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Children of tribulation: the need to heal and the means to heal war trauma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Pamela Reynolds
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Extract

This article is about the unseen world of war—the unrecorded consequences for children of large-scale horror. There are two parts to it. The first is on the need for healing: it is an account of children's suffering during Zimbabwe's War of Liberation and their part in the fight for freedom. The second describes the means for healing: it examines how traditional healers (n'anga) provided opportunities through ritual for reconciliation and the soothing of individual trauma.

Résumé

Les enfants de la haine: pourquoi et comment soigner les traumatismes laissés par la guerre

L'expérience des enfants—à la fois victimes et participants—lors de la guerre d'indépendance du Zimbabwe est souvent ignorée. Tout comme le sont les conséquences, à l'issue de la guerre, pour les enfants traumatisés par ces expériences. Cet article nous les décrit, en citant des cas extraits de textes qui figurent intégralement en annexe. La deuxième partie de l'article dépeint les tentatives des guérisseurs traditionnels pour permettre aux enfants (et aux adultes) de surmonter le traumatisme engendré par la guerre.

Type
The social wounds of war
Information
Africa , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , January 1990 , pp. 1 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1990

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References

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