ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that greater attention be given to the interconnected issues of temporality, resistance, and solidarity for anyone wanting to make better sense of how ‘resilient survivors ’ and ‘resilient communities’ – whatever they are; whatever we deem them to be – become constituted through the diverse mix of discursive naming, on the one hand, and the actions of those subjects in question, on the other. From Chapter 1, readers will recall that resilience is typically understood as a prospective or future-oriented phenomenon. This linear temporality is rendered more complex when considered against the backdrop of participants’ narratives. Following this discussion, attention is turned to resistance, contestation, and anger – a primary emotion among those reported by participants within previous chapters. In particular, the claim that resistance and resilience are necessarily antithetical to one another is revisited and problematised in light of that analysis. Finally, Ian Hacking’s guiding notion of ‘making up people’ is employed to consider a more dynamic way in which we might understand the constitution of ‘community’ than is often envisaged in much of the resilience literature. Reflecting on the data analysed and commenting further on the Foundation for Peace as a ‘resilient survivor community’ case study, the issues of time, emotional solidarity, and community, considered collectively, produce a more complex and fluid picture than one inferred from comparatively prescriptive accounts of resilience. In working through these interconnected points of critique, this chapter contributes to growing and emergent debates around resilience and time, the political status of resilience vis-à-vis resistance, and resilience and community.
