My current research revolves around two ongoing projects. The first, conducted in collaboration with Claver Hodali Irakoze of the Aegis Trust, is an investigation into parental challenges in post-genocide Rwanda and how this relates to broader processes of national reconciliation. This project is being supported by the Aegis Research, Policy and Higher Education (RPHE) funding scheme.
My second project explores the ways in which knowledge of conflicts in Africa is produced in journalism and academia, focusing on questions of language, translation and context. Initial groundwork for this project includes two successful Irish Research Council funding applications and one successful Government of Ireland International Academic Mobility Programme. This Mobility involved spending a month working at the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (IRDP) in Rwanda where, in partnership with Dr Eric Ndushabandi, I have been developing the project into a major, collaborative funding application.
Biography
Dr Caroline Williamson Sinalo came to University College Cork as a Lecturer in World Languages in February 2015. Before joining UCC, she was a Teaching Associate at the University of Nottingham where she also obtained her PhD in French and Francophone Studies. As part of her doctoral training, she spent one year working in Rwanda for the Aegis Trust, a charity that campaigns against genocide and runs the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre. Dr Williamson Sinalo has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Manchester and spent a year at the Institut de Psychologie de l'Université de Paris. Before becoming an academic, she worked for the FIFA Ticketing Office and was involved in organizing the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. Research Interests
My book, Rwanda after Genocide: Gender, Identity and Posttraumatic Growth (Cambridge, 2018), collates my doctoral work on posttraumatic growth in Rwandan women with an Aegis Trust-funded project on Rwandan men. Through analysing their testimonies, the book explores the ways in which Rwandans have rebuilt their lives, paying particular attention to the relationship between posttraumatic growth and gender and examining it within the wider frames of colonialism and traditional cultural practices.My current research revolves around two ongoing projects. The first, conducted in collaboration with Claver Hodali Irakoze of the Aegis Trust, is an investigation into parental challenges in post-genocide Rwanda and how this relates to broader processes of national reconciliation. This project is being supported by the Aegis Research, Policy and Higher Education (RPHE) funding scheme.
My second project explores the ways in which knowledge of conflicts in Africa is produced in journalism and academia, focusing on questions of language, translation and context. Initial groundwork for this project includes two successful Irish Research Council funding applications and one successful Government of Ireland International Academic Mobility Programme. This Mobility involved spending a month working at the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (IRDP) in Rwanda where, in partnership with Dr Eric Ndushabandi, I have been developing the project into a major, collaborative funding application.
Research Grants
| Project | Funding Body | Start Date | End Date | Award | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Posttraumatic Growth in Rwandan Men’s Testimonies | Other: Not Listed | 01-OCT-14 | 01-MAR-15 | ||
| Developing A Funding Application for the Project: “Knowledge Production and Conflicts in Africa: Language, Translation and Context” | Higher Education Authority | 17-MAR-19 | 13-APR-19 | €7,540.00 | |
| Exploring disclosure practices among Rwandan parents | Other: Not Listed | 01-DEC-17 | 30-SEP-18 | ||
| Representing Gender Based Violence: Establishing an Interdisciplinary International Network | Irish Research Council | 01-JAN-17 | 01-AUG-17 | €4,880.00 | |
| "On Pandering" to a Western Readership. | Irish Research Council | 01-MAR-16 | 30-NOV-16 | €8,505.00 | |
| Posttraumatic identities: Developing a culturally informed understanding of posttraumatic growth in Rwandan women genocide survivors | Art & Humanities Research Council | 01-SEP-10 | 07-JUL-14 |
Publications
Books
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2018) | Rwanda After Genocide: Gender, Identity and Post-Traumatic Growth. Caroline Williamson Sinalo (2018) Rwanda After Genocide: Gender, Identity and Post-Traumatic Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Details] |
Book Chapters
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2019) | 'Decolonizing Trauma Therapy in Rwanda' Caroline Williamson Sinalo (2019) 'Decolonizing Trauma Therapy in Rwanda' In: Hannah Grayson and Nicki Hitchcott (eds). Rwanda Since 1994: Stories of Change. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. [Details] |
Peer Reviewed Journals
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2016) | 'Genocide, masculinity and posttraumatic growth in Rwanda: reconstructing male identity through ndi umunyarwanda' Caroline Williamson (2016) 'Genocide, masculinity and posttraumatic growth in Rwanda: reconstructing male identity through ndi umunyarwanda'. Journal of Genocide Research, 18 (1):41-59 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2016) | 'Post-traumatic growth at the international level: The obstructive role played by translators and editors of Rwandan Genocide testimonies' Caroline Williamson (2016) 'Post-traumatic growth at the international level: The obstructive role played by translators and editors of Rwandan Genocide testimonies'. Translation Studies, 9 (1):33-50 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'Posttraumatic growth and religion in Rwanda: individual well-being vs. collective false consciousness' Caroline Williamson (2014) 'Posttraumatic growth and religion in Rwanda: individual well-being vs. collective false consciousness'. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 17 (9):946-955 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2014) | 'Towards a theory of collective posttraumatic growth in Rwanda: The pursuit of agency and communion' Caroline Williamson (2014) 'Towards a theory of collective posttraumatic growth in Rwanda: The pursuit of agency and communion'. Traumatology, 20 (4):91-102 [DOI] [Details] | |
| (2013) | 'Accessing Material from the Genocide Archive of Rwanda' Caroline Williamson (2013) 'Accessing Material from the Genocide Archive of Rwanda'. African Research and Documentation, 120 :17-24 [Details] |
Articles
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2014) | Breaking the silence: Rwandan women survivors give testimony and find a voice. Caroline Williamson (2014) Breaking the silence: Rwandan women survivors give testimony and find a voice. Articles [Details] |
Newspaper Articles
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| (2017) | The portrayal of gender abuse is often misused in order to justify discriminatory and even racist speech. Nicoletta Mandolini and Caroline Williamson (2017) The portrayal of gender abuse is often misused in order to justify discriminatory and even racist speech. Dublin: Newspaper Articles [Details] |
Professional Activities
Honours and Awards
| Year | Title | Awarding Body | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | University of Nottingham Dean Moore Endowed Postgraduate Prize | University of Nottingham |
Languages
| Language | Reading | Writing | Speaking | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Fluent | Fluent | Functional | |
| Kinyarwanda | Functional | Functional | Functional | |
| Portuguese | Fluent | Fluent | Fluent | |
| French | Fluent | Fluent | Fluent |
Teaching Activities
Teaching Interests
I offer two specialist modules in French.
FR2311 Africa: Colonialism to Continental Crisis: Through the study of a diverse range of texts, this second year module introduces students to the long-term consequences of European colonialism in Africa with a focus on the Great Lakes Crisis.
FR4311 Trauma and Narrative in the Francophone World:This final year module introduces students to theories of trauma from Freud to the present day. Through the study of a range of francophone texts about major traumatic events (slavery, WWII, the Rwanda genocide, terrorism etc.), students examine the strengths and weaknesses of different theories and consider the role of narrative in understanding atrocity.
As programme coordinator, I am also involved at all levels of UCC's World Languages programme:
WL1101 Language: Sounds and Structures
WL1103 Becoming Multilingual
WL2101 Intercultural Communication
WL2102 Introduction to Semiotics
WL4101 Language and Power
WL4102 Languages and Information Technologies
WL4103 Introduction to Translation Studies
Modules Taught
| Term (ID)) | Title | Link | Subject | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Introduction to Semiotics | WL2102 | Introduction to Semiotics | |
| 2019 | Becoming Multilingual | WL1103 | Becoming Multilingual |
Research Information
External Collaborators
| Name | Organisation / Institute | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eric Ndushabandi | Institute for Research and Dialogue for Peace (IRDP) | RWANDA | |
| Claver Hodali Irakoze | The Aegis Trust | RWANDA |