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Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Trauma and Peace Studies expectations in Conflit Interventions : Is a Dialogue Possible ? October 7, 2011 Saint-Paul University The link between conflict and trauma is often taken for granted. We suppose that conflict, more specifically, violent ones, are always traumatic. This is certainly not incorrect, but the practical implications of making such a link raise several questions. One of the most important questions is the link between individual and collective phenomena. Is it legitimate to talk about trauma for a community? If so, are the various disciplines working on trauma speaking the same language? Epistemological problems arise when one tries to establish links between trauma and social organisation or state building, especially with respect to post-conflict reconciliation or participation in democratic institutions. Is trauma an acceptable notion in this context? If so, how should it be defined? To what degree of generalization a reflection based on trauma can legitimately lead? In the field of Peace and Conflict studies, which is defining itself as a proper interdisciplinary field, trauma is included as an element to understand 1) the phenomena involved in the reconstruction of a State or a community after a conflict and 2) the necessary interventions for the restoration of peace. There is a general tendency to incorporate psychological and individual aspects in fields of studies generally based on political and sociological understanding of conflict and peace. This is the reason why trauma has become such an popular topic. The introduction of medical terminology in social analysis and violent conflict intervention planning carries a questionable ideology. The question here is not to approve without discussion the use of concepts such as healing in the context of violent conflicts or political struggles, but to examine how the taking into account of trauma linked to conflict or political situations is likely to help the restoration of peace. This element is generally taken for granted, though it should not be the case. To understand how the notion of trauma contributes to such a field of study, we have, on the one hand, to agree on a definition of trauma and, on the other hand, on the type of interventions that it requires. Psychoanalysis raises a number of questions concerning the way trauma is taught in Conflict studies. Its approach is different from that of psychological and cognitive-behavioral theories, which are currently dominant in the field. Furthermore, the fact that psychoanalysis gives sexuality a central place in its conception of the psyche provides tools for a better understanding of the human attraction towards power and domination. Thus, while psychoanalysis recognizes that the consequences of trauma have destabilizing effects on personality and interpersonal relations, the primary position it attributes to masochism and sadomasochism in human sexuality allows it to critically confront the idea according to which therapeutic interventions with individuals and groups, even considering its restorative action, could foster the development of a better society. Without questioning the help that can be provided to groups or individuals through the therapeutic structures for people having suffered traumatic events, the contribution of these interventions must be considered in their context. There is a real danger to assume, on the one hand, that the effects can be considered on a general level, and, on the other hand, that it is possible, on the psychical level, to move from the particular to the general and vice versa. In sociological terms, we know that society is much more than the sum of its individual components. Moreover, it is dangerous to assume that mental health – subject to the expression’s significance socially – and justice are linked together. History, and the experience of the “banality of evil” has shown us that injustices, including terrible abuses, cannot take place without the participation of ordinary people, convinced that they are performing their duty and probably living in harmony with their surroundings and their social environment. The construction of a just State is not primarily a psychological issue. It is above all a moral and political commitment. The symposium aims at raising awareness on the psychoanalytic perspectives on trauma and, by doing so, at ascertaining how psychoanalysis can contribute to the reflection on conflict zones interventions and State reconstruction. To this end, the conference will include three lectures: one paper will expose some perspectives coming from the political sciences on the issues of trauma and conflict zones interventions. The two other papers will present psychoanalytic perspectives on trauma and will examine how it can reposition what is at stake in conflict situation interventions . Each conference will be followed by a discussion by a professor from Saint-Paul University, in order to engage a dialogue with the speakers on the practical aspects of trauma related interventions in services provided to victim of conflicts.