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Restorative Peacebuilding in Liberia: Traditional Practices of Mourning and Reconciliation
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Author(s): Cynthia Travis (everyday gandhis, Liberia)and William Saa (everyday gandhis, Liberia)
Copyright: 2021
Pages: 26
Source title:
Natural Healing as Conflict Resolution
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Rebecca Nicholson (8th House Elan, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-3665-0.ch005
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Abstract
This chapter explores how traditional Liberian communities decimated by colonization, multi-generational trauma, and war found healing through ancient wisdom and ritual. The events related here highlight some of the ways that guidance from other-than-human realms, particularly from nature and the dead, makes quantum healing possible by restoring respectful relationships with all life as well as with the unseen world that is its source. The discussion highlights the urgency for international peacebuilding and foreign aid policy to re-examine the erroneous assumption that outside experts and money will solve the dilemmas caused by colonization, commodification, and greed. In the experiences related here, the authors show how dreaming, divination, ritual, offerings, and community councils helped divided communities work together for the sake of peace. The unexpected appearance of elephants—traditionally understood to be harbingers of peace—reawakened an ancient understanding of how to work in alliance with the natural world. The mysterious, interwoven events related here reveal new ways of working collaboratively across cultures and beyond the human realm. This suggests an innovative role for outsiders wishing to support the efforts of traditional communities seeking peace and stability after war, with the awareness that impending global extinction requires an unprecedented cultural shift to re-invigorate lived reciprocity within and beyond the human community for the sake of all life.
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