The differential impact of war and trauma on Kosovar Albanian women living in post-war Kosova

Abstract

The war in Kosova had a profound impact on the lives of the civilian population and was a major cause of material destruction, disintegration of social fabrics and ill health. Throughout 1998 and 1999, the number of killings is estimated to be 10,000 with the majority of the victims being Kosovar Albanian killed by Serbian forces. An additional 863,000 civilians sought or were forced into refuge outside Kosova and 590,000 were internally displaced. Moreover, rape and torture, looting, pillaging and extortion were committed. The aim of my dissertation is to rewrite aspects of the recent belligerent history of Kosova with a focus on how history is created and transformed through bodily expressions of distress. The ethnographic study was conducted in two Kosovar villages that were hit especially hard during the war. In both villages, my research was based on participant observation which allowed me to immerse myself in Kosovar culture and the daily activities of the people under study. The dissertation is divided into four interrelated parts.The first part is based on published accounts describing how various external power regimes affected local Kosovar culture, and how the latter was continuously transformed by the local population throughout history. The second part focuses on collective memories and explores how villagers construct their community's past in order to give meaning to their everyday lives in a time of political and economic upheaval. The third part looks at how women create, change and, thereby, influence collective memories through bodily expressions of distress. Finally, the fourth part makes apparent how through clinical practice and traditional healing, history, collective memories and traumatic memories are negotiated and invested with new meanings and attributions. The dissertation concludes with a focus on the interrelation of collective and traumatic memories which generate and justify women's health problems. In this context, it is argued that patient-practitioner interaction should be perceived as an opportunity to build ethical relationships which go beyond the relatively narrow medical mandate by providing women with "tools" to create social spaces in which they can live and commemorate in a healthy way.

Date of Award	2011
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	McGill University
Supervisor	Allan Young (Supervisor)