Reply to : stories.connections.moments.

I have been following my colleague Pamela Snell's blog Collectively Creating for Change for the past few months. Recently, she wrote


We use stories to decode the world around us, making understanding through moments of connection with others. We share stories with our friends, family and environment; building community, and provoking emotion. We each have our own interpretation and retelling of the same stories, this helps shape our sense of self and belonging. But in a world inundated with stories of little substance, we lack the ability to reflect upon and understand each other.  . . .
 
This relates to another thoughtful post of hers: The power of media or the poser of globalization? Here she describes the sudden appearance of laptops in an Ethiopian village as part of a MIT project: One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). The concept is that without instruction, children can learn by themselves. I say: what's the fun in that? Where is the opportunity for the stories and moments of connection that Pamela observes are of value?  It seems to me that these connections are missing.

I am not surprised by the curiosity shown by these children, nor by their ingenuity in figuring out how to use these electronic tools. However, they are not monkeys. And as Pamela points out - why English as it's not their mother tongue? It seems to me almost inhumane to walk away from the one opportunity the researchers had to engage with the children, thereby losing the chance to participate in a process and witness the shared delights of discovery. To me, that would be the story that would be most interesting as it would encourage the interaction and engagement of researchers/scientists/technophiles to move away from their electronic world where there is no physical interaction. By being there with the children each could learn from the other.

Pamela goes on to alert us to the hazards of this reality:

We are left in a desolate environment, sifting through each others tweets in a desperate attempt to form a moment of connection.

And I would add, when we are offered opportunities to connect, we miss them as we look into our boxes of technologies. Are we fearful of curiosity and explorations?

I agree with Pamela as I too applaud the organization's aim to provide educational opportunities for children in rural developing countries. But I myself, far prefer the stories and connections that emerge through sharing discovery and learning from one another.

Women, healing and community

I will break open the story and tell you what is there. Then, like the others that have fallen out onto the sand, I will finish with it, and the wind will take it away.

 

Marjorie Shostak, Nisa: The Life and Words of a Kung Woman

Shostak’s commentary is reflective of not only the transience of narrative, but also of the impermanence of memory. She creates the illusion of a wasteland – a place that is arid but gains fertility by cracking open the truth, exposing it, considering it, sharing it and in doing so, setting it free.  It is through narrative, sharing and collective witnessing, that experiences can seemingly blow away with the wind allowing us to begin fresh.

Women in post-conflict tend to be marginalized by their communities. During and after the war, they tend to be the primary income earner and caregiver to what family remains.  In many cases, women have suffered rape, mutilation and watched as their families are destroyed, their properties burned and they either fear, or experience, forced migrations. The ground has been literally taken out from under them and after the war ends, they search for ways to rebuild both their physical environment and a communal experience. 

After peace agreements have been signed, there is the progression of reconciliation and attempts to begin restorative relationships and communities. In Kenya the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission has ended and the community is awaiting its recommendations. As part of the sustainable rebuilding and healing of community, projects that bring people together and offer reunion, contribute to reigniting shared values and working together. Research has shown that women are integrally involved in this process playing crucial roles in the expansion of sustainable economic, political and social development It is further believed that women are peace promoters and through nurturing acts, they can facilitate change, and shift preconceptions, prejudices and patterns.

From the earliest times, we humans have built shelters to protect ourselves from the elements of climate as well as our surrounding environments - providing sanctuary from dangerous animals for example. Over time, in many parts of the world, shelters have become more permanent allowing us to make our mark on the environment asserting a claim to a particular area.  In its most negative aspect, our love of the land, and our desire to own it, has caused conflict and war - pitting one against another. In it’s most fruitful state we plow and seed the land to make it fertile and harvest what we’ve grown to feed others and ourselves. The cyclical rhythms of nature are echoed in the ontology, social constructs and epistemology of humans, and are dependant upon where we live in the world; the global south or the more affluent global north.

According to J.E. Cirlot mystics have associated the house with the feminine aspect of the universe and is equated with being the repository of wisdom and of nurturing. The house as home, arouses strong associations with the human body – the outside being the appearance of the physical self, the roof associated with the head (mind) and the base with the feet (sense of permanence). The kitchen has been said to be the heart of the home, where fires burn, food is cooked, and people come together to share in communal repast. In whatever form a home provides shelter and is perceived to be a safe place.

In war, or under military oppression, people have had their home taken from them. Whether they have been forced to migrate to refugee camps, to another area or they have returned to their village to find their houses destroyed or that the house has been inhabited by their abusers; increasing their sense of personal violation. One of the initial acts of women once they have arrived somewhere is to nest – this involves creating a space which feels safe to them, where they can cook and set about recreating a sense of normalcy in their and their families lives.

The concept of dialogue is important as the exchange of experiences can strengthen local ‘capacities for peace’ in order to construct relational spaces. Social support is critical to rebuilding and transforming the community, and to bringing sustainable peace. In addition, ritual is vital as it gives meaning to and can help define and shape identity. Ritual can facilitate “communication through the physical actions and symbols that create changes in the ways ritual participants see the world” providing access to participating in a process that leads to sustainable peace through community healing.

  

So the question is how do we help? Can we create or co-create projects that will offer some solace, capacity building and opportunities to build self-esteem, confidence and interpersonal relationships, for those who have witnessed death, battle, inhumane treatment, and have survived in a difficult physical environment?

We must consider the different ontologies obviously, and we must ensure, when undertaking projects that we are not imposing our own ideals and goals onto another community. The arts are a means through which we can collectively navigate the new terrains as through participation, both individuals and communities can heal, children can be nurtured to reintegrate and mothers can foster a renewed sense of self-worth. It is the hope that reconciliation and peace can be achieved through the process, dialogue and understanding created in the relationships developed while participating in arts projects. But beyond that it is hoped that by rebuilding community, by acknowledging the past and looking toward the future that this peace is assured sustainability.

The idea of sharing stories, co-creating a space that is reflective of transformation will resonate with not only the women and youth, but also the community as a whole. Through the art processes, witnessing, and sharing of experience, participants will gain an enhanced sense of self-worth, empathy, and hopefulness and move toward a sustainable peace.

Community Healing and the Arts: A case study

In 2004, ten years after the Rwandan Genocide, Lily Yeh visited  Giseyena, Rwanda by way of an invitation of a local Red Cross representative. There, she was shown two sites: a mass grave covered by a crumbling structure and a nearby village where genocide survivors lived.

From 2005 to 2007 Lily Yeh and the Barefoot Artists worked with nearly 100 women, all survivors of the genocide, and several hundred children, volunteers from neighbouring cities and the US. Together, they created a memorial garden that honoured those who died in the genocide, and painted murals on the houses of the villagers - transforming a desolate area, into one that was welcoming and uplifting. The project illustrates the benefits of using the arts as a vehicle for community healing and the transformation that care is given in creating personal environments.

This short clip from a documentary by Chris Landy reflects the power bringing the arts into a community has had on restoring a sense of peace.

Stories and Truth

Storytelling is an art and it seems to me that it can be used to heal injustices and hurts caused by others. It involves a teller and an audience. It's as simple as that. Stories can be told by both men and women of all ages. In some cultures, it is men who hold the place as storytellers, and in other cultures, it is the women who lead in this role - many times in more private venues. Certainly fables tell us stories that communicate a lesson through indirect means - the tortoise took his time in his race against the hare and despite the hare's speed, the tortoise won as he was slow and methodical - the lesson . . . don't rush things and what is perceived as truth is not necessarily so.

Storytelling, like all the arts, provides an intuitive or non-discursive, way of knowing - offering up a fresh perspective of how we perceive our world. We are united in the relationships that are created in the process of either telling or by acting as listener and witness to the telling. Stories offer us an opportunity to get a glimpse of the Other and expand our imagination.

Stories are not always verbal. They can be told in a variety of ways and can be either fictional truths - truth with a bit of artistic license thrown in - or they can be a recounting of our personal experiences.

Below is an example in which visual art and the written word are combined as a means of storytelling. American photographer Judy Gelles worked with inner city fourth graders in various cities throughout the United States. The image and words below convey a personal story by just a few words and the image enhances the tale by creating a feeling of  . . . perhaps shame, perhaps barriers, or grief.

  

Stories can also be told without the use of words. Images alone and a moment of thought and imagination from the viewer/recipient, can communicate a wealth of information. When I was working throughout the Sri Lankan Jaffna Peninsula after the 2004 tsunami, I asked some young women to paint an image that would tell a story. The watercolour below was painted by an eighteen year old who had survived both the tsunami and the civil war. The image not only tells her own personal narrative, but also conveys a collective story that is representative of what so many experienced during this and other natural disasters.

I wonder though, can telling stories that are true sometimes re-open wounds? Is it sometimes better to forgive and forget in order to reconstruct our lives? Evidence has shown that sharing stories is an important part of individual's healing, but is it always beneficial? Is this notion yet another construct of the global north - one in which we impose our practice on those living in the global south? Is it applicable in all cases?  How do we, and why should we, retell narratives that might speak of atrocities when a community is trying to reconstruct their lives. For instance in post-war reconciliation where children have been both victim and perpetrators of violence, is it necessary for the victims of their violence to retell stories publicly, or is there a risk to the general well-being of those trying to re-integrate these children into the community? Does the risk out weigh the benefit?

In many ways telling truthful stories can help to rebuild a community but we must use caution - it is not a "one size fits all".