This thesis analyses the texts and audio-files of the exhibitions of the Dutch memorial museums about the Second World War to understand how perpetrators have been represented. In a social constructionist approach on cultural memory and heritage it can be argued that memorial museums are institutions which partake in the processes of cultural memory and heritage during which a reconstruction of the past is developed which can be connected to the values of the current society. Cultural memory and heritage provide a shared past for the community and a connection between the past, present, and future. The aim is to find out who is represented, how they are represented, and how their narrative relates to Dutch memory culture. This has been done through an analysis of the texts of the exhibition using Fairclough’s three dimensional model for Critical Discourse Analysis.It can be concluded that the narrative of the perpetrators in the Netherlands has hardly changed since the exhibitions still represent the stereotypical German, high-ranking, and/or violent perpetrators. However, the exhibitions do focus on local perpetrators rather than the elite in Germany, they include women as perpetrators, and present the perpetrators as ordinary people who became perpetrators due to a variety of social, cultural, and mental factors. Additionally, the exhibitions indicate that individuals, including perpetrators, cannot be either ‘good’ or ‘evil’ but should be analysed individually to understand the positive and negative consequences of their choices and actions. Nonetheless, more Dutch perpetrators, lower-ranking individuals, and guards who tried to help the prisoners need to be represented to provide a more complete image of the perpetrators and to represent a more nuanced narrative where ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Additionally, the variety of reasons that turned regular people into perpetrators could be better explored through a more diverse group of perpetrators. Finally, within the context of moral consciousness, active citizenship, and reflection, the portrayal of the different choices made by the different perpetrators and the effect these had would be valuable cases of reflection for the visitor.

Twenty years after the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Violet Walters makes her way to the tiny village of Murumba to fulfill her dream of becoming a philanthropist. In addition to the shock of a new culture, Violet must now contend with Bret Calloway, a hardened philanthropist whose ten years at Murumba have made him less than happy about the arrival of Violet and her optimistic new perspective. Amid the mounting tension of their relationship, war looms in the background. What ensues is a testament to the transformational nature of a culture and its people. Gukundana seeks to illuminate injustices related to civil strife and genocide from an outsider's perspective. The character of Violet acts as a stable lens from which western viewers can engage with cultural hardships very different from their own. Within this, the connection between the warring ideologies of Bret and Violet against the background of the mounting violence around them serves as another window into greater emotional engagement with themes of violence and war. Ultimately, this screenplay's mission is to bridge cultural barriers in order to endear viewers to the unity, resiliency, and power of the Rwandan people, thus sparking change within a viewing audience's surrounding community.

This research experiment investigated whether the nuclear taboo was more influential on participants when considering the use of nuclear weapons, or if the participants were influenced more by cost-benefit analysis when deciding to use nuclear weapons. In this study, we presented a fake military scenario to respondents with a total of eight different versions that either did or did not include: genocide, high casualties, and nuclear weapons. Participants could then select whether they agreed, disagreed, or needed more information as there answer. Breaking respondents down into these three groups, the results show that for all three respondent groups the independent variable with the strongest effect was nuclear weapons. The weakest variable was high casualty rates, while genocide had the second strongest effect on the respondents' decision-making process. These findings indicate that respondents were affected by the nuclear taboo and were less likely to cost-benefit analyze when giving their answer to the military proposal.

In 1988, the Iraqi regime executed the Anfal Genocide against its Kurdish population, killing a conservative estimate of approximately 50,000 to 100,000 Kurds (Human Rights Watch, 1993). This genocide involved the widespread usage of chemical weapons and marked a highly traumatic moment in modern Kurdish history. As of today, little academic research has been completed on the long-term medical and political consequences of exposure to chemical weapons in the Kurdistan region. This exploratory research aims to contribute to the body of literature on this topic through interviews with medical professionals, Kurdish politicians, and non-governmental organization employees that have expertise on the Anfal attacks and their aftermath. By following a semi-structured interview format with the help of a native Kurdish translator when necessary, this research project was able to collect novel information on the lasting legacy of chemical weapons in Iraqi Kurdistan. The commentary included topics like how to medically and politically address the aftermath of chemical weapons, and how chemical weapons changed Iraqi Kurdistan’s healthcare system, societal relationships, and economy. Data collected for the medical findings proposes that improvements to Iraqi Kurdistan’s general medical infrastructure and emergency healthcare capacity are necessary to aid Anfal survivors and the future safety of the nation. Evidence within the political findings suggests that chemical weapons are not only detrimental to health, but also to the social, economic, and international components of Iraqi Kurdistan’s politics. Overall, this project adds to the growing body of literature that focuses on contemporary Kurdish affairs within the context of historical violence.

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In times of war, women are subjected to sexual abuse that is largely ignored by military organizations, media outlets, and international courts. Existing literature has illustrated how wartime rape was accepted or dismissed in the past, and how today, while this practice continues, international courts are beginning to identify the harm being done to women, making explicit how rape is used as a tool of genocide. In this thesis I argue that wartime rape serves as a means of genocide, a way to eliminate a group of individuals and their culture. A recent example of how rape worked as genocide is seen in the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Rape was used as a systematic policy to destroy a group of people, the Tutsi, through torture and the spreading of AIDS. The purpose of this research is to examine genocidal rape from the perspectives of women who were raped in Rwanda during the genocide. The focus is on gaining insight to wartime rape as a form of genocide and the aftermath of rape on the women and the culture within which it occurred. Qualitative, feminist analysis was used to answer the following research questions: How do women raped in the Rwandan genocide describe and explain their experiences with rape and its aftermath? How did the intersection of gender and ethnicity contribute to violence against women during the genocide? What are the implications of rape for the women who experienced it and for their families, communities, and their cultural group? / Master of Science

The 'never again' slogan to genocide, expressed by the United Nations Organization in 1948, after the Armenian and Jewish genocides has not been a barrier to other genocides whose Holocausts are a product. In 1994 in Rwanda, genocide occurred and the Kigali Memorial Center of Genocide is one of the Memorials (Holocaust) which stands as a reminder of the horror, in order to inform the community to keep watching. This raised the curiosity of the researcher, to analyze how these new symbols can contribute to restore and revitalize social and cultural values in the context of Rwanda. The inside of the house offers on opportunity to visit the displayed history in which the genocide is rooted, including the period of genocide through survivors' experiences represented in short movies and by the material used in the killings. There is a room reserved for displays of the others' genocides in the world. Outside the house, mass graves surrounded by a garden, announce the burial place and a documentary place. The first chapter is the general introduction of the study and outlines the framework of the study. The second chapter offers the syntheses of the literature review that it presents the social and political context in which the genocide took root. The third chapter offers the theoretical framework which deals with the nature of culture and its influence in the understanding of the Kigali Memorial Center of Genocide. The fourth chapter focuses on the fieldwork methodology. This study makes use of the qualitative approach. The primary data was collected through in-depth interviews of twenty one individuals and discussions with four focus groups with ten respondents in each group. Respondents were randomly chosen. The secondary data was used to complete the primary data. The fifth chapter is the presentation of the research findings. The findings reveal that after completing the construction of the Kigali Memorial Center of Genocide in 2004, spontaneous and organized visits to the Kigali Memorial Center of Genocide have taken place. This 'window' of what happened, inspires visitors and communities that there is a need to understand the past which can help in building a hopeful future together, for sustainable peace. The sixth chapter is the conclusion of the study which makes with recommendations and suggests further research. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.