Description
Violent conflict created a divide in Cyprus (1950-1974) that still exists to this day between Turkish and Greek Cypriots. This study explores specifically an effect of violent conflict-Missing Persons and the bi-communal process of their humanitarian return. This process is important for peacebuilding because it empowers individuals, families, communities, and nation-states to satisfy basic human psycho-social needs in order to deal with the trauma of past violence, to recognize loss and grieve, and to seek closure of uncertainty to prevent the transgenerational transmission of trauma and escalation of violence between and within ethnic societies.
About the Author
Kristian Fics has a joint Master's in Peace and Conflict Studies from the Arthur V. Mauro Center of Peace and Justice at the University of Manitoba and University of Winnipeg. He is currently doing his PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy at Nova Southeastern University.
Reviews
There are many challenges to building sustainable peace and reconciliation in societies desperately trying to emerge from a violent and traumatic past. As politicians negotiate peace accords, people in the grassroots need to heal from the trauma of violence. Kris Fics' original and innovative study of the return of the remains of the dead to loved ones in Cyprus after many years breaks new ground in the Peace and Conflict Studies field. Returning the Missing to their loved ones brings about the closure, healing, and reconciliation that is necessary to build a comprehensive and sustainable peace, as even the bones have their stories to tell. -- Sean Byrne, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, and Director, Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice, St. Paul's College, University of Manitoba
Following decades of political manipulations on the issue of Missing Persons in the Cyprus conflict, this revealing work focuses on the constructive and cooperative process of exhumations and identifications carried out by a bicommunal, nongovernmental committee of dedicated Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The writing is accessible and engaging for the most part, supported by personal journal entries chronicling the author's experience in completing this challenging piece of field research, including serving as a volunteer worker for the committee. The findings from qualitative interviews with members of the committee are connected to relevant scholarly literature on the need for certainty, bicommunal relations, and storytelling in order to develop a richer meaning of the process of exhumation and its effects. The work thus illuminates how the recovery of missing loved ones provides a model of positive intercommunal interaction, and serves as an essential element of reconciliation and sustainable peace that is empowering at both the individual and the collective levels -- Ronald J. Fisher, Professor Emeritus of International Peace and Conflict Resolution, School of International Service, American University, and Distinguished Visiting Scholar, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
In this powerful volume Kristian Fics explores the personal, social and political impact of the ongoing bicommunal process of exhumations in Cyprus, led by the Committee on Missing Persons. His study reveals that addressing the issue of persons missing from Cyprus' history of inter-ethnic conflict-that can only be done through exhumation and confirmation of the identity of the dead-not only restores identity to the missing, but addresses the ambiguous loss that defined the trauma suffered by their families. More than this, addressing the issue of Missing Persons has collective impacts, removing an issue that continues to divide people in the most emotional way, and offering routes to reconciliation and peacebuilding. Fics' book synthesizes the psychological and the sociological to permit the central importance of the addressing of the issue of Missing Persons in post-conflict contexts to emerge. -- Simon Robins, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Applied Human Rights, University Of York, UK
Book Information
ISBN 9780761868194
Author Kristian T.P. Fics
Format Paperback
Page Count 182
Imprint Hamilton Books
Publisher University Press of America
Weight(grams) 277g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 152mm * 13mm
About the Author
Kristian Fics has a joint Master's in Peace and Conflict Studies from the Arthur V. Mauro Center of Peace and Justice at the University of Manitoba and University of Winnipeg. He is currently doing his PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy at Nova Southeastern University.
Reviews
There are many challenges to building sustainable peace and reconciliation in societies desperately trying to emerge from a violent and traumatic past. As politicians negotiate peace accords, people in the grassroots need to heal from the trauma of violence. Kris Fics' original and innovative study of the return of the remains of the dead to loved ones in Cyprus after many years breaks new ground in the Peace and Conflict Studies field. Returning the Missing to their loved ones brings about the closure, healing, and reconciliation that is necessary to build a comprehensive and sustainable peace, as even the bones have their stories to tell. -- Sean Byrne, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, and Director, Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice, St. Paul's College, University of Manitoba
Following decades of political manipulations on the issue of Missing Persons in the Cyprus conflict, this revealing work focuses on the constructive and cooperative process of exhumations and identifications carried out by a bicommunal, nongovernmental committee of dedicated Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The writing is accessible and engaging for the most part, supported by personal journal entries chronicling the author's experience in completing this challenging piece of field research, including serving as a volunteer worker for the committee. The findings from qualitative interviews with members of the committee are connected to relevant scholarly literature on the need for certainty, bicommunal relations, and storytelling in order to develop a richer meaning of the process of exhumation and its effects. The work thus illuminates how the recovery of missing loved ones provides a model of positive intercommunal interaction, and serves as an essential element of reconciliation and sustainable peace that is empowering at both the individual and the collective levels -- Ronald J. Fisher, Professor Emeritus of International Peace and Conflict Resolution, School of International Service, American University, and Distinguished Visiting Scholar, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
In this powerful volume Kristian Fics explores the personal, social and political impact of the ongoing bicommunal process of exhumations in Cyprus, led by the Committee on Missing Persons. His study reveals that addressing the issue of persons missing from Cyprus' history of inter-ethnic conflict-that can only be done through exhumation and confirmation of the identity of the dead-not only restores identity to the missing, but addresses the ambiguous loss that defined the trauma suffered by their families. More than this, addressing the issue of Missing Persons has collective impacts, removing an issue that continues to divide people in the most emotional way, and offering routes to reconciliation and peacebuilding. Fics' book synthesizes the psychological and the sociological to permit the central importance of the addressing of the issue of Missing Persons in post-conflict contexts to emerge. -- Simon Robins, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Applied Human Rights, University Of York, UK
Book Information
ISBN 9780761868194
Author Kristian T.P. Fics
Format Paperback
Page Count 182
Imprint Hamilton Books
Publisher University Press of America
Weight(grams) 277g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 152mm * 13mm
