Healing the Collective Grief: A Story of a Marshallese Pastor from Okinawa

Abstract

World War II and the Cold War never ended in the Marshall Islands. A seamless continuum of colonialism, wars and nuclear testing destroyed their ancestral islands, traditions, as well as the physical and spiritual wellbeing of the people; it caused them profound personal and collective grief. This article considers the grieving of the Marshallese people, through the lens of a life story of a migrant to the Marshall Islands from Okinawa, Chutaro Gushi (1911–1977). The examination uses the concepts provided by grief studies, such as personal grief and collective grief, and applies the theoretical and conceptual framework presented by the social constructionists, such as meaning making, social validation, and moral injury, to frame the understanding of their grieving, coping and healing processes. The life story of pastor Chutaro revealed an intricate reflexive interface between his personal grief and collective grief in the Marshall Islands. His personal grieving and healing process was also closely linked with the healing of the collective grief that was also an element of his personal grief. In this process, Christian churches played crucial roles to bridge the two levels of grief. They facilitated the transformation of Chutaro’s profound personal grief and moral injury into a powerful public mission to give voices to the victims of the nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands.