Doctoral Dissertation Research: Subjectivity and Relationship in Mixed-Ethnicity Families in Post-War Contexts

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

Doctoral student H. Keziah Conrad (University of California, Los Angeles), supervised by Dr. Douglas Hollan, will undertake research on individuals in mixed-ethnicity families in the polarized contexts that follow ethnic conflicts. The researcher will focus in particular on kin relationships and routine interactions in the family as primary sites for the co-construction of attitudes, values, and identities. In the aftermath of ethnic conflict, how do people in mixed-ethnicity families understand themselves, maintain relationships with kin, and bring up their children? Research will take place over 12 months with families living in and around Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Drawing on person-centered interviews, the researcher will address how individual members of mixed-ethnicity families describe themselves, their affiliation with other people in their family and with symbols of ethnicity, and the ways that they experience or try to find a sense of belonging. She also will contextualize individuals' introspective accounts by documenting (through participant observation and video recording) spontaneous interactions between family members and by tracing the networks of care and obligation that organize family life for kinship groups that may appear "unnatural" and treacherous because they cross ethnic lines. When examining both personal narratives and interpersonal interactions, the researcher will attend to specific processes through which younger generations might inherit, internalize, appropriate, or transform their elders' memories of trauma and attitudes toward ethnicity, as well as broader culturally-defined ways of relating to identity and past violence. Findings from this research will contribute to social scientific understanding of the effects of collective violence, particularly in terms of the intergenerational transmission of traumatic memory and attitudes of hatred or empathic understanding. This work is also relevant to the development of post-conflict reconciliation and transitional justice initiatives, including policy to support cross-cutting ties, such as mixed marriage, which can reduce the probability of further conflict. Finally, funding this research contributes to the training of a social scientist.