When Blood And Bones Cry Out By John Paul Lederach

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Introduction
In When Blood and Bones Cry Out: Journeys through the soundscape of healing and reconciliation (2010), John Paul Lederach, together with his daughter Angela Jill, study the use of metaphors from sound to foster new pathways of conflict transformation and healing. They ask the question “How do people express and then heal from violations that so destroy the essence of innocence, decency and life itself that the very experience penetrates beyond comprehension and words?” (2010, p. 17). In the Lederach’s perspective, aural properties found in music, poetry, story-telling and creative dance, with their regard for repetition and capacity to resonate diverse sounds, offer alternative facets for conflict transformation and broadminded dialogue. These ideas, linked with aural and sonic metaphors, give voice and sound to societies needing to express the atrocities incurred at the hand of violence. Together, the Lederach’s propel the reader to envision another approach to social healing in settings of protracted violence.
A New Approach
An elemental point made throughout the book is the shift away from the linear and sequential methods for healing transformation and reconciliation to a dynamic and circular process. From their perspective, the linear method is not equipped to handle post-conflict environments where the end of the conflict does not signal the end of violence. As Lederach & Lederach point out with their story of Sierra Leone, the disturbing reality for women is that the sexual debasement and the silencing of their voices increase after a peacekeeping agreement has been made. The ebb and flow of violence found in a multifaceted experience of protracted violence requires a process that can correspond to a f...

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... resolution and transformation is never lost, both sets of authors focus on the development of the relationship as where the healing takes place. Additionally, there are correlations to be found with the Native American peacekeeping process. Both philosophies use the circle process to maintain a spatial relationship of ritual, colloquy and the restoration of K’e—the restoration of dignity and worthiness—to all individuals and communities who have suffered atrocities related to protracted violence as well as a restoration of harmony and balance. Lederach and Lederach manage to challenge the linear and traditional models of conflict transformation and healing with an alternative approach of aural and sonic metaphors. This father and daughter team gives a graceful regard to the notion that love, forgiveness and healing are effective and worthy peacemaking frames.

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