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- Title
Not Supposed to be Born? Narratives of Unwanted Pregnancy, Impossible Motherhood, and Children Born of War Rape in Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- Authors
Schwartz, Agatha; Sethna, Christabelle; Carron, Danielle Lyn
- Abstract
This article examines the intergenerational impact of sexual violence in conflict zones by drawing from two published literary narratives--the German wartime diary by Anonymous, A Woman in Berlin, and the novel based on women's testimonies of war rape and unwanted pregnancies in Bosnia by Slavenka Drakulić, S.: A Novel About the Balkans--in addition to published testimonies and unpublished interview data by children born of war rape (CBOWR) in Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Applying feminist narrative analysis, the authors demonstrate the situation of "impossible motherhood" and the experiences of children who were not supposed to be born. The article focuses on the narrative process marked by trauma but also by agency and resilience to challenge dominant stories of war and unwanted pregnancy following rape in armed conflict. The authors propose a resolution for tensions around the ethnic and national identity of CBOWR along what they call maternal lineage as opposed to the imposition of the children's stigmatized paternal heritage.
- Subjects
BOSNIA &; Herzegovina; BALKAN Peninsula; UNWANTED pregnancy; WAR; RAPE; MOTHERHOOD; SEXUAL assault; WAR stories
- Publication
Canadian Journal of European & Russian Studies (CJERS), 2023, Vol 16, Issue 3, p1
- ISSN
2562-8429
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.22215/cjers.v16i3.4034