Around the world,
communities that have suffered the trauma of unspeakable violence – in Liberia,
Somalia, West Africa, Colombia, and elsewhere – are struggling to recover and
reconcile, searching for ways not just to survive but to heal. In When Blood
and Bones Cry Out, John Paul Lederach, a pioneer of peacebuilding, and his
daughter, Angela Jill Lederach, show how communities can recover and reconnect
through the power of making music, creating metaphors, and telling their
extraordinary stories of suffering and survival.
Instead of relying on more
common linear explanations of healing and reconciliation, the Lederachs demonstrate
how healing is circular, dynamic, and continuing, even in the midst of ongoing
violence. They explore the concept of "social healing," a profoundly
important intermediary step between active warfare and reconciliation. Social
healing focuses on the lived experience of those who have suffered protracted
violence and their need to give voice to that experience, both individually and
collectively. Giving voice, speaking the unspeakable, in words and sounds that
echo throughout traumatized communities, can have enormous healing power.
Indeed, the Lederachs stress
the remarkable effects of sound and vibration through tales of Tibetan singing
bowls, Van Morrison's transcendent lyrics, the voices of mothers in West
Africa, and their own personal journeys. They also include inspiring stories of
transformation: a mass women's protest movement in Liberia that forces leaders
to keep negotiating until a peace agreement is signed; elders in Somalia who
walk between warring clans year after year to encourage dialogue; former child
soldiers who run drum workshops and grow gardens in refugee camps; and rape
victims in Sierra Leone who express their pain in poetry. With equal measures
of insight and compassion, When Blood and Bones Cry Out offers a
promising new approach to healing traumatized communities.
