Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...

Chapter 1 • Silvia Salvatici
She seemed confused by the coexistence of new ways of living and old
values, a situation further complicated by a rapid rhythm of transformation
that did not allow the women’s experiences to enter the realm of public
awareness.
Past, present and identities
The construction of memory and the depiction of the present seem to be
processes that follow different paths. On one hand, the two converge in a
collective voice mainly addressed toward the international community,
one that would intend to assert itself as the single expression of a national
identity that is monolithic, solid, rooted in tradition and forged by the long
lasting conflict. The basic components of this identity were characterized
as suffering, (which, of course, is made no less real by its role in the construction
of a collective identity), and self-pity. Both of these characteristics
are typical of nationalistic discourses in the Balkan region, as studies
of the area have shown. 20 According to this perspective, memories of
past hardship and descriptions of present struggles are all considered
attributable to a cause that concerns the entire community, a collective
concern. Suffering, pain and struggle are elevated from private, individual
spheres to the public one, and the result is one of reassurance and support.
Psychological suffering thus becomes a constituent part of this self-pitying
auto-representation, and claims lineage from the “trauma” produced by the
war and its consequences. This collective discourse, however, fails to recognize
the individual paths, the variety of family and social contexts, the
specificity of an individual’s needs. The collective voice tends to deny differences
within itself, in order to project an image of inner cohesion and
homogeneity, worthy of functioning by itself, in contrast with outside
communities.
On the other hand, the accounts also revealed different memories of the
past and varied perceptions of the present, reflecting the complexity of a
situation: the conflict produced and still generates grief and anguish, but it
had and still has other effects as well, such as unknown spaces of autonomy,
conflicts between different realities (some that involve the tension
of belonging to a specific community), and the experience of new
resources. A plurality of voices has emerged along the boundaries marked
by individual experiences, as well as those created by gender, generational
and social-cultural divides. Such boundaries have grown even within the
limits of a national community. These multiple voices express the research
on new balances and on the rise of contradictions, lacerations and fractures
produced by the experience of the war and by the rapid transformation of
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