Managed Intergroup Contact In Peace-building And Reconciliation
and difficult process, cannot be forced from the outside and must come
as a genuine desire on behalf of the groups involved in the conflict. To
begin the process of moving forward and integrating, groups must be
willing to let go of the past, forgive past wrongdoings and trust each
other.
Intergroup forgiveness, the ability of groups to put past atrocities and
hurt behind, is rooted in the development of interpersonal understanding
and empathy (i.e. the ability of individuals to reach across community
borders and develop mutual friendships and empathy towards one another’s pain). Interpersonal forgiveness is, in many ways, much easier
to draw out than forgiveness on a group scale, as people are more likely
to forgive on a personal level, once they have gotten to know and like
one another. Tania Tam argues that intergroup forgiveness is harder to
achieve, more difficult to measure or capture, and influenced by individuals’ attitude towards the opposing group as a whole (McLernon et
al 2004: 590).
Group level forgiveness is nonetheless even more important in the
peace-building process than interpersonal forgiveness. It encourages
communities to dispel negative attitudes, promotes healthier overall intergroup relationships, and helps communities work together towards a
shared future (Tam et al 2007: 121). Jorge Manzi and Roberto González,
who have studied the role of forgiveness and reconciliation in Chile,
have shown that intergroup forgiveness is necessary and possible even
between individuals that were not directly involved in the conflict, because even people who have no direct relation to the conflict can assume
responsibility for or feel guilt for their group’s misdeeds and thus ask for
forgiveness on a group level (Manzi and González 2007: 71-9).
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