GACACA AND HEALING
This section focuses on healing in terms of addressing individuals' postÂgenocide trauma and therefore does not consider what may be termed â€?communal healing' or â€?communal rehabilitation', which refer to reconÂciliation or restoration of entire communities or societies.
In analysing official, popular and critical interpretations of healing through gacaca, this section focuses on two questions: first, what form do these sources argue healing takes? This section identifies two main forms of healing through gacaca: the first, which I term â€?healing as liberation', involves individuals' discovery of a sense of inner freedom from sources of psychoÂlogical and emotional turmoil, such as survivors' ignorance about what happened to their loved ones during the genocide. The second form, which I call â€?healing as belonging', relates to individuals' expressed desire to experience greater psychological and emotional wholeness through reconnecting with their community. In many sources' interpretations, there is significant overlap between healing as liberation and healing as belonging, and the two are often mutually reinforcing in the context of gacaca.The second question addressed in this section is: what specific healÂing processes does gacaca embody? Gacaca incorporates various procÂesses that contribute to healing as liberation and healing as belonging, and on occasions to both simultaneously. Broadly, healing as liberation involves processes concerning the expression or reception of knowledge at gacaca and often comprises notions of personal redemption or atoneÂment through truth. Some truth-related processes at gacaca constitute crucial means to healing. This section explores some of these processes, identified only briefly under healing as liberation, which were considered in greater depth in Chapter 7. Meanwhile, healing as belonging involves individuals receiving communal acknowledgement of their past experiÂences and often comprises notions of acceptance, memorial and their active engagement with the community.
Healing as belonging therefore resembles key aspects of reconciliation or restoration, particularly their emphasis on the importance of engagement for rebuilding relationships fractured by violence. Where healing as belonging differs from reconÂciliation or restoration is by emphasising the personal, psychological or emotional effects of engagement at gacaca. Where reconciliation conÂcerns rebuilding relationships, healing as belonging refers to restoring individuals’ sense of inner wholeness. Both reconciliation and healing as belonging, however, depend heavily on positive forms of engagement.Based on an analysis of official, popular and critical interpretations, this section argues that gacaca displays an undeniable capacity to faciliÂtate healing as liberation and healing as belonging for both survivors and suspects. However, the sources analysed here generally overstate the extent to which gacaca alone can help individuals overcome postÂgenocide trauma and the speed with which they will experience healÂing. Gacaca should be viewed as the beginning of a protracted process of healing that will continue long after gacaca is over. Meanwhile, the pursuit of healing also depends crucially on developments in the wider social and political realms that affect the inner world of those recovering from the genocide.