Naslov
Post-conflict socio-emotional obstacles to reconciliation

Autori
Ajduković, Dean

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
International Congress of Psychology - Program and Abstracts CD / - Berlin : International Society of Psychology, 2008

Skup
International Congress of Psychology

Mjesto i datum
Berlin, Njemačka, 20.07.2008. - 25.07.2008

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Pozvano predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
post-conflict reconciliation; community social reconstruction; interethnic relations; ethnic conflict

Sažetak
Massive traumatization and genocide do not happen in a social vacuum ; on the contrary they are pre-planed and designed to destroy another human group. The analyses by social psychologists have revealed a number of factors leading to the evil of such magnitude. However, less is known about the inter-group consequences in the post-conflict period. This period is characterized by contradictory social processes: while the outside world strongly encourages the people who live in recovering communities to turn towards the future rather than to dwell on the past experiences, the unaddressed inter-group relations are hindering healing, social reconstruction and reconciliation. The victims have a clear need for recognition and acknowledgement of their suffering and remedy for violation of their human rights. However, in a community currently deeply divided over ethnic lines the conflicting narratives of who the victims are and who are the perpetrators, and who did what to whom at what time adds to the complexity of the reconciliation process. Findings from a series of studies that looked at obstacles to social reconstruction in the Croatian city of Vukovar will be presented. Several surveys including a representative community sample, school students, their parents and teachers helped identify individual predictors (e.g. traumatic exposure coupled with pre-war experiences with discrimination ; xenophobia) or social factors (e.g. ethnically divided schools, enhanced tendency of children to discriminate against out-group school peers) that are obstacles to reconciliation. Qualitative method was used to study the feelings of betrayal by close neighbors and life-long friends from the other ethnic group. Interpersonal processes that lead to loss of trust, disruption of norms and decreasing quality in close social transactions were identified through interviews of 61 adults about circumstances, experiences and consequences of breaking cross-ethnic close friendships when atrocities were committed in the city. The increasing feelings of helplessness, fear and lack of understanding of what was going on were the major factors that set the stage for the break up of close relations. Even after 12 years the Croats were convinced that their Serb friends withheld information that meat life and death for them and their family. Serb respondents insisted that they never had such information and described the dramatic circumstances under which they have urgently left the city. Such conflicting narratives have profound consequences as they block the reconciliation capacity. Based on these and other studies a model of community social reconstruction will be explained.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Psihologija

POVEZANOST RADA