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Iulia E. Padeanu
to remain isolated. Groups that lack trust in each other rarely agree to
collaborate, cannot let go of their painful past, and are unable to move
beyond prejudiced notions. Thus, trust must be developed between opposing communities (Cehajic et al 2008: 353). However, trust is a delicate emotion to elicit and if forced from the outside may cause further
antipathy between the groups, which is why it is vital that these groups
are brought together in a careful way that allows trust to emerge naturally (Tam et al 2009: 57). The MCT approach model allowed the FACE
project to bring together two mutually distrusting groups in a relaxed and
mutually beneficial way, working first with groups individually before
bringing them together and highlighting commonalities.
Prior to engaging with the FACE project, Services Families felt most
comfortable and safest living ‘behind the wire’. During one of the second pre-contact/single identity workshops, several women from the
Holywood group4 raised concerns about travelling to the surrounding
community and meeting with a group from the outside. Participants from
‘inside’ the Services camps did not know the outside community and
thus did not yet feel they could trust them (Observation, Holywood Inside, Pre-Contact Workshop 2, 28 February 2013). Intergroup trust is
particularly difficult to establish, as hardened distrust is generally based
on generic biases and prejudices, which means that the ‘other’ group are
automatically perceived as untrustworthy (Hewstone et al 2008: 211).
Nevertheless, there are important positive consequences of establishing trust in post-conflict situations. Trust not only encourages the initial
process of negotiation, but also allows people to enter into meaningful
relationships, to begin to forgive, and to move beyond hate towards a
peaceful and shared future (Hewstone et al 2008: 211).
After three pre-contact/single identity workshops, FACE participants
This represents the community of Services personnel stationed at Palace Barracks in
Holywood.
4