The Community Response To Violence: Do Rituals Of Healing Support Forgiveness?

Barbara Flood; Christina Tomacic-Niaros

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The Community Response To Violence: Do Rituals Of Healing Support Forgiveness?

In: Forgiveness in Perspective

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Barbara Flood

Barbara Flood
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Christina Tomacic-Niaros

Christina Tomacic-Niaros
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 195–206

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789042029965_011

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In previous research, we have discovered that individuals who have lost a loved one in a senseless random act of violence report that forgiveness is most successful when they are assured that the community in which they live supports and acknowledges their pain and loss. But it is clear that it is not just the immediate family that is affected when a crime occurs in a public venue such as the federal building in Oklahoma City, the twin towers in New York City and academic institutions across the United States. These violent events are shared globally through mass media that personalize the impact they have, or potentially can have, on each of our lives. We are therefore challenged to reconsider our definitions of community to include an extended circle of observers emotionally connected to the tragedy they are witnessing. Research on vicarious trauma indicates that those observing can be as affected as the victims themselves. What kind of rituals impact and support the community in a process of forgiveness? Does the repeated ritualistic act of remembering delay the forgiveness process or encourage it? Our interest here is to investigate the ways in which communities demonstrate their support immediately after the event and on subsequent anniversaries of the event. Are these rituals memorialising the initial tragedy intended to simply show solidarity for the victim and their families and friends or are they an expression of a greater need for the entire community to restore a sense of balance, safety and unity? Communities are united in tragedy through ritual; they are the voice of the victims. Rituals of loss, especially traumatic losses have similar trends and expressions. We are interested in rituals that also encompass strategies for forgiveness. The question of how one defines community informs the method and context of healing modalities and intervention that will allow for true internal resolution of these unthinkable crimes. Looking at both urban and rural communities, clearly defined and in the global context, we will investigate what supported forgiveness and what may have impeded the process. Finally we will suggest treatment intervention based on the data, both for individuals and for the larger communities.

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Forgiveness in Perspective

Series: At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries, Volume: 66

E-Book ISBN:: 9789042029965

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jan 2010

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The Community Response To Violence: Do Rituals Of Healing Support Forgiveness?

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Forgiveness in Perspective

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