Corpi di donne in guerra. La violenza sessuale in Bosnia e Ruanda e i problemi del dopoguerra

Abstract

This article studies sexual violence in the 1990s conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda. First I will show how the ethnic definition is misleading, since it hides what is really the construction of nationalism, implemented through the use of the female body as a symbol of the nation. Second, I will examine how this violence interconnects nationalism, gender, gendered-body and sexuality with the aim of affecting the future of the enemy group. Thirdly, I will describe how, in the conflicts' aftermaths, recovery programmes are not adequate and exclude many survivors, who are marginalized, stigmatized and silenced and thus subjected to new violence.

Keywords

• Gendered violence
• war
• Rwanda
• Bosnia
• nationalism
• sexualization