Destined For Exclusion? : Resilient Group Identities and Social Acceptance of Wartime Sexual Violence Survivors

Abstract: Mainstream accounts of CRSV argue that its victims inevitably face social exclusion by their communities once the fighting is over. However, empirical evidence suggests that some ethnic groups show support towards survivors – specifically, women – thus not bounding the latter to the stigma brought about by sexual abuse. This study seeks to investigate the conditions underlying social acceptance of female survivors so to explain why some societies seem to reject them while others reintegrate them back. By employing a socio-psychological perspective on the importance of social identity’s continuity after trauma, I argue that survivors are more likely to experience acceptance when their ethnic group exhibit high levels of identity resilience, previously targeted through the strategic use of CRSV. This is argued to be due to the capacity of the group to maintain a sense of unity and worth after war, which in turn influences perceptions of the victims, no longer seen as “walking shames” but as “survivors”. Using a structured focused comparison, the hypothesis is tested by analysing individual narratives of Bosniaks and Tutsis. Ultimately, this study finds that group identity resilience might be an important factor when accounting for social acceptance, and rejection, of survivors.