ABSTRACT

This book brings together multiple perspectives to examine the strengths and limitations of efforts to promote healing and peacebuilding after war, focusing on the aftermath of the traumatic armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This book begins with a simple premise: trauma that is not transformed is transferred. Drawing on multidisciplinary insights from academics, peace practitioners and trauma experts, this book examines the limitations of our current strategies for promoting healing and peacebuilding after war while offering inroads into best practices to prevent future violence through psychosocial trauma recovery and the healing of memories. The contributions create a conversation that allows readers to critically rethink the deeper roots and mechanisms of trauma created by the war.

Collectively, the authors provide strategic recommendations to policymakers, peace practitioners, donors and international organizations engaged in work in Bosnia and Herzegovina – strategies that can be applied to other countries rebuilding after war.

This volume will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, peacebuilding, social psychology, Balkan politics and International Relations in general.

part I|57 pages

Incorporating trauma healing into peacebuilding practice

chapter 2|21 pages

Fundamentals of trauma

Confronting the myths and widening the spectrum for peacebuilding

chapter 3|15 pages

Holistic healing

A case for integrating trauma recovery and peacebuilding

part II|47 pages

How to remember and tell stories of trauma

chapter 5|16 pages

“I can(not) remember”

The creation of collective narratives in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina

chapter 7|12 pages

Remembering side by side

Transforming relationships through storytelling

part III|45 pages

Women’s resilience

chapter 9|12 pages

“The war changed me”

Bosnian women, resilience and the search for peace

chapter 10|19 pages

From subjects of stories to agents of change

Countering dominant discourses of gender and peacebuilding

part IV|54 pages

From justice to artistic expression

chapter 11|22 pages

Towards social restoration in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Exploring the place of symbolic forms of transitional justice

chapter 12|21 pages

Taking play seriously

Creative processing of trauma through expressive arts

chapter 13|9 pages

Conclusion

Lessons from Bosnia and Herzegovina