TY - JOUR
KW - Zimbabwe
KW - cultural relations
KW - grassroots level
KW - Intangible cultural heritage
KW - peace process
KW - peace-making
KW - peacekeeping
KW - political relations
KW - Reconciliation
KW - religion
KW - social justice
KW - spirit beliefs
AU - Diana Jeater
AB - There is a long history of spirit-oriented systems of reconciliation and healing in Zimbabwe. However, under white rule, this work was marginalised and driven underground. In Zimbabwe today, diverse views on reconciliation, reparation, justice and national healing are producing rich but frequently conflicted initiatives around ‘traditional’ and ‘community’ reconciliation. The article considers contradictions and pressures facing the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission and different approaches to ‘spirit-led’ trauma healing work from three grassroots organisations: Heal Zimbabwe; Tree of Life; and the Centre for Conflict Management and Transformation. It indicates how religious, cultural and political affiliations influence participants’ openness to traditional and spirit-led forms of reconciliation; and how this, in turn, constrains how perpetrators, victims and reparation are defined by those working in this field. Rather than identifying specific practices as ‘authentic’ traditions, the article suggests that a continuity of community/cultural approaches can inform contemporary national healing initiatives in Zimbabwe.
BT - Journal of Contemporary African Studies
DO - 10.1080/02589001.2020.1746755
LA - English
M1 - 1
N1 - Publisher: Routledge
N2 - There is a long history of spirit-oriented systems of reconciliation and healing in Zimbabwe. However, under white rule, this work was marginalised and driven underground. In Zimbabwe today, diverse views on reconciliation, reparation, justice and national healing are producing rich but frequently conflicted initiatives around ‘traditional’ and ‘community’ reconciliation. The article considers contradictions and pressures facing the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission and different approaches to ‘spirit-led’ trauma healing work from three grassroots organisations: Heal Zimbabwe; Tree of Life; and the Centre for Conflict Management and Transformation. It indicates how religious, cultural and political affiliations influence participants’ openness to traditional and spirit-led forms of reconciliation; and how this, in turn, constrains how perpetrators, victims and reparation are defined by those working in this field. Rather than identifying specific practices as ‘authentic’ traditions, the article suggests that a continuity of community/cultural approaches can inform contemporary national healing initiatives in Zimbabwe.
PY - 2020
SP - 154
EP - 169
T2 - Journal of Contemporary African Studies
TI - Can spirits play a role in peace and reconciliation projects? Perspectives on traditional reconciliation in Zimbabwe
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85082949055&doi=10.1080%2f02589001.2020.1746755&partnerID=40&md5=942a0aef81dccdd8581a7c63bb88e1bf
VL - 38
SN - 02589001 (ISSN)
ER -