B-HUMAN: Exploring Humanity through Transgenerational Reciprocity

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When a society experiences an upheaval, people strive to continue to be what they understand as human and preserve their humanity. The literature has offered different views of humanity, including Western views (emphasising subjectivity and dignity), postcolonial views (humanity in colonialism), and indigenous views (the diversity of humanity). However, one assumption underlies these debates: humanity is a static concept. Dynamic aspects of humanity, such as change and continuity of views and meanings, were overlooked. To fill this gap, my PhD and previous postdoctoral studies explored the restoration of humanity in post-genocide Rwanda, and found that, reciprocity--gift practice including giving, sharing, and helping--was perceived as key to reconstructing humanity; moreover, gift practice traversed generations, moving across time and space. I refer to this as 'transgenerational reciprocity' but its nuances/details remain unknown.To address this, the B-HUMAN project aims to investigate transgenerational reciprocity-- intergenerational transmission of gift practices, memories and narratives across time and space, and understand change and continuity of humanity since colonialism from indigenous views. It focuses on Rwanda as one case area, which experienced an extreme humanitarian crisis. Combining interdisciplinary methodologies from history, anthropology/ethnography and phenomenological psychology, the study will explore transmission, transformation and preservation of gift practices, memories, and narratives. Findings will contribute to a deeper understanding of humanity drawing from the perspectives from the global South and better support for mental health and wellbeing and socio-economic recovery of conflict/disaster-affected communities. Without this project, culturally-appropriate international assistance, e.g. mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), peace-building and international development, remain limited.