B-HUMAN: Exploring Humanity through Transgenerational Reciprocity

当一个社会经历动荡时，人们努力继续成为他们所理解的人，并保持他们的人性。文学提供了不同的人性观，包括西方观点（强调主体性和尊严），后殖民观点（殖民主义中的人性）和土著观点（人性的多样性）。然而，这些争论的基础是一个假设：人性是一个静态的概念。人性的动态方面，如观点和意义的变化和连续性，被忽视了。为了填补这一空白，我的博士和以前的博士后研究探索了种族灭绝后卢旺达的人性恢复，发现互惠-礼物实践包括给予，分享和帮助-被认为是重建人性的关键;此外，礼物实践跨越了几代人，跨越了时间和空间。我称之为“跨代互惠”，但其细微差别/细节仍然未知。为了解决这个问题，B-HUMAN项目旨在调查跨代互惠-跨时空的礼物习俗，记忆和叙述的代际传递，并从土著的角度了解自殖民主义以来人类的变化和延续。报告将卢旺达作为一个案例地区，该地区经历了极端的人道主义危机。结合历史学，人类学/民族志和现象学心理学的跨学科方法，该研究将探讨礼物实践，记忆和叙事的传播，转变和保存。调查结果将有助于从全球南方的角度更深入地了解人类，并更好地支持受冲突/灾害影响社区的心理健康和福祉以及社会经济复苏。如果没有这个项目，与文化相适应的国际援助，例如精神健康和心理社会支持、和平建设和国际发展，仍然是有限的。

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.