Community Integration for Psychosocial Well-Being: Building Sustainable Peace and Strengthening Identity through Story-Telling in the South Sudan

Abstract

In a war-ravaged country, a great need exists for community integration in order to heal the psychosocial wounds and to enable the process of development and reconstruction for peace. Even after settling in their villages and home, many communities South Sudan have stories that elicit their traumatized self-images and identities. When these people pass trauma stories to their children, this has long term effects on the community identity. Trauma stories can be catalysts for selective memories oftrauma that create potential atmosphere for future conflicts. This paper shows how community integration can be used to bring together individuals, families, and villages in south Sudan that have been divided by war by strengthening the common threads that bind all members. By providing forums in which individuals, families, and villages can come together, trauma stories can be narrated for constructive dialogue and integration. The stories of family members, friends, colleagues, villagers, and members of other ethnic groups can help to build trust, common identity and overcome anxieties and misconceptions about others.