The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods

The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in A Violent World

Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury after War. By Rita Nakashima Brock and Gabriella Lettini. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, 2012. xxvii + 144 pp. $16.00 (paper).Rita Nakashima Brock and Gabriella Lettini have written a difficult book to read. Its difficulty stems not from its style, which is disconcertingly clear, but from its subject matter-the moral injury-which is a distinct and often devastating category of suffering that affects large numbers of veterans.Both authors speak honestly of the ways war has affected their own families. Brock, now co-director of the Soul Repair Center at Brite Divinity School, is the daughter of a Japanese mother and an American medic whose experiences in Vietnam took a profound toll on him and, by extension, his family. Lettini, a member of the faculty at Starr King School for the Ministry, lost two members of her family to postwar violence.Their growing awareness of moral injury-its reality, depth, and pervasiveness-led them to organize a "Truth Commission on Conscience in War," which was held at Riverside Church in New York in 2012. That event brought together five "truth commissioners," as well as a Virginia psychiatrist, a legal expert on conscientious objection, three religious leaders, and a number of veterans, fourteen of whom testified about their own experience. One outcome of that event is the Soul Repair Center at Brite; another is this book, which tells the stories and provides lengthy quotations of four of the participants. They include an Italian American veteran of Vietnam; a soldiertumed-chaplain with special interest in selective conscientious objection; an African American woman, a veteran herself, now a pastor, whose son was deployed in Iraq; and a Nicaraguan-born son of revolutionary parents who refused redeployment, went AWOL, and received a dishonorable discharge and prison term.The authors define moral injury as the result of either behavior which violates the soldiers own moral values or which contradicts the stated values of their leaders and the institutions that support them. Neither Brock nor Lettini is an absolute pacifist; they take the Christian tradition of just war theory and its criteria with great seriousness and point out that official American military policies affirm strong principles for the appropriate conduct of war. But they describe how the training recruits receive, deeply instilled bonds of loyalty to each other and to the group, and the actual practice of anti-insurgency warfare ignore such definitions and instead lead to behavior which is brutal and erodes the ability to make critical decisions.Five chapters form the body of this book. The first describes the motivations that lead young men and women to serve in the military, and reminds us of the role of economic inequality in recruitment. The second chapter looks at the ways in which participating in war, especially the types of military action where the distinction between friends and enemies is unclear, permanently changes people.In the third chapter, "Coming Home Is Hell," the authors explore what it is like for veterans to return home after a period of military action which not only contradicts their expectations and belies the promises made to them at the time they entered the armed forces, but also leaves them with a legacy of profound guilt for behavior that violated their own moral standards. "Veterans return from combat to solitary confinement. …

Book Review: Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury after War:

The untold war: inside the hearts, minds, and souls of our soldiers, by Nancy Sherman, London, W.W. Norton & Co, 2010, 338 pp., £21.00, ISBN-13: 9-7803-9306-4810 It is a truism that most human bein...

The untold war: inside the hearts, minds, and souls of our soldiers

Since the start of recorded history, accounts are replete of individuals being subjected to unthinkable experiences that possess the power to fundamentally disrupt their lives. Survivors of psychological trauma encounter numerous obstacles on the pathway to recovery (Briere & Scott, 2015). Counselors working with this population continue to search for effective strategies in support of restoration (Boxer & Sloan-Power, 2013). One possibility often discussed by trauma survivors in popular media as helpful is tattoo acquisition. However, our understanding of this body modification practice is incomplete due to a social history of stigma and bias (Stein, 2011). The purpose of this study was to explore the ameliorative and therapeutic factors of tattoo acquisition for adult survivors of trauma. Hermeneutic phenomenology was selected as the means for interpreting the lived experience of six trauma survivors who acquired tattoos directly related to their traumatic life events, against a theoretical background informed by Herman’s (1997) stage model of recovery. Several themes emerged relative to this relationship indicative of a thoughtful expressive act, meaning construction, reclamation of control, calming comfort, and precipitator of growth. These themes represent new knowledge regarding the connection between trauma survivors and the use of tattoos. In essence, tattoo acquisition for these participants facilitated movement from a state of brokenness to one of evolving wholeness. The significance of these findings include contributions to our understanding of this practice that may lead to creative interventions for addressing human suffering and the unique needs of trauma survivors. They also serve to help move the topic of tattooing away from a solely deviant discourse. Implications for both counselors and counselor educators are discussed. Recommendations for future research are also outlined.

/pdf/therapeutic-aspects-of-tattoo-acquisition-a-phenomenological-3jjmcuz4ot.pdf

Therapeutic Aspects of Tattoo Acquisition: A Phenomenological Inquiry into the Connection Between Psychological Trauma and the Writing of Stories into Flesh

Traditionally, the exploration of the impact of trauma on trauma survivors in South Africa has been focused mainly on the bio-psychosocial aspects. The bio-psychosocial approach recognises that trauma affects people biologically, socially and psychologically. In this article, the author explores a holistic understanding of the effects of trauma on people from communities historically affected by political violence in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Using a participatory action research design (PAR) as a way of working through trauma, a longitudinal study was conducted in Pietermaritzburg from 2009–2013. At the end of the study, life narratives were documented and published. The textual analysis of these life narratives reveals that, besides the bio-psychosocial effects that research participants experienced during and after the trauma, they also sustained moral and spiritual injuries. Trauma took its toll in their lives emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, morally and in their relationships with themselves, others and God. From these findings, the author argues that the bio-psychosocial approach is incomplete for understanding the holistic effects of trauma on the whole person. Therefore, he recommends the integration of the moral and spiritual aspects of trauma to come up with a holistic model of understanding the effects of trauma on traumatised individuals. The holistic model will enhance the treatment, healing and recovery of trauma survivors. This, in turn, will alleviate the severe disruption of many aspects of psychological functioning and well-being of trauma survivors caused by the effects of trauma.

/pdf/re-authoring-life-narratives-of-trauma-survivors-spiritual-2nqz1o3rue.pdf

Re-authoring life narratives of trauma survivors: Spiritual perspective

Although Jeremiah’s lamentation is directed towards the wound of God’s people in Zion, Africa remains the site of struggle for political, socio-economic and religious freedoms. Is there no balm in Africa to heal the wound of God’s people? This article examined the principles of healing and reconciliation as understood in the South African cosmology and how or whether they could be applied by the pastoral ministry to enhance the recovery and restoration of African Christian communities in post-conflict situations. To get the relevant data, the authors engaged literature written on these concepts of healing and reconciliation and how they are applied in a broader context. The authors also used their experiences in the field of healing to illustrate some points. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Although the article is focussed on the role of the pastoral ministry within the South African cosmology, this study has interdisciplinary implications in the disciplines of peacebuilding, mental health and psychosocial support. The author argues that when these social and cultural aspects of healing and reconciliation are taken into consideration, they could enhance post-conflict reconstruction and social transformation of post-conflict African communities.

/pdf/healing-and-reconciliation-as-a-pastoral-ministry-in-post-46st6hfptc.pdf

Healing and reconciliation as a pastoral ministry in post-conflict South African Christian communities

The article explores the link between trauma and spirituality, and investigates whether and how spirituality can be used as a resource to address the needs of people in traumatic situations. The authors address the following questions: Why is it that spirituality and God himself may seem to make little or no sense to people who are experiencing trauma? Is spirituality an abstract concept that lacks practical relevance in crisis situations? Do peoples’ understanding of God and what they believe about his nature and power affect their spirituality and determine how they understand God’s intervention in coping with trauma? To answer these questions, the authors make use of the life history research method to analyse the case of Nokwazi Chiya, a Zulu woman who abandoned God and all spiritual support systems after the traumatic death of her fiance. The findings demonstrate how traumatic events destroy not only the psychosocial aspects, but also the survivor’s faith in a natural or divine order and cast the survivor into a state of existential crisis. The findings further show the role spirituality plays in enhancing the healing, recovery and developing resilience of trauma survivors. The study subsequently argues for an integrated approach to working through trauma, which brings spirituality into the psychotherapeutic dialogue – particularly in the South African context, where the majority of the population is exposed to various types of trauma. This integrated psychotherapy approach will have implications for the disciplines of practical theology and psychology or psychiatry, especially with regard to how we understand, assess and treat the needs of different people exposed to trauma and other existential crises.

https://indieskriflig.org.za/index.php/skriflig/article/download/2145/4183

The use of spiritual resources to cope with trauma in daily existence

This article shares the work of the Trauma Healing Project in Pietermaritzburg and its surrounding areas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In exploring how individuals and families face and work through trauma in post-apartheid South Africa, a pilot project was set up at Pietermaritzburg Agency for Christian Social Awareness (PACSA), which ran from 2009 to 2014. Despite the change from Apartheid to a democratic government, South Africa continues to experience multiple-woundedness through domestic and gender-based violence, injuries, HIV and AIDS, xenophobia and crime. These hamper true political and economic development as so many people have to live with pain. This pain prevents them from making a significant contribution to their communities. This article argues that creating safe spaces, narrating our trauma, writing life narratives and restoring social and religious support systems make significant contribution to the healing of South Africaâ€™s multiple-woundedness and empowering of traumatized individuals and communities to restore relationships, recover faith, hope, meaning and dignity. This type of healing is transformative.

https://www.upjournals.co.za/index.php/OHJSA/article/download/77/66

Becoming better humans in a world that lacks humanity: Working through trauma in post-apartheid South Africa

/pdf/doing-theology-at-the-margins-pacsa-s-accompaniment-of-3bo7lju3eu.pdf

Charles Manda

Papers

Re-authoring life narratives of trauma survivors: Spiritual perspective

Healing and reconciliation as a pastoral ministry in post-conflict South African Christian communities

The use of spiritual resources to cope with trauma in daily existence

Becoming better humans in a world that lacks humanity: Working through trauma in post-apartheid South Africa

Doing theology at the margins: PACSA's accompaniment of communities in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, 1979-2012