Social Trauma and Recovery: Emergent Themes

Social Trauma and Recovery: Emergent Themes

This chapter discusses the social dimensions of war trauma and recovery through the examples of Mozambique, with a detailed focus on the Gorongosa, a district in the center of the country, and Uganda, specifically, Gulu district. Both countries are exemplary of how state actors and civilians struggle to come to terms with experiences of mass political violence as the result of prolonged conflict. The chapter briefly describes the dynamics of war violence and the human toll of violence in both countries. It analyzes changes in processes of social recovery over time through the introduction and consumption of new mass‐media technologies as well as in response to emergent challenges in the post‐war era. The chapter demonstrates that social recovery is a long‐term negotiated endeavor and women, while being seriously persecuted and wronged by the various factions in war violence, also appear as central actors in diverse recovery mechanisms and collective actions.