Research Question
For my small N research project, I will seek to answer the following question: what explains the difference in reconciliation status in post-conflict Rwanda & Yugoslavia?
Discuss Data Sources Located
The data sources I am utilizing to operationalize my dependent variable of reconciliation status are primarily from the Peace Corps Community Archives from 1991-1999.[1] I utilize these to operationalize my variable through how the Peace Corps interfered in each of the conflict’s development. For the sake of space, I will be utilizing the example entitled “Never Again: Struggling for Humanness in Post-Conflict Rwanda & Guatemala.”[2] The author, Dr. Drew Asson, a former Peace Corps volunteer in post-genocide Rwanda, studies structure and power through a centralized identity, as opposed to a decentralized identity, defined as individual groups claiming certain historical truths as an aspect of their identity, whereas a centralized identity claims a unified history.[3] Through these structures of identity, as studied in this article and others, I plan to operationalize the variable of reconciliation status.
Operationalizing the DV
The dependent variable reflected in my small-n project is reconciliation status, which segments into centralized or decentralized, impacted by the independent variable of school curricula and those structures of power, particularly those found in history textbooks.[4] Dr. Asson’s article operationalizes the variable of reconciliation narratives using its dependent variable, which is national identity, that plays directly into reconciliation through education. Having a unified national identity signifies an understanding of reconciliation among history, and at least, not too much contention.[5] Thusly, it helps me define my variable within national identity, as reconciliation narratives do involve national, as well as global identities.
Defined in such a way, reconciliation status operationalizes as a measurement of centralized and decentralized identities through the study of education reform in these post-conflict settings.
Highlighting a Case
Rwanda and Yugoslavia are similar cases due to their space in geo-political time.[6] Both struggled through deep ethnic cleansing and genocide from the early 1990’s onward, with different responses from the international community.[7] In Rwanda for example, infiltration from the Peace Corps have nationalized their identity because of the sources I’ve already investigated beyond the data source cited above, such as My Neighbor My Enemy, which emphasizes Rwanda’s “unified” school system, whereas Bosnia would be considered decentralized, as its system of education is incredibly decentralized and tense despite years having past.[8] The difference is dependent on the variable of their education into their national identity, specifically with how their history is being implemented in the classrooms – if it’s still contested or not, if the classrooms are separated, and who determines the books the school reads and buys. Thusly, my primary documents will be ethnographic and genealogical studies of their separate school systems, as well as translated segments of the curriculum.
[1] “Peace Corps Community Archive | AU Digital Research Archive,” accessed December 20, 2019, https://auislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/peacecorps%3A1.
[2] “Never Again: Struggling for Humanness in Postconflict Rwanda and Guatemala | AU Digital Research Archive,” accessed December 20, 2019, https://auislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/thesesdissertations%3A5659?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=82093b0bc327df927a41&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=4.
[3] Thomas Butler, ed., Memory: History, Culture, and the Mind (Oxford, UK; New York, NY, USA: B. Blackwell, 1989).
“Never Again: Struggling for Humanness in Postconflict Rwanda and Guatemala | AU Digital Research Archive,” accessed December 20, 2019, https://auislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/thesesdissertations%3A5659?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=82093b0bc327df927a41&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=4
[4] “Never Again: Struggling for Humanness in Postconflict Rwanda and Guatemala | AU Digital Research Archive.”
[5] Ibid.
[6] David A. Dyker and Ivan Vejvoda, Yugoslavia and After: A Study in Fragmentation, Despair and Rebirth (Routledge, 2014).
[7] Sarah Freedman, My Neighbor, My Enemy: Justice and Community in the Aftermath of Mass Atrocity, ed. Harvey Weinstein, vol. 1, 1 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
[8] Ibid.
Bibliography
Butler, Thomas, ed. Memory: History, Culture, and the Mind. Oxford, UK; New York, NY, USA: B. Blackwell, 1989.
Dyker, David A., and Ivan Vejvoda. Yugoslavia and After: A Study in Fragmentation, Despair and Rebirth. Routledge, 2014.
Freedman, Sarah. My Neighbor, My Enemy: Justice and Community in the Aftermath of Mass Atrocity. Edited by Harvey Weinstein. Vol. 1. 1. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
“Never Again: Struggling for Humanness in Postconflict Rwanda and Guatemala | AU Digital Research Archive.” Accessed December 20, 2019. https://auislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/thesesdissertations%3A5659?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=82093b0bc327df927a41&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=4.
“Peace Corps Community Archive | AU Digital Research Archive.” Accessed December 20, 2019. https://auislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/peacecorps%3A1.
Tristen — overall a very good job here. The primary sources that you discuss are clearly relevant to your project. I am a bit uncertain as to what you mean with the term “infiltration” (or how you are using that term) to discuss the way that the Peace Corps documents provide data for your project. As you continue your research, keep thinking about other types of primary sources that would also tell you about your DV. Since education systems are closely linked to governments and other systems of power, documents that delineate lines of authority on curricular decisions, school district organization, how teachers are selected, etc., could all be helpful. Given the high level of international involvement in the post-conflict period, many of these documents might be available in translation via international organizations (or might have been created by international organizations in the first place as advice was provided for the post-conflict period).
I would also work on refining the operationalization of the DV as you continue your work. What specific questions would you ask of a case or piece of data to determine whether it was centralized or decentralized? What specific data points would tell you that you are seeing centralization or decentralization? Perhaps more difficult, are reconciliation processes homogenous like this, or are there ways in which reconciliation processes could have elements of both in different areas? The Howard article offers a good example of how to maximize the leverage offered by qualitative case-comparative research by operationalizing complex variables (like reconciliation status) along multiple dimensions, so you might use her work as a model.