Introduction
In When Blood and Bones Cry Out: Journeys through the soundscape of healing and reconciliation (2010), John Paul Lederach, together with his daughter Angela Jill, study the use of metaphors from sound to foster new pathways of conflict transformation and healing. They ask the question “How do people express and then heal from violations that so destroy the essence of innocence, decency and life itself that the very experience penetrates beyond comprehension and words?” (2010, p. 17). In the Lederach’s perspective, aural properties found in music, poetry, story-telling and creative dance, with their regard for repetition and capacity to resonate diverse sounds, offer alternative facets for conflict transformation and broadminded dialogue. These ideas, linked with aural and sonic metaphors, give voice and sound to societies needing to express the atrocities incurred at the hand of violence. Together, the Lederach’s propel the reader to envision another approach to social healing in settings of protracted violence.
A New Approach
An elemental point made throughout the book is the shift away from the linear and sequential methods for healing transformation and reconciliation to a dynamic and circular process. From their perspective, the linear method is not equipped to handle post-conflict environments where the end of the conflict does not signal the end of violence. As Lederach & Lederach point out with their story of Sierra Leone, the disturbing reality for women is that the sexual debasement and the silencing of their voices increase after a peacekeeping agreement has been made. The ebb and flow of violence found in a multifaceted experience of protracted violence requires a process that can correspond to a f...
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... resolution and transformation is never lost, both sets of authors focus on the development of the relationship as where the healing takes place. Additionally, there are correlations to be found with the Native American peacekeeping process. Both philosophies use the circle process to maintain a spatial relationship of ritual, colloquy and the restoration of K’e—the restoration of dignity and worthiness—to all individuals and communities who have suffered atrocities related to protracted violence as well as a restoration of harmony and balance. Lederach and Lederach manage to challenge the linear and traditional models of conflict transformation and healing with an alternative approach of aural and sonic metaphors. This father and daughter team gives a graceful regard to the notion that love, forgiveness and healing are effective and worthy peacemaking frames.
As we see David Metzenthen about to accept yet another award on his latest book, we feel it necessary to review other titles this author has produced. Published in 2003, the best-selling novel ‘boys of blood and bone’ is a highly-commended book receiving an honor award from the ‘The Children’s book council.’ It is also selected nationwide as a year 10 curriculum novels. Although this impressive list looks appealing, the actual content of the novel is sadly not. Being a duel narrative, the author uses war and contrasting modern day to express the meaning of relationships in adolescent lives. Less prevalent values in the book are honor, mate ship and the acceptance of responsibility. This shows the potential to be a great influence on young lives
A short, fat man who owns a little band of sheep on the flats at
In the beginning of the story the main character, Fever Crumb, is rational and reasonable. “Then there was her hair, or rather, lack of hair. The order was keen to hurry humankind into the future, and they believed that hair was unnecessary. Fever shaved her head every other morning.” (8). This quote shows how Fever is rational because she removes things from her life that have more to do with comfort and beauty, which she believes to be irrational, than have to do with usefulness. Fever has been sheltered from irrational things for most of her life so when she is thrust into the city of normal people she doesn't understand why they have or do irrational things. In the end of the book she doesn’t have the same disapproval of irrational things as she does in the beginning. “Fever touched her fuzzy scalp, and tried out a smile. “I’m planning to grow it out.”(324) This shows that Fever doesn’t mind irrational things anymore. Her shaved head was a symbol that she did not fall victim to comfort and beauty but now she is growing her hair back. Initially when Fever interacts with other people she is usually not shy and she will tell them if they are doing something irrational unless she can sense that it has a lot of meaning to them but by the end she no longer cares.
In 1996 the war in Sierra Leone was becoming a horrific catastrophe. Children were recruited to be soldiers, families were murdered, death came easily, and staying alive was a privilege. Torture became the favorite pastime of the Revolutionary United Front rebel movement, which was against the citizens who supported Sierra Leone’s president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. I was in the grips of genocide and there was nothing I could do. Operation No Living Thing was put into full effect (Savage 33).
Black Hearts tells the story of a few bad soldiers from 1st platoon, Bravo company of the 1-502nd Infantry Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division, that was plagued with toxic leadership and lack of control over soldiers. The book documents the events that led to the ultimate demise of the soldiers involved in the horrific incident that occurred on March 12, 2006. Four soldiers were arrested in the brutal murder of an Iraqi family, which was a result of the lack of leadership and structure these soldiers received. Black Hearts takes a deep look into what happened to this troubled platoon and what unfortunate events occurred during their deployment.
The story of the Black Hearts Brigade, told by Jim Frederick, starts out with the 1st Battalion of the 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division in the summer of 2005. The author starts with a brief chapter of the events that unfolded when four soldiers of this battalion went to a house, raped a girl and killed her and her family. In the first part of the book Frederick explains the grand strategy the US was taking in Iraq at the time, the history of the area named the triangle of death, and how the 1-502nd did in their pre-deployment training. The main focus in Iraq at the time was getting south Baghdad under control. South Baghdad, otherwise known as the triangle of death, had a very rich history due to its location (right between the Tigris and Euphrates River). The current issue talked about in the book was the growing insurgency of both Sunni and Shiite groups in that area.
Nothing good ever comes out of violence.Two wrongs never make it right, but cause harm. Contemporary society has not responded enough legacies of historical globalization. This essay will cover the following arguments such as residential schools, slavery and the Sierra Leone civil war.
"Peacekeeping and Peacemaking." Reading and Remembrance . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. . (tags: none | edit tags)
Having to take your anger out on someone isn’t fair or good, especially if you’re being killed with frozen lamb. Based on everyone’s understanding, when you kill someone you’ll have to pay the price and consequences. Apparently this lady didn’t. But are we sure she’s going to marry another man and kill him too? In “Lamb to the slaughter”, I’m going to be talking about Mary Maloney and how madly crazy she is.
Wise Blood showcases the flaws of organized religion as seen by the author, Flannery O’Connor, via the story of the anti-religious protagonist and representative of society, Hazel Motes, and his road to redemption. The author makes sharp commentary on the concept of atheism by setting up the idea that christ is a matter of life or death. The novel is used as a proclamation of faith as well as an analysis of american society.. The novel reflects the society, both religious and nonreligious, of the time that it is set in; this reflection allows O’Connor to emphasize both her own and her faith’s opinions of the world that surrounded her post World War II.
The human ability to perceive sound is often taken for granted and is erroneously considered, by most, to be secondary in importance to sight. It is true that our primary understanding of the world develops through sight, but sound is responsible for our ability to communicate with one another through both concrete and abstract means, as well as for defining the nuances that shape our surroundings. Without sound, humans would be alienated in their own uncertainty; unable to express the fears and aspirations which are common to our condition. Sound has the unique ability to transcend boundaries, cultures, and ideologies through speech, music, and the noises which we distinguish categorically through memory and experience. It is this transcendental quality of sound which Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck chose as a central theme in the film “The Lives of Others”. The film expresses beautifully the effect that music and language have upon our ability to feel empathy and compassion. The use of sound in the film explores the human potential for change and transformation from our basest instincts toward nobler causes.
Winter in the Blood, a Native American novel written by James Welch, takes place on a cattle ranch in Montana, around 1970. On the surface, this is a story of a Blackfoot Indian sleepwalking through his life, tormented by visions, in search of a connection to his heritage. Welch's language is, at once, blunt and poetic, and the pictures it conjures are dreamlike and disquieting. Furthermore, the narrator of the novel is disheartened by the loss of his brother, Mose, and his father, First Raise ? the two most cherished people in his life. After struggling with guilt, sorrow, and alcoholism, the narrator overcomes these down falls through re-identifying with himself and his culture? specifically through the help of his grandfather, Yellow Calf.
“Dead Men’s Path” by Chinua Achebe. In this short story “Dead Men’s Path,” Chinua Achebe gives the protagonist an exciting chance to fulfill his dream. Michael Obi was officially headmaster of Ndume Central School, which was backward in every sense. He had to turn the school into a progressive one, however the school received a bad report when the supervisor came to inspect.
The war was worsened by the wealthy minerals in the ground and the influence of the mineral was strengthened by the fear and displacement the war caused. The intertwining of these two destructive forces is seen in the story Salima is told by a man who bought her. In this he tells of a man who stuffed”...the coltan into his mouth to keep the soldiers from stealing his hard work, and they split his belly open with a machete”(31). Not only does this story show the harsh conditions the men are exposed to in war, but also it further demonstrates the hold coltan has on the minds of those who live in the Congo. The want for coltan leads to the destruction of the community and individual identities of those involved as it perpetuates a cycle of war that damages men, induces violence against women, and ultimately creates a cycle of lost identity.
In John Donne’s sonnet “Death, Be Not Proud” death is closely examined and Donne writes about his views on death and his belief that people should not live in fear of death, but embrace it. “Death, Be Not Proud” is a Shakespearean sonnet that consists of three quatrains and one concluding couplet, of which I individually analyzed each quatrain and the couplet to elucidate Donne’s arguments with death. Donne converses with death, and argues that death is not the universal destroyer of life. He elaborates on the conflict with death in each quatrain through the use of imagery, figurative language, and structure. These elements not only increase the power of Donne’s message, but also symbolize the meaning of hope of eternal life as the ultimate escape to death.