Uncovering Genocide and the Psychological Impacts of the Holocaust and Rwandan Genocide
Session Title
Representation, Equity and Lived Experiences
Faculty Mentor
Ginger Williams, Ph.D.
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Interdisciplinary Studies
Abstract
The Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide were both mass genocide attempts at different times in the world with different consequences and therefore different outcomes. Each had their own impactful experiences on those that were able to survive these horrendous experiences and each of these mass genocides left different scars on those involved. I believe that it is important to uncover the reasoning of genocides as well as the psychological effects of major events, like the Holocaust or Rwandan genocide, because it can work to help us possibly prevent future genocides and help those of us who did not experience these traumatic events understand an idea of what the survivors went through. Although, we will never truly understand what it is like to go through these events without having experienced them ourselves, looking at the effects that these events caused will allow us to learn about the trauma of given and even hopefully work to prevent such things from happening in the future. My research question is what causes genocides and what are the lasting psychological effects on the Holocaust and Rwandan genocide on survivors. The thesis of this paper being there are various motives for genocide and some of the lasting psychological impacts on genocide survivors are depression, survivors’ guilt, anxiety, and issues stemming from sexual abuse and food deprivation. I feel like the cause of genocides as well as the psychological effects of the Holocaust and Rwandan genocide on survivors can be best examined with an interdisciplinary approach because this topic is too complex to just look at from one discipline. For this paper I would just like to focus on using two disciplines and I believe that the two disciplines that could help me the most in my uncovering the causes of genocides and the psychological effects on survivors would be History and Psychology. I believe that these two disciplines will help me for this paper because there is so much historical and psychological knowledge to be gained and used in this research. I think by looking at the individual effects on the survivors we can better understand what happened to them as a whole by having multiple insights and stories from various people.
Course Assignment
IDVS 490 – Williams
Previously Presented/Performed?
Winthrop University Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors, Rock Hill, SC, April 2023.
Type of Presentation
Oral presentation
Start Date
15-4-2023 12:00 PM
Uncovering Genocide and the Psychological Impacts of the Holocaust and Rwandan Genocide
The Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide were both mass genocide attempts at different times in the world with different consequences and therefore different outcomes. Each had their own impactful experiences on those that were able to survive these horrendous experiences and each of these mass genocides left different scars on those involved. I believe that it is important to uncover the reasoning of genocides as well as the psychological effects of major events, like the Holocaust or Rwandan genocide, because it can work to help us possibly prevent future genocides and help those of us who did not experience these traumatic events understand an idea of what the survivors went through. Although, we will never truly understand what it is like to go through these events without having experienced them ourselves, looking at the effects that these events caused will allow us to learn about the trauma of given and even hopefully work to prevent such things from happening in the future. My research question is what causes genocides and what are the lasting psychological effects on the Holocaust and Rwandan genocide on survivors. The thesis of this paper being there are various motives for genocide and some of the lasting psychological impacts on genocide survivors are depression, survivors’ guilt, anxiety, and issues stemming from sexual abuse and food deprivation. I feel like the cause of genocides as well as the psychological effects of the Holocaust and Rwandan genocide on survivors can be best examined with an interdisciplinary approach because this topic is too complex to just look at from one discipline. For this paper I would just like to focus on using two disciplines and I believe that the two disciplines that could help me the most in my uncovering the causes of genocides and the psychological effects on survivors would be History and Psychology. I believe that these two disciplines will help me for this paper because there is so much historical and psychological knowledge to be gained and used in this research. I think by looking at the individual effects on the survivors we can better understand what happened to them as a whole by having multiple insights and stories from various people.
