PTR2 Archives of Memory

Cover Publication 3.qxd 7/10/03 4:47 PM Page 1 Archives of Memory Supporting Traumatized Communities SYCHOSOCIALSYCHOSOCIAL through Narration and Remembrance NNOTEBOOKOTEBOOK This notebook is a compilation of essays based on papers VVOLOL.. 2,2, OOCTOBERCTOBER 20012001 presented at the Second International Seminar on PP Psychosocial and Trauma Response in Kosovo, which was held at the European University Institute; Fiesole, Italy, from 4 to 6 May 2000. Participants in this seminar included international experts and scholars from universities and institutions worldwide. The present publication includes presentations by the following participants: • Natale Losi ARCHIVES OF MEMORY • Silvia Salvatici • Annie Lafontaine • Anton Berishaj SUPPORTING TRAUMATIZED • Nicola Mai COMMUNITIES THROUGH • Giuseppe De Sario NARRATION AND REMEMBRANCE • Laura Corradi • Patricia Ruiz • Enrica Capussotti • Luisa Passerini Psychosocial Notebook, Vol. 2, October 2001 Psychosocial Notebook, Vol. IOM Cover Publication 3.qxd 7/10/03 4:47 PM Page 2 Psychosocial Notebook Series Editorial Team 1. Psychosocial and Trauma Response in War-Torn Societies. The Case of Kosovo. Editors: Natale Losi, Luisa Passerini and Silvia Salvatici Vol. 1, November 2000. Editing of final copy: Carson Beker and Tobi Dress UN Sales Number: E.01.III.S.2 2. Archives of Memory: Supporting Traumatized Communities through Narration Cover photo, Andrea Balossi and Remembrance. Vol. 2, October 2001. UN Sales Number: E.01.III.S.10 Produced by IOM For further information about the Psychosocial and Trauma Response in Kosovo project, please contact IOM Rome at [email protected]. The materials of the Archives of Memory will soon be available on the website www.iomkosovomemory.int. Titles from this series are available through the sales offices of the United Nations: Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not Orders from Africa, Europe and the Middle East necessarily reflect the views of the International Organization for Migration. Sales and Marketing Section, Room C-113, Palais des Nations, CH 1211 Geneva 10, Fax: + 41.22.917 00 27 Tel: +41.22.917 26 14 E-mail: [email protected] IOM is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. As an intergovernmental body, IOM acts with its partners in the interna- Orders from North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the tional community to: assist in meeting the operational challenges of migration; advance Pacific understanding of migration issues; encourage social and economic development Sales and Marketing Section, Room DC 2-853, 2 United Nations Plaza, New York, through migration; and uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants. N.Y., 10017, USA. Fax + 1.212.963 34 89 E-mail [email protected] Publisher: International Organization for Migration 17 route des Morillons 1211 Geneva 19 The list of IOM publications can be found on the IOM website: Switzerland http://www.iom.int Tel: +41.22.717 91 11 Fax: +41.22.798 61 50 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.iom.int ISSN 1680-1970 © 2001 International Organization for Migration (IOM) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy- ing, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the publisher. PTR2_Intro_Losi.qxd 7/10/03 4:51 PM Page 1 Archives of Memory: Supporting Traumatized Communities through Narration and Remembrance Psychosocial Notebook Vol. 2, October 2001 Edited by Natale Losi, Luisa Passerini and Silvia Salvatici PTR2_Intro_Losi.qxd 7/10/03 4:51 PM Page 2 Acknowledgements Special thanks to all of the participants in the Second International Seminar on Psychosocial and Trauma Response in Kosovo (Fiesole, Italy, 4-6 May 2000), particularly to the contributors who revised their papers for publication. Many thanks also to the European University Institute, which hosted the seminar, and in particular to the President, Patrick Materson and to the Director of the Schuman Centre, Yves Meny. Thanks also to the staff of IOM Pristina, especially the PTR team, IOM Rome and IOM Geneva, especially the Media, Publications and Research Divisions, for their invaluable work and guidance. We are very much obliged to the Directorate General for Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Italy, and the Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration of the US Department of State, for their financial contributions. 2 PTR2_Intro_Losi.qxd 7/10/03 4:51 PM Page 3 Contents Introduction Beyond the Archives of Memory Natale Losi 5 Chapter 1 Memory Telling. Individual and Collective Identities in Post-War Kosovo: The Archives of Memory Silvia Salvatici 15 Chapter 2 After the Exile: Displacements and Suffering in Kosovo Annie Lafontaine 53 Chapter 3 Violence Following Violence Anton K. Berishaj 79 Chapter 4 The Archives of Memory: Specific Results from Research in Serbia Nicola Mai 87 Chapter 5 Migration and Cultural Encounters: Kosovar Refugees in Italy Giuseppe De Sario, Laura Corradi, Patricia Ruiz, Enrica Capussotti 137 Epilogue An Afterthought on a Work in Progress and a Forethought towards Its Future Luisa Passerini 219 3 PTR2_Intro_Losi.qxd 7/10/03 4:51 PM Page 4 PTR2_Intro_Losi.qxd 7/10/03 4:51 PM Page 5 Introduction Beyond the Archives of Memory Natale Losi* n the case of Kosovo, a volume on the Archives of Memory1 will by Inature be a cross-reference, at least in my imagination, to historical events for which “Archives” have already been put together. Today, such a reminder seems to refer almost exclusively to the experience of the Holocaust and the Shoa, which in turn, by association with the Shoa Archives, refers us to the questions of History and the role of historians as a group of professionals authorized and delegated to document, to give clarity. In the experience documented in this volume, history represents the important component of a more complex interdisciplinary intervention, one where the principal prospective was, and still is, the psychological recovery/support of a community. In what way does history and its guar- antors fit into this project? In many ways, and a large part of this volume exemplifies and bears witness to some of these, since all of the contributions were written by historians and anthropologists. In this Introduction, I would like to simply describe the more complex strategic system by *Ph.D, sociologist and psychotherapist, Head of the Psychosocial and Cultural Integration Unit, IOM, Liaison Mission in Italy and Regional Coordination Office for the Mediterranean, Rome. 5 PTR2_Intro_Losi.qxd 7/10/03 4:51 PM Page 6 Introduction • Natale Losi which the contributions of these historians and anthropologists also rep- resent a precious support to the individual, family and community thera- peutic work that the Psychosocial and Trauma Response programme (PTR) proposed in Kosovo. Constellations of violence The conversations, the stories that people exchange and construct in situations of conflict, are clearly important, whether they influence the conflict’s resolution or, on the contrary, contribute to its perpetuation. When these stories are woven in an international conflict situation such as that which overcame Kosovo, even international players, often unwittingly, figure amongst the individuals active in their construction. This is especially the case for those sent to work “on the ground” (Pandolfi, 2000). Aside from these co-producers and co-narrators of conflict situation stories, the constellation, the set, the essential typology available and neces- sary to actually give meaning to the conflict, is made up of three principal players: the aggressors, the victims and the authorities. In the particular case of Kosovo, the international players placed in this last role of the trilogy were in fact perceived, according to different points of view and inde- pendently from their intentions, as saviour/aggressors. Many of them indeed risked contributing to the domination of a constellation, which alone was advantageous to the perpetration of the premise for conflict. In other words, by their intervention, the international actors risked per- petrating the narrative scheme contained in the trilogy: aggressor/victim/ rescuer, an integral part of the conflict. The pervasion of this trilogy in conflict situations has become an object of observation in many different disciplines. Anthropologist R. Thornton sug- gests that: Narratives of violence have a specific social and cultural function. By narrating events, we link a series of actions – whether by chronology, conspiracy or psychological predisposition – into a comprehensible framework. In this way the violent event that has radically disrupted the flow of normality appears to have been predictable, and the moment of chaos that has challenged order is tamed (Thornton, 1999). In other words, when we “clothe” an experience or a situation of chaos with a story or narrative, we transform it, give it sense. We tame chaos. This does not happen alone however, as A. Feldman notes, “Narratives not only explain events; they are integral to how we decide what is an event and what is not” (Feldman, 1991). 6 PTR2_Intro_Losi.qxd 7/10/03 4:51 PM Page 7 Psychosocial Notebook, Volume 2, October 2001 In the case of Kosovo, the recurrent pattern that Bruck so well described, writing that “The human community needs to be split into perpetrators or transgressors, objects

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