Abstract
In the context of an ethnically divided community, we explored the role of competing group narratives for intergroup rapprochement after violent conflict. In Study 1, data from a community survey conducted in Vukovar, Croatia, among 198 Croats, the local majority, and 119 Serbs, the local minority, were analysed to gain perspective on different narratives about the recent war and effects they may have on intergroup relations. In Study 2, focus groups with Croat and Serb children provided data to explore how these narratives were transmitted and transformed in living experience within the second generation. The quantitative results confirm the existence of opposing narratives of war among local Croats and Serbs. Multiple regression analyses show that, after controlling for exposure to war event and their personal impact, different factors predict rapprochement within the two groups. In the minority status group, that displayed higher overall levels of readiness for rapprochement, perceived ingroup victimization and outgroup stereotypes appeared more predictive than the outgroup affect. In contrast, within the majority group, variations in readiness for intergroup rapprochement were primarily predicted by outgroup affect, followed by perceived ingroup victimization. The qualitative inquiry complemented the findings from the survey. Despite the overwhelming dominant narrative, some alternative positions exist, but not consistent enough to be declared publicly. Perception of one’s own group as the primary victim of the war influences not only interpretations of the past, but also shapes identity, everyday life and future expectations. Mechanisms of perpetuating opposed narratives, as well as possible interventions, are discussed.
Highlights
In Study 1, data from a community survey conducted in Vukovar, Croatia, among 198 correspond with the dominant and one-sided (Croat), the local majority, and 119 Serbs, the local minority, were analysed to gain perspective on different narratives about the recent war and effects they may have on intergroup relations
How do people start to trust each other again and possibly reconcile after years of a severe intra-community conflict and massive violence? How do they make sense of what has happened in the community and how does the construction, transmission and preservation of a war narrative facilitate or hinder the peace-building process and community social recovery? In order to answer these questions we conducted a study in the post-conflict settings of the city of Vukovar, Croatia, where formerly belligerent group – majority Croats and minority Serbs – continue to live in the same community and try to rebuild their lives with the burden of the 1991-1995 war
In Study 1 we focus on three specific aspects of opposed narratives that can impact on intergroup rapprochement – competitive victimhood, outgroup stereotypes, and intergroup emotions
Summary
Collective narratives that groups in conflict construe about the causes, development, and the ending of their conflict may shape their future relations. When these narratives are congruent across conflicted groups, a prospect of future peaceful relations is possible; groups in conflict usually have profoundly different views about their disputes. These contesting narratives describe past grievances and violence that groups inflicted on each other very differently, honouring and remembering only ingroup suffering and injustice done to the in-group. To foster post-conflict intergroup rapprochement it is important to understand the narratives that rival groups have about the conflict, the underlying intergroup emotions and cognitions, and the way they are reproduced and transmitted to the offspring
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