The Lived Experiences of Pregnancy and Motherhood in Bosnian Women During COVID-19

Introduction: Prenatal, perinatal and postnatal period result in series of psychological, physical, relational and emotional changes and adjustments while during the pandemic pregnant women and mothers of young children must also cope with the fear of themselves, their fetuses, or children being infected. Aim: The aim of study was to explore the lived experiences of pregnant women and mothers living in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 30 Bosnian women, 15 of whom were pregnant and 15 who are mothers that gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic were conducted. Participants were recruited through two local women’s associations. The data was analyzed utilized inductively using an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: The study results indicate that both pregnant women and mothers alike described negative and positive feelings about pregnancy and motherhood during the COVID-19 pandemic such as fear and hope. The lived experiences of anxiety and adaptation through two core concepts: trapped in the fear of the unknown and adapting and embracing uncertainty. Discussion: The main themes that emerged from the interviews reveal grounded fear but also adaptability. Even though people have amazing abilities to adapt to adverse life conditions, as women in our study demonstrate, many aspects of the pandemic’s impacts on vulnerable populations are still unexplored. Tailor-made public health strategies such as an online counseling platform should be created to accommodate specific needs and issues of this population.

Thinking against trauma binaries: the interdependence of personal and collective trauma in the narratives of Bosnian women rape survivors

In this article, we draw on feminist trauma studies with the aim of deconstructing the theoretical and methodological binary between individual and collective trauma. Based on first-hand interviews with Bosnian survivors of rape, we attempt to ‘think against’ the private/public split that trauma studies work often unintentionally reifies. We draw upon recent methodological innovations that have been influenced by thinkers such as Derrida and Deleuze. Specifically, we work with what Jackson and Mazzei call rhizomatic and trace readings in the threshold. Through a rhizomatic and trace reading of narrative pieces extracted from the interviews, we engage with the following questions: 1) How do we theorise what Davoine and Gaudilliere call ‘the sociopolitical faultlines’ between collective/public accounts of trauma and those traditionally constructed as private/personal? 2) How do accounts of war rape, which narrate the eruption of the past into the present, elucidate the myriad links between the private and public in a number of ways; among others, the echoes or traces of the everyday ‘before’ in subjects’ stories of the monstrous ‘after’? And 3) What is the relationship between the ‘unspeakable’ in the traumatic memories of the survivors and the ‘speakable’ collective memories of traumatic humanmade events? How does the collective desire ‘not to know’ or ‘to forget’ impact on the individual survivor’s ability to reconstitute their post-trauma identity in a personal as well as a social context? The aim of the analysis is to show that the multifaceted nature of the traumatic reality demands a multifaceted approach that resists binary constructions relating to self/other, private/public, individual/collective.

Relationship between H1 and H2 haplotypes of the 17q21 inversion and pregnancy loss in Bosnian population: A case - control study

Background: The 17q21.31 band is one of the most structurally complex and evolutionarily dynamic region of the genome. Frequencies of two SNPs: rs9468 and rs1800547 determine worldwide distribution of H1 and H2 haplotypes. Recent studies have demonstrated that H2 haplotype is ancestral in hominoids and under positive selection in European populations. The role of non-inverted orientation (H1 haplotype) and inverted orientation (H2) remains unclear, i.a. it is suggested that mothers who are H1H2 heterozygotes, tend to have more children than H2H2 homozygotes on average. Materials and methods: We investigated the prevalence of haplotypes of the 17q21 inversion in 154 women with pregnancy loss and 154 mothers with at last one live-born child, mean age: 33.0 (±5.4) y/o and 31.4 (±6.7) y/o, respectively. Following DNA extraction from buccal swabs, the genotyping was performed. All tests were performed using the R CRAN statistical software. Haplotypes were compared between groups. Results: In women with and without pregnancy loss we identified: 74.7% and 79.2% H1H1, 24.0% and 17.5% H1H2 and 1.3% and 3.3% H2H2 of haplotypes, respectively. There were no significant differences between the distributions of haplotypes in women with and without pregnancy loss. Statistically significant difference between the average number of children in women with H1H2 haplotype (navg. = 1.54) compared to women with H2H2 haplotype (navg. = 1.29), was not found. Conclusion: Haplotype H2 of the 17q21.31 inversion was not linked to pregnancy loss and number of children in Bosnian women.

Genetic causes of reproductive problems in the Bosnian women population

Background: The causes of infertility and recurrent spontaneous abortions are diverse and numerous – including non-genetic and genetic factors – whereby the importance of genetic factors in pathogenesis of infertility is becoming more and more common. Chromosomal abnormalities and genetic defects can cause reproduction failures, and for this reason genetic analysis can play an important role in reproductive problems research.Aims and Objective: This study aims to determine the type and frequency of chromosomalaberrations in the female population sample, as well as to determine if the difference between groups with and without chromosomal aberrations was statistically significant.Materials and Methods: One hundred women aged 15-46 were included in the study, allhaving different reproductive disorder diagnoses and requiring karyotype analysis in the Sarajevo Medical Faculty Genetic Center. Cytogenetic analysis was performed on the peripheral blood, which was cultured for four days, using GTG banding forchromosomalanalysis.Results: Out of 100 women included in the study, an abnormal karyotype was found in 16 of them (16%). The difference between the frequency of normal and abnormal karyotype in women with reproductive problems identified in this study was found to be statistically significant. The pattern of chromosomal aberrations was similar to that reported in the previous cytogenetic studies with similar inclusion criteria.Conclusion: This fact should be taken in the consideration in order to estimate true etiology of reproductive problems and it is a valuable information in the process of genetic counseling and decision making in assisted reproductive technology.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.9(5) 2018 12-16

The Martial Rape of Girls and Women in Antiquity and Modernity

This chapter tracks martial or “ravaging rape” since the ancient Mediterranean period. It demonstrates how ravaging has historically been practiced as a form of warfare. It describes how ravaging exerts martial ethno-religious hegemony over people by targeting their reproductive capacity and childbearing customs. It charts this practice in modern times, focusing on the sexual violence of Serbian forces toward Bosnian women. The linkages between historical and modern practices underscore the continuities of harm and violence that women experience in situations of war. The chapter situates recent testimonials about male massacre and martial rape within the long history of ravaging. Historical knowledge underscores the pervasiveness of such practices and the challenges to undoing them in war.