Dr. Elham Atashi (she/her) is the Director and Teaching Professor in the Justice and Peace Studies Program (JUPS). She has published on issues relating to peace processes, peace negotiations, conflict transformation, peacebuilding, restorative justice, and reconciliation.
Research Project: Gender Activism in Post Genocide Rwanda
This research is focused on exploring the approaches taken by local community organizations to interrupt yet another call for violence in the context of the post Rwandan genocide. Learning about these approaches can contribute to understanding the way that the memory of violence in the past can be utilized as a catalyst to prevent the use of aggression as a normative problem-solving strategy. By analyzing the dynamics of genocide as directed towards a particular group on an ethnic level, we can better understand the process through which a nation can construct a narrative to exclude or include gendered violence in post-genocide society. Contextualized as tolerance for diversity and tolerance against discrimination, local community organizations reshaped the national discourse and transformed the debate on LGBTQ rights.