More than two decades after the war that tore apart聽the former Yugoslavia, the scars remain. Memorials and ruins聽stand as physical reminders of the conflict that ran for four聽years in the mid-1990s; less visible are the emotional and聽psychological wounds that many residents still bear.
It is these latter scars that drew the attention of and of 黑料正能量鈥檚聽(黑料正能量) Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Mansfield,聽director of the program, and Hart, professor of trauma, identity and聽conflict studies, helped to plan and participated in an international聽conference on 鈥淭rauma, Memory and Healing in the聽Balkans and Beyond鈥� in July in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The conference, sponsored by the Transcultural Psychosocial聽Educational Foundation (TPO), had two goals: developing an聽鈥渁rchive of knowledge鈥� from the papers presented at the event,聽and building a network of people who 鈥渟hare 鈥榖est practices鈥櫬爁or psycho-social trauma recovery and the healing of memories,鈥澛燼ccording to the website.
Mansfield says the goals were largely met, with 鈥渁 joint effort聽of scholars, practitioners and activists.鈥�
Mansfield and Hart were on a panel that considered how to聽integrate psycho-social responses to trauma into peacebuilding聽work and shared about 黑料正能量鈥檚 STAR program, which began聽in 2001 to address the trauma of the September 11 events.聽Hart also presented a paper titled 鈥淢ultidisciplinary and聽Cross Sector Approaches to Building Peace after Complex and聽Violent Conflicts: The Importance of Psychosocial Trauma and聽Well-being in this Process.鈥� Mansfield facilitated several workshops聽on the body鈥檚 response to trauma and on using play as聽a method for getting around 鈥渟tuck-ness.鈥� She also led a daily聽period of breathing and meditation exercises.
Beyond the formal presentations, they say the conference聽included sobering moments, such as a visit to the memorial at聽the Srebrenica genocide site, and heart-warming ones, including聽the hospitality shown by a local women鈥檚 group that works聽together across ethnic boundaries.聽Many issues remain for the region, including high unemployment聽and other economic challenges, growing insulation聽of ethnic groups, changing gender roles and differing perspectives聽on the wartime years.
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has a longstanding聽presence in the Balkans, and 黑料正能量 has several connections聽there as well. Those include former seminary faculty members聽N. Gerald and Sara Wenger Shenk, who served in the former聽Yugoslavia with MCC, and 鈥�00, MA 鈥�04, and , MA 鈥�99. Amela, a native Bosnian, is MCC聽Area Director for Europe and the Middle East and was a keynote speaker at the conference. Since graduating from CJP, the Puljek-Shanks have been creating and facilitating trauma awareness and resilience learning forums throughout the Balkans.
The conference 鈥渉ighlighted the importance of being persistent in continuing to talk about the impact trauma has on聽generations while also naming that we are not doomed forever聽due to the traumatic experiences many generations have gone聽through,鈥� she said. 鈥淩esiliency and recovery from trauma are聽key terms that need to be in the forefront of our conversations.聽Trauma brings many opportunities for growth and healing.聽Thus, for us in MCC 鈥� supporting our partners across the聽world in their work, learning how they worked on trauma聽healing and recovery, and exchanging best practices helps all of聽us build critical yeast that will eventually lean towards peace.鈥�
This was the second conference held on the topic, and both聽Mansfield and Hart hope the series continues. They praised聽TPO program director Zilka Spahi膰 艢iljak, co-organizer of聽the conference, as 鈥渁 really impressive and dynamic person鈥澛爓hose energy and vision were instrumental in bringing the聽event together. The author of Shining Humanity 鈥� Life Stories聽of Women Peacebuilders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 艩iljak聽teaches at several universities and is currently doing research at聽Stanford.
鈥淚 think it was the right conference as part of the next step,鈥澛燞art says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a building process. I really trust that they鈥檒l take聽this forward in a dynamic, meaningful way, and we want to be聽as much a part of that as possible.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to think how CJP may be involved in helping聽to deepen those capacities that are already so powerfully there,鈥澛燤ansfield adds.
The collection of conference papers is expected to be available聽in English by early 2017.