This dissertation explores questions of African literature and international law through the lens of the Nigeria-Biafra war (1967-1970). A defining trauma of modern Nigerian history, the war produced a rich and sustained vein of writing that stretches from the late 1960s through the present day, encompassing canonical Nigerian novels as well as a number of British and diasporic texts. Drawing on both literary and legal theory, I argue that this body of work mobilizes particular literary features—including narrative, analogy, allegory, and genre—to articulate both familiar and innovative logics of sovereignty. The structure of the project is primarily conceptual and loosely chronological. The first half explores narratives of development in relation to international law’s standard of civilization, focusing on British colonial writing (Chapter 1) and postwar allegorical novels (Chapter 2). The second half attends to how narrative fiction formally registers mid-20th century developments in international law, focusing on writers' use of analogy as a mode of theorizing genocide (Chapter 3) and the role of genre fiction in imagining economic sovereignty (Chapter 4). Throughout, I show how novelists pick up and transform literary tropes first articulated in wartime journalism, propaganda, and activist pamphlets.

abstract: This dissertation seeks to understand two universal experiences that have pervaded human society since man first climbed out of the trees: violence and trauma. Using theories gleaned from the Holocaust and other twentieth century atrocities, this work explores narratives of violent action and traumatic reaction as they occurred among peoples of the nineteenth-century American Southwest. By examining the stories of individuals and groups of Apaches, Ethnic Mexicans, Euro-Americans, and other diverse peoples within the lens of trauma studies, a new narrative emerges within US-Mexico borderlands history. This narrative reveals inter-generational legacies of violence among cultural groups that have lived through trauma and caused trauma within others. For both victims and perpetrators alike, trauma and violence can transform into tools of cultural construction and adaptation. Part I of this work establishes the concept of ethnotrauma-- a layered experience of collective trauma among minority populations under racial persecution. By following stories of Mescalero, Chiricahua, and Warm Springs Apaches in the nineteenth-century Southwest, this dissertation reveals how Apaches grappled with ethnotrauma through generations during times of war, imprisonment, and exile. These narratives also reveal how Apaches overcame these legacies of pain through communal solidarity and cultural continuity. Part II explores the concept of perpetrator trauma. By following stories of Mexican norteños, Mexican-Americans on the US-Mexico border, and American settlers, the impact of trauma on violators also comes to light. The concept perpetrator trauma in this context denotes the long-term cultural impacts of committing violence among perpetrating communities. For perpetrating groups, violence became a method of affirming and, in some cases, reconstructing group identity through opposition to other groups. Finally, at the heart of this work stands two critical symbols-- Geronimo, victim and villain, and the land itself, hostile and healing-- that reveal how cycles of violence entangled ethnotrauma and perpetrator trauma within individuals struggling to survive and thrive in a savage land. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation History 2020

"Much work has been done on the 1994 Rwandan genocide both under ICTR and the Rwandan justice system. Among the crimes committed during genocide in Rwanda was the crime of rape. However, considering the rate of mass rape committed, there are few cases of rape prosecuted so far compared to other crimes of the same gravity, and nothing has been said about the causes of the low rate reporting of this crime by the victims. A Gacaca court, which is a traditional justice system, is also involved in prosecuting the crime of genocide and other crimes against humanity. This is a traditional justice system/community system, which is also a tool of reconciliation through revealing information about the crimes committed during genocide. This applies to rape victims who will be required to recount their experiences before the community court. On the other hand, the perpetrator may recount the crime he committed for the sake of sentence commutation. Whichever way, the rape victims will either face Gacaca courts through this procedure or go without accessing justice. Given the small number of individuals who have formally sought legal redress, one can safely assume that most survivors in Rwanda have not come forward, and live with trauma alone, and in silence. This paper has highlighted the gaps in the Rwandan justice system in relation to rape victims. Further still, the researcher has laboured to establish the causes of the low rate of rape cases brought before courts in Rwanda. The impact of the Gacaca justice system in relation to rape reporting has also been discussed. International human rights instruments relating to rights of both the accused and the victim have been considered and where loopholes appear, an alternative legal approach, which may provide security and confidentiatlity for the victims to achieve justice, has been proposed." -- Chapter 1. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2003. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

"Although the concept of human rights is not new, it has never attracted more attention than today. However, contrary to the tremendous growth of concern for the international protection of human rights, Rwanda was visited by three main deplorable waves of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Therefore, while the study is based on the premise that the primary duty of preventing these international crimes lies with the state, it will be argued that the secondary duty lies with international organisations like the UN and the AU. Both organisations could have averted or minimised the atrocities that occurred in Rwanda. Accordingly the study aims to address four issues. First, it attempts to review the weaknesses of the UN and OAU in their human rights monitoring and promotional fucntion derived from international human rights instruments. Second, it seeks to investigate the shortcomings and the failures of these two organisations in intervening to stop the Rwandan genocide. Third, it attempts to examine the UN's and AU's current handling of the cases of genocide as a preventive mechanism against gross human rights violations in Rwanda. Finally, the study will attempt to see if the failures seen in Rwanda are reflected in the current responses of the UN and the AU. The study presupposes that the 1994 Rwandan genocide, although not altogether inevitable, would not have been so comprehensive had the UN and the OAU/AU not developed a culture of impunity in the genocide of 1963 and 1973. One way assume, too, that the suffering could even have been minimized had there been active measures taken by these two organisations. This thesis proceeds on the premise of a problem that the vacuum that still exists under the Rwandan situation, both pre- and post-1994 genocide, as well as the weakness of the response from the UN and AU, is also abetting the current genocide in Sudan and countries with a volatile situation, like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2004. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/llm1.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

"It is an accepted norm of international law that sitting heads of state have immunity from criminal prosecutions. A head of state is normally entitled to immunity from prosecution anywhere, even after he or she is no longer the head of state. However, in recent years we have witnessed the dramatic shift from this customary international law principle where some jurisdictions have been arresting, or threatening to arrest, former and sitting heads of state in order to institute criminal prosecutions against them. There is, however, no uniformity in the application of this action. Those jurisdictions that determine who is to be arrested or prosecuted are so selective that not all those alleged to have committed these crimes are arrested or prosecuted. On the other hand, existing jurisprudence on this subject is not firm in its application. This problem, therefore, calls for harmonisation of the application of the principle of immunity for heads of state in order to make international law reflect the real consent of states. ... The study is divided into four chapters. Chapter one addresses the background on which the study is premised, outlines the statement of the problem, objectives and their significance and the literature review. Chapter two discusses the principle of immunity as developed by prominent international lawyers, courts decisions and other generally applied principles in international law. Chapter three takes the practical application of the principle of head of state immunity against criminal prosecution in interantional law. This involves an examination of the application of the principle from selected national jurisdictions and by the International Court of Justice. Chapter four concludes the discussion and provides for necessary recommendations on the way forward." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2004. / Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Henry Onoria at the Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

"The international community is divided in respect of what actually occurred in Darfur. There are differenct views on the conflict. Some reports show that the conflict cannot be characterised as genocide, but rather atrocities, namely war crimes and crimes against humanity. Yet others indicate that, apart from crimes against humanity and war crimes, there was also genocide in Darfur. Still other reports indicate that the Darful conflict is characterised by 'ethnic cleansing'. Clearly there is a disagreement on what happened in Darfur. ... This study poses a critique to past studies on the Darfur conflict on the question of genocide. It analyses facts about the conflict in relation to the law on genocide so as to find out whether facts can meet the definition of the crime of genocide. The study is limited to the legal issue - whether genocide was committed in Darfur between 2003 and 2004. It does not intend to introduce the background to the conflict; rather, facts are only applied in the legal arguments. ... This work has four chapters. Chapter one is an introduction to the study. Chapter two discusses material elements of genocide and determination of a protected group. Chapter three discusses intent to commit genocide and poses a critique to past studies on Darfur. Chapter four shows conclusion and recommendations." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2005. / Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Paolo Comoane at the Faculty of Law, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mocambique / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

This thesis seeks to examine the characteristics of the Turkish Lobby in the United States and the strategies it has utilized in its approach to countering the Armenian Lobby's efforts at official Recognition of the Armenian Genocide. While the Armenian Lobby and its approach to Genocide Recognition in the United States has been well-documented, the organizational structure of the Turkish Lobby and its approach to counter Genocide Recognition has been less explored. The Turkish Lobby consists of various Turkish-American organizations with close ties to Ankara, as well as professional lobbying and public relations firms contracted by the Turkish government for millions of dollars annually. The variety of actors that compose the Turkish Lobby is a reflection of Turkey's multi-pronged approach to preventing Genocide Recognition. This seeks to examine the primary strategies the Turkish Lobby has employed to counter Genocide Recognition, as well as its strengths and weaknesses according to indicators of effective ethnic group lobbying. Two case studies are presented in order to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of the Turkish Lobby and the strategies it employed to prevent two House Resolutions calling for Genocide Recognition. The findings show that the Turkish Lobby fulfills several...

How to respond to ongoing genocide? How to punish her perpetrators? In 2014, world witnessed another modern genocide, the eradication of the whole ethnicity - the so-called Islamic State attacked an area in northern Iraq for centuries inhabited by members of a small but distinct ethnical group of Yazidi people. This diploma thesis deals with the establishment of discourse of Yazidi genocide, the process of recognition of events as genocide at the international level. In this work I investigate the definition of victims and aggressors and the international response to genocide, both in the media and political sphere. For the discourse of the Yazidi genocide was crucial to differentiate victims and violence against them from other events. Similarly, it was important to accurately name the perpetrators of genocide and treat them as a potential geopolitical threat, but as the cause of one of the worst crimes known to mankind. The discourse of the Yazidi genocide was largely determined by politicians - and, as I show in my work, the political dimension of events has pushed the humanitarian and legal ones behind. These all aspects take on the formation and maintenance of a given discourse.

[pt] O objetivo dessa tese é estudar a transmissão de um evento traumático, de natureza catastrófica, tendo como paradigma a Shoah. À luz da teoria freudiana e com o olhar de alguns autores de outras áreas do conhecimento, que trataram do tema, sustenta-se que acontecimentos traumáticos de tal monta geralmente caem em zonas de silêncio, produzindo graves seqüelas. Essas continuam a se manifestar, com a transmissão de patologias psíquicas às sucessivas gerações. Os conceitos revistos permitiram uma maior visibilidade do modo como se opera a transmissão inter-geracional de um trauma. Pesquisas realizadas a partir de testemunhos de sobreviventes da Shoah e de seus descendentes, apontam para a necessidade de se considerar esses estudos como imprescindíveis e fundamentais para o tratamento de sobreviventes de catástrofes coletivas. Com isso pretende-se, em primeira instancia, o desenvolvimento de meios que evitem a repetição traumática. O estudo interdisciplinar sobre o tema em questão traz uma importante contribuição para a abordagem da violência e de seus efeitos e o tratamento de suas seqüelas. O resultado a que se chegou visa oferecer uma contribuição para o necessário e urgente esforço de combate, dentro do possível, à violência destrutiva que ameaça a própria civilização. / [en] The objective of this thesis is to study the transmission of a catastrophical traumatic event, the Shoah being taken as paradigmatic. Under the light of Freudian theory and with the regard of some authors of other areas, which tackled the subject, it is supported that traumatic events of such magnitude generally fall in zones of silence, producing serious sequels. The consequences of the trauma then remain active, with the transmission of psychological pathologies to successive generations. The concepts enhanced here allow for a better visibility of the way the intergenerational transmission of trauma operates. Researches developed on the basis of testimonies by Shoah survivors and their descendants, point to the necessity of considering these studies as fundamental to the treatment of survivors from collective catastrophic events, aiming to develop means to avoid the traumatic repetition. The interdisciplinary study of these questions brings an important contribution to the understanding of violence and its effects and the treatment of its sequels. The conclusions aim to offer a contribution to the necessary and urgent effort to counter fight, as much as possible, the destructive violence that threatens civilization itself.

The main focus of this work is genocide in one of the former German colonies. German South West Africa, in the present day known as Namibia, faced such a frightening event at the beginning of 20th century that very few situations in human history can compare to it. This work tries to bring the reader closer to the situation in southwest Africa in the period of German colonialism, especially to the genocide of the Herero and Nama nations. The main goal of this diploma thesis is based on defining the term genocide and the description of contemporary events in German South West Africa. The key aim is to find certain connections between genocide committed by the German Empire in German South West Africa and genocide perpetrated several decades later by Nazi Germany in Eastern Europe during Second Word War.