Abstract The article examines the intergenerational transmission of stigma related to mass atrocities, with a focus on stigma imposed on the “villains” and, by extension, on their family. While a rich literature is devoted to the intergenerational transmission of trauma after a war, less attention has been paid to the transmission of stigma. This issue is generally overlooked in international relations. However, it has tremendous consequences on the transformation of relationships between former enemies. The article is divided into three sections. The first questions one of the main purposes of practitioners and scholars involved in post-conflict settings, namely neutralizing stigma. The second section depicts the design of one concrete research project related to stigma transmission. This research brings together political scientists, social and cognitive psychologists, and historians. It proposes a multilevel analysis of stigma related to the figures of collaborators and colonists in Belgium. The third section presents the outcomes of the research. The lessons learned so far cannot be generalized. However, they raise significant questions that matter for both theory and practice. Particular attention is paid to the enduring, yet paradoxically fluid, nature of (de)stigmatization processes. Despite the dreadful human toll of international and intercommunity conflicts across several continents, the analysis of upstream transmission processes, from younger generations to older ones, demonstrates that nothing is irreversible.
Rosoux et al. (Thu,) studied this question.