Home Institution
Pacific Lutheran University
Publication Date
Fall 2010
Abstract
This paper is the outcome of a month-long exploratory study on storytelling in Northern Ireland, examining the impacts and possibility of healing for the individual and how those impacts affect societal healing and inter-community relationship building. Data was obtained by way of qualitative methods using focused interviews and unstructured observation. I argue that ‘moving on’ and healing of trauma, and the re-humanization of the enemy image may be possible at an individual level through storytelling, but that societal transformation needs to include an aspect of structural change in order to be sustainable. I also examine the potential for the unintended outcome of storytelling to reinforce ethicized narratives of identity. Recommendations for potential future studies include an examination into the ethical evaluation of storytelling’s long-term impact upon the individual and society.
Disciplines
Community Psychology | Interpersonal and Small Group Communication
Recommended Citation
Browning, Eliza, "The Sand in the Oyster: A Study of Post – Trauma Storytelling as a Means of Facilitating Individual Healing and Impacting Societal Healing in Northern Ireland" (2010). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 927.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/927
Program Name
Ireland: Transformation of Social and Political Conflict