve mental health services among people with a history of childhood maltreatment.

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