Paper short abstract:

Based on accounts of forgiveness and wrongs after the war in Northern Uganda we explore ideas about trauma, forgetting and forgiving, keeping quiet and talking. We discuss our experimental method of sharing accounts locally and the ethical questions arising from this.

Paper long abstract:

After 22 years of brutal war in Northern Uganda between the Lords Resistance Army and the national army, former abductees, rebels and Internally Displaced People are recovering and moving back to their rural homes. NGOs taught ex-child soldiers that they have 'traumas' and that they need to forgive themselves and others in order to move on. Others regard it as unwise to talk about wrong-doings in the past, because this make these present and hence 'stuck' in your heart.

In this context we are exploring accounts of forgiveness and wrongs at an interpersonal level. Our method is unconventional and based on collaboration with a Danish conceptual artist inspired by Hannah Arendt, and a team of researchers from Gulu University. We record accounts of forgiveness and give people the opportunity to listen to the accounts of others and to record their own stories of situations where they 'kept something in their heart' and eventually 'let it go'.

The focus on forgiveness means that we talk to people who have already processed their experiences to some extent. However, telling about wrong-doings arouses a lot of ethical questions even when there is a forgiving 'ending' to the account. The material also raises questions about strategies of forgetting versus forgiving, ideas about whether talking or keeping quiet is 'good'. What processes do we get started when we as researchers ask people to tell about things they - or someone else - may consider better left in the quiet?