Our brothers who went to the bush

Post-identity conflict and the experience of reconciliation in Sierra Leone

Bibliographic Data

ID3916192
AuthorsGearoid Millar (0000-0002-0069-9742, Radboud University Nijmegen, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume49
Issue5
Pages717-729
Publication date2012-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Peace Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3433 • E-ISSN: 1460-3578
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0022343312440114
OpenAlexW2163849034
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited88

A number of distinct subfields within conflict resolution share foundational theories and emerge from similar understandings of social conflict. One of the most influential of these theories assumes that conflict environments give rise to 'otherizing' dynamics between competing groups. This theory assumes that conflict occurs between and further reifies identity groups. It follows from this theory that conflict resolution practice, and particularly that within the subfield of peacebuilding, must undermine dyadic 'in-group/out-group' conflict through processes of reconciliation and transitional justice. However, the theorized dynamic does not always pertain. In Sierra Leone the truth and reconciliation commission was tasked with fostering reconciliation between the perpetrators and victims of wartime violence. This article describes, however, how former combatants in Sierra Leone are described by many as brothers and friends, as opposed to hated members of a collective 'other'. These findings attest to a distinct lack of 'otherizing' dynamics and demand a reconsideration of peacebuilding practices after what are often considered 'new wars' or 'postmodern conflicts' in sub-Saharan Africa. The article argues that some contemporary conflicts might best be considered post-identity because they are based less on national, racial, religious, or ethnic identity than on circumstance, need, and opportunity. In addition, after post-identity conflicts truth commissions may create new competing identities, such as those between victims and perpetrators. In such cases the applied conflict resolution interventions must emerge from new conflict resolution theory which can adequately understand contemporary conflict dynamics and begin to develop non-identity focused interventions

Collective identity · Conflict analysis · Conflict resolution · Criminology · Economic Justice · Ethnic conflict · Ethnic group · Group conflict · Identity (music) · Peacebuilding · Political science · Politics · Psychological intervention · Sierra leone · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Transitional justice · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance · Psychology · Social Psychology

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