Research Site Anonymity in Context.

This paper utilizes critical theory to interrogate and problematize the practice of anonymising research sites as an ethical imperative. The contributing authors conduct research in and with various communities in southern Africa, position themselves and work from and within diverse areas and specialities of the social sciences. This article is developed from their rich and wide spectrum of field experience with a great diversity of communities, but mainly the poorer, under-resourced, socially and economically marginalized. The authors strongly identify with these communities whose anonymity in published research is seen as marginalizing. Such research sites are places and communities where these researchers grew up and live in, and thus not just as peripheral or 'out there' entities. Therefore, the naming of research sites in this context is deemed as being ethical, out of respect for participants, for a contextually embedded understanding, and for well-targeted interventions and policy influence.

Effects of early adversity and social discrimination on empathy for complex mental states: An fMRI investigation.

There is extensive evidence of an association between early adversity and enduring neural changes that impact socioemotional processing throughout life. Yet little is known about the effects of on-going social discrimination on socioemotional functioning. Here we examined how cumulative experiences of social discrimination impact brain response during empathic responding-a crucial issue in South Africa, given its historical apartheid context and continuing legacies. White and Black South Africans completed measures of social adversity (early adversity and social discrimination), and underwent fMRI while viewing video clips depicting victims and perpetrators of apartheid crimes. Increased neural response was detected in brain regions associated with cognitive rather than affective empathy, and greater social adversity was associated with reduced reported compassion across participants. Notably, social discrimination (due to income level, weight, gender) in White participants was associated with increased amygdala reactivity, whereas social discrimination (due to race) in Black participants mediated the negative associations of temporoparietal junction and inferior frontal gyrus activation with compassion during emotionally provocative conditions. These findings suggest that (i) social discrimination has comparable associations at the neural level as other psychosocial stressors, and that (ii) the mechanisms underlying empathic responding vary as a function of the type of social discrimination experienced.

Empathy and moral emotions in post-apartheid South Africa: an fMRI investigation.

Moral emotions elicited in response to others' suffering are mediated by empathy and affect how we respond to their pain. South Africa provides a unique opportunity to study group processes given its racially divided past. The present study seeks insights into aspects of the moral brain by investigating behavioral and functional MRI responses of White and Black South Africans who lived through apartheid to in- and out-group physical and social pain. Whereas the physical pain task featured faces expressing dynamic suffering, the social pain task featured victims of apartheid violence from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission to elicit heartfelt emotion. Black participants' behavioral responses were suggestive of in-group favoritism, whereas White participants' responses were apparently egalitarian. However, all participants showed significant in-group biases in activation in the amygdala (physical pain), as well as areas involved in mental state representation, including the precuneus, temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and frontal pole (physical and social pain). Additionally, Black participants reacted with heightened moral indignation to own-race suffering, whereas White participants reacted with heightened shame to Black suffering, which was associated with blunted neural empathic responding. These findings provide ecologically valid insights into some behavioral and brain processes involved in complex moral situations.

Psychological Repair: The Intersubjective Dialogue of Remorse and Forgiveness in the Aftermath of Gross Human Rights Violations.

The possibility of psychological repair after mass trauma is considered here in the context of the global trend of dialogue between survivors and perpetrators in the aftermath of mass atrocities. Stories of remorse and forgiveness illustrate and allow reflection on the last two decades' experience in dealing with the past, as exemplified by truth commissions in countries like South Africa and Rwanda. Three aspects of this experience are stressed. First, it is argued that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of South Africa was a unique dialogic space that enabled the emergence of new subjectivities in the encounter between survivors and perpetrators. Second, concepts of intersubjectivity are used to explore how a psychoanalytic perspective might contribute to understanding the process of trauma testimony, and to examine the different ways in which empathy plays out in survivors' and perpetrators' responses as witnesses to trauma testimony. A key element here is the aspect of concern and care for the other that is linked to the empathy-remorse-forgiveness cycle in the dialogue between victim and perpetrator. Finally, remorse and its relation to forgiveness are explored. Contextually rich case study material from research on forgiveness illustrates this discussion.

Empathy and childhood maltreatment: a mixed-methods investigation.

BACKGROUND: Impaired empathy is regarded as a psychological consequence of childhood maltreatment, yet few studies have explored this relationship empirically. We investigated whether empathy differed in healthy and maltreated individuals by examining their emotional responses to people in distress. METHODS: Forty-nine individuals (age 20 to 60) viewed short film clips from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission testimonies depicting dialogues between victims and perpetrators of gross human rights violations. Participants were divided into 3 groups based on their scores on the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire: control (n = 18), moderate maltreatment (n = 21), and severe maltreatment (n = 10). We employed a mixed-methods design to explore empathic responses to film clips both quantitatively and qualitatively. RESULTS: Quantitative results indicated that self-reported empathy was lower in the moderate maltreatment group compared to the control group, but of similar strengths in the severe maltreatment and control groups. However, qualitative thematic analysis indicated that both maltreatment groups displayed themes of impaired empathy. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the notion that childhood maltreatment is associated with impaired empathy, and suggest that such impairment may differ depending on the level of maltreatment: moderate maltreatment was associated with emotional blunting and impaired cognitive empathy, whereas severe maltreatment was associated with emotional over-arousal and diminished cognitive insight.

Trauma, forgiveness and the witnessing dance: making public spaces intimate.

In this paper I explore the concept of forgiveness as a response to gross human rights violations. I present a conceptual examination of the effects of massive trauma in relation to what I refer to as the 'unfinished business' of trauma. Using a psychoanalytic framework, I consider the process of 'bearing witness' about trauma and examine how this process opens up the possibility of reciprocal expressions of empathy between victim and perpetrator. I then argue that, in this context of trauma testimony and witnessing, empathy is essential for the development of remorse on the part of perpetrators, and of forgiveness on the part of victims. Using a case study from South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) I clarify the relationship between empathy and forgiveness, and show how the restorative model of the TRC can open up an ethical space and create the possibility of transformation for victims, perpetrators and bystanders. In my conclusion I suggest that forgiveness in politics is the only action that holds promise for the repair of brokenness in post-conflict societies, particularly if, as in South Africa, victims have to live together with perpetrators and beneficiaries in the same country.