Home › Academics › McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies › Faculty & Administration › Rezarta Bilali

Faculty & Staff

Areas of Expertise

Group Identity, Collective Memory, Enemy Images in Contexts of Violent Inter-group Conflict

Degrees

PhD, Social Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
MA, Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Sabanci University
BA, Psychology, Bogazici University

Professional Publications & Contributions

• Bilali, R. (in press). The Downsides of National Identification for Minority Groups in Intergroup Conflicts in Assimilationist Societies. British Journal of Social Psychology.
• 
  Bilali, R., & Vollhardt, J. R. (2012). Priming effects of a radio drama on historical perspective-taking in the aftermath of mass violence in Rwanda. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
• 
  Bilali, R., & Ross, M. (2012). Remembering intergroup conflict. In L. R. Tropp (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of intergroup conflict (pp. 123-135). Oxford University Press.
• 
  Bilali, R., Tropp, L. R., & Dasgupta, N. (2012). Attributions of responsibility and perceived harm in the aftermath of mass violence. Peace & Conflict. Journal of Peace Psychology. 18, 21-39.
• 
  Bilali, R. (2010). Assessing the internal validity of image theory in the context of Turkey – U.S. relations. Political Psychology, 31, 275-303.
• 
  Staub, E., Pearlman, L., & Bilali, R. (2010). Understanding the roots and impact of violence and psychological recovery as avenues to reconciliation after mass violence and intractable conflict. In G. Salomon, & E. Cairns (Eds.). Handbook of peace education (pp. 269-286). Psychology Press.
• 
  Vollhardt, J. & Bilali, R. (2008). Social psychology’s contribution to the psychological study of peace: a review. Social Psychology , 39, 12-25.
  
• 
  Staub, E., Pearlman, L., & Bilali, R. (2008). Psychological recovery, reconciliation and the prevention of new violence: an approach and its uses in Rwanda. In B. Hart (Ed.). Peacebuilding in traumatized societies (pp. 131-154). American University Press.

Additional Information

Professor Rezarta Bilali completed her PhD in social psychology at UMass Amherst with a concentration in peace and violence. Dr. Bilali’s research focuses on social psychological underpinnings of violent intergroup conflict and mass violence. In her research in various international settings (e.g., Turkey, Burundi, U.S.) she has investigated the relation between group identities, historical memories of violence, enemy images, and attitudes toward war. Supported by a grant by American Psychological Foundation, she is currently developing a line of research on acknowledgment of harm by perpetrator groups.

As a practitioner of conflict resolution, Rezarta Bilali has played an active role in a media reconciliation project developed by La Benevolencija-Humanitarian Tools and Foundations in the Great Lakes Region in Africa, which produces educational radio programs on the evolution of conflict, intergroup violence, and reconciliation for Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Recently, Prof. Bilali has led research to assess the impact of radio reconciliation programs in Rwanda, Burundi, and the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Dr. Bilali’s research has been supported by Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, International Peace Research Association, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. She recently received a Psychology Beyond Borders Mission Award and a Joseph Healey Research Grant to conduct research to strengthen the influence of mass media in preventing violence in the Eastern DRC.