This month, RESOLVE highlights recommended readings from the RESOLVE Policy Note, "Identity, Rituals, and Narratives: Lessons from Reentry and Reintegration after Genocide in Rwanda." In this note, author Hollie Nyseth Brehm outlines core findings from a case study of the experiences of approximately 200 Rwandans as they left prison or community service camp and returned to their communities. She focuses on identity, rituals, and narratives with an emphasis on initial reentry, which sets the stage for broader reintegration. The publications in this What We’re Reading were suggested by the author to offer a more in-depth look at labeling, narratives and rituals, reintegrative shaming, and the case of Rwanda.  

On Labeling

Bernburg, Jon Gunnar. “Labeling Theory.” In Handbook on Crime and Deviance, pp. 179-196. Springer, Cham, 2019. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jon_Bernburg/publication/336312509….

Chiricos, Ted, Kelle Barrick, William Bales, and Stephanie Bontrager. “The Labeling of Convicted Felons and Its Consequences for Recidivism.” Criminology 45, no. 3 (2007): 547-581. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2007.00089.x.

On Narratives and Rituals

Cobb, Sara B. Speaking of Violence: The Politics and Poetics of Narrative in Conflict Resolution. Oxford University Press, 2013. Maruna, Shadd. “Reentry as a Rite of Passage.” Punishment & Society 13, no. 1 (2011): 3-28. https://doi. org/10.1177/1462474510385641.

On Reintegrative Shaming

Braithwaite, John. “Reintegratve Shaming.” Crime: Critcal Concepts in Sociology. London: Routledge (2003): 345-361. http://johnbraithwaite.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2000_ Reintegrative-Shaming.pdf.

Murphy, Kristna, and Nathan Harris. “Shaming, Shame and Recidivism: A Test of Reintegratve Shaming Theory in the White-Collar Crime Context.” The Britsh Journal of Criminology 47, no. 6 (2007): 900-917. htps://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azm037.

On the Case of Rwanda

Fujii, Lee Ann. Killing of Neighbors: Webs of Violence in Rwanda. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009.

Hintjens, Helen M. “Explaining the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda.” The Journal of Modern African Studies 37, no. 2 (1999): 241-286. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X99003018.