Canadian Consortium on Human Security
Fellow Profile: Erin Jessee
Erin Jessee is a doctoral candidate in the Interdisciplinary Humanities Doctoral Program at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Her primary advisor is Dr Frank Chalk, a pioneer in the field of genocide scholarship and co-founder of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS). Her other committee members include Dr Steve High (Canada Research Chair and Oral Historian in the History Department at Concordia University), Dr Erica Lehrer (Canada Research Chair and Anthropologist in the History Department at Concordia University) and Dr Mark Skinner (Forensic Bio-Archaeologist at Simon Fraser University). She has a Masters in Archaeology from Simon Fraser University, where she specialized in the application of forensic archaeological methods and theory to the international investigation of mass graves and other crime scenes resulting from mass human rights violations in regions such as Turkish Armenia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia and Argentina, among others.
Jessee’s current research project is entitled “Inscribed Intent: A Cultural History of the Rwandan and Bosnian Genocides.” Her proposed fieldwork draws on oral history, anthropology, and forensic archaeology. This interdisciplinary approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of the cultural meaning behind the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia. Jessee’s research goal is to evaluate a new possibility for demonstrating genocidal intent. Before perpetrators of genocide can be convicted, Article II of the Genocide Convention requires that genocidal intent be demonstrated using testimonial, physical or documentary evidence that the perpetrator acted with “the intent to destroy… a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.” A multidisciplinary approach to this problem can provide a higher standard of evidence of genocidal intent due to the realization that during genocide, perpetrators often physically inscribe the bodies of their victims with culturally-specific symbolic violence intended to communicate the victims’ perceived status as members of an unwanted group. Jessee has termed this phenomenon inscribed intent and has developed an interdisciplinary methodology that includes conducting ethnographic and oral historical fieldwork, and participating in ongoing forensic exhumations, in order to explore its occurrence in greater detail in relation to the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Data from Jessee’s fieldwork will contribute to future genocide prevention efforts in the regions surrouding Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina by identifying patterns in the escalation of violence that can be useful for early warning. Given the often tense atmosphere in countries neighboring Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina at present (particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kosovo respectively), this information could prove incredibly important for the prevention of further human rights abuses and genocide in these regions. Furthermore, should genocide occur in these regions, the resulting data could improve the prosecution’s ability to demonstrate genocidal intent in causes where alleged perpetrators are known to have been involved in committing acts of excessive, symbolically-laden violence. Thus, the data resulting from this research could serve to establish a foundation for linking oral historical, anthropological and forensic archaeological evidence at the level of the international tribunals and courts.
Jessee’s studies thus far have earned her a number of awards and honors. Her Masters thesis earned her a mention in a 2004 MacLean’s article entitled “The Best and Brightest: MacLean’s 25 University Stars.” More recently, she was a recipient of a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, as well as a Students for Development Internship administered through CIDA and the AUCC aimed at supporting the Rwanda portion of her fieldwork. The funds granted by the CCHS will be used to complete her fieldwork in Rwanda and to plan for the next phase of her research in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Erin Jessee can be reached at erinjessee (at) hotmail.com or visit her website at www.researchrwanda.com
Publications:
Jessee, Erin. “Negotiating the Mass: Forensic Archaeological Perspectives on the Exhumation of Mass Graves,” in Archaeology for the Masses: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to a Neglected Identity edited by Aaron Alzola Romero. Chapter accepted for publication in the Spring 2008 by Tempus Reparatum, BAR International Series.
Jessee, Erin and Mark Skinner. “A Typology of Mass Grave and Mass Grave-related Sites,” Forensic Science International 152, 1 (2005): pp. 55-59.
Conference Presentations:
International Association of Genocide Scholars Meeting, Sarajevo Bosnia, “Inscribed Intent: A Case for Increased Interdisciplinarity in the Investigation and Prevention of Genocide.” Unpublished paper presented on July 12, 2007.
