Papers by Hana Oberpfalzerova
International Journal of Conflict and Violence, Aug 1, 2019
Is transitional truth-telling more beneficial to reconciliation than remaining silent about past ... more Is transitional truth-telling more beneficial to reconciliation than remaining silent about past crimes? The aim of this article is to contribute to the debate by exploring the impact of "My Story," an NGO initiative that uses multiethnic storytelling by victims of the Bosnian war to promote reconciliation. We report field observations and the results obtained from interviews with young Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. Empathy, as a reported outcome of the storytelling, seems to enable deeper reflection and attitude change. Respondents reported reduced prejudice, competitive victimhood and blaming, and increased interest in information about the outgroup, increased interest in peace activism, a change of emotions toward the outgroup and feeling guilt for the misdeeds of their ingroup. We conclude that this storytelling initiative is beneficial and worth spreading internationally. It deconstructs many of the same factors that prevent reconciliation that truth commissions aim to deconstruct, while improving interethnic attitudes and enabling to look toward the future, as forgetting does.
International Journal of Conflict and Violence, 2019
Is transitional truth-telling more beneficial to reconciliation than remaining silent about past ... more Is transitional truth-telling more beneficial to reconciliation than remaining silent about past crimes? The aim of this article is to contribute to the debate by exploring the impact of “My Story,” an NGO initiative that uses multiethnic storytelling by victims of the Bosnian war to promote reconciliation. We report field observations and the results obtained from interviews with young Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. Empathy, as a reported outcome of the storytelling, seems to enable deeper reflection and attitude change. Respondents reported reduced prejudice, competitive victimhood and blaming, and increased interest in information about the outgroup, increased interest in peace activism, a change of emotions toward the outgroup and feeling guilt for the misdeeds of their ingroup. We conclude that this storytelling initiative is beneficial and worth spreading internationally. It deconstructs many of the same factors that prevent reconciliation that truth commissions aim to deconstruc...
What role does intergroup contact play in promoting support for social change toward greater equa... more What role does intergroup contact play in promoting support for social change toward greater equality? Drawing on the needs-based model of reconciliation, we theorized that when inequality between groups is perceived as illegitimate, disadvantaged groups members will experience a need for empowerment and advantaged groups members a need for acceptance. When intergroup contact satisfies each group’s needs, it should result in more mutual support for social change. Using four sets of survey data collected through the Zurich Intergroup Project in 23 countries, we tested several preregistered predictions derived from the above reasoning across a large variety of operationalizations. Two studies of disadvantaged groups (Ns=689 ethnic minority members in Study 1 and 3,382 sexual/gender minorities in Study 2) support the hypothesis that, after accounting for the effects of intergroup contact and perceived illegitimacy, satisfying the need for empowerment (but not acceptance) during contact...
Guided by the early findings of social scientists, practitioners have long advocated for greater ... more Guided by the early findings of social scientists, practitioners have long advocated for greater contact between groups toreduce prejudice and increase social cohesion. Recent work, however, suggests that intergroup contact can undermine support for social change towards greater equality, especially among disadvantaged group members. Using a large and heterogeneous dataset (12,997 individuals from 69 countries), we demonstrate that intergroup contact and support for social change towards greater equality are positively associated among members of advantaged groups (ethnic majorities and cis-heterosexuals) but negatively associated among disadvantaged groups (ethnic minorities and sexual and gender minorities). Specification curve analysis revealed important variation in the size—and at times, direction—of correlations, depending on how contact and support for social change were measured. This allowed us to identify one type of support for change—willingness to work in solidarity— th...
Storytelling and Reconciliation: Shifts in Frames and Discursive Narratives in Listeners of the Initiative "My Story" in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Storytelling and Reconciliation: Shifts in Frames and Discursive Narratives in Listeners of the I... more Storytelling and Reconciliation: Shifts in Frames and Discursive Narratives in Listeners of the Initiative "My Story" in Bosnia and Herzegovina Hana Oberpfalzerová Abstract In Bosnia and Herzegovina, two non-governmental organizations have been running the initiative "My Story" within which three war victims, one Bosniak, one Serb and one Croat, tell their wartime stories and their way to reconciliation in public testimonies in a side-by-side, live setting to an audience of young people or ordinary citizens. The aim of the initiative is to promote reconciliation in the listeners. This doctoral dissertation integrates several disparate fields in order to create an analytical framework for inferring attitude shifts from the discursive narratives recalled by the listeners, and from the frames that connect the single narratives to broader societal discourses within these discursive narratives. Three public testimonies were analyzed and interviews with eighteen listeners from the three Bosnian nations were conducted, some of which were interviewed by phone about four months later to check for further attitude changes. The interview material was analyzed inductively by the means of thematic discourse analysis in order to identify the underlying discursive narratives that were then regrouped into dimensions or..
Intergroup contact and support for social change in (cis-)heterosexuals and LGBTIQ* individuals
Clanek zkouma vztah procesu tranzicni spravedlnosti a usmiřeni v Bosně a Hercegovině. Autorka se ... more Clanek zkouma vztah procesu tranzicni spravedlnosti a usmiřeni v Bosně a Hercegovině. Autorka se snaži odpovědět na otazku, jakým způsobem, do jake miry a na zakladě jakých mechanismů tranzicni spravedlnost k usmiřeni přispiva. V prvni, deskriptivni casti clanku autorka představuje pojem a mechanismy tranzicni spravedlnosti, v druhe, analyticke casti zkouma jejich konkretni podobu v Bosně a Hercegovině a jejich přinos k procesu usmiřeni chapaneho jako obnova vztahů mezi jednotlivci a uznani vlastni odpovědnosti za křivdy minulosti.Autorka dochazi k zavěru, že tranzicni spravedlnost k němu přispiva pouze v omezene miře kvůli nizke důvěryhodnosti, male viditelnosti a malým investicim jejich opatřeni. Pro spolecenskou změnu je třeba je uplatňovat lepe, důsledněji, citlivěji a zejmena viditelně, předevsim pak restorativni spravedlnost a vypovidani pravdy.
Usmíření jako konečné stádium řešení konfliktu / Reconciliation as The Final Stage of Conflict Resolution
Lidé města. Full text will be available in Dec 2013 at www.lidemesta.cz, 2013
Abstract: The aim of this synoptic article is to provide the reader with a basic understanding of... more Abstract: The aim of this synoptic article is to provide the reader with a basic understanding of the issue of reconciliation after open armed conflict. We shall mention the most significant concepts, theories and authors in this field; however, the article does not and cannot cover all concepts in great detail due to restricted space. The article is divided into three parts, which consecutively answer the following three questions: what is the role of reconciliation in the process of conflict resolution and in the prevention of further conflicts? What are the definitions of reconciliation, and what are its various concepts and dimensions? What are the mechanisms that lead to reconciliation, and what are the obstacles that this process faces? The discussed literature concentrates on the role of reconciliation in violent, protracted and intractable conflicts. The article itself falls under the category of peace and conflict studies, in the field of conflict resolution and of the so-called peace psychology.
Tranziční spravedlnost a proces národního usmíření v Bosně a Hercegovině / Transitional Justice and the National Reconciliation Process in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mezinárodní vztahy (full text available in the EBSCO database), Sep 2012
"Abstract: This article examines the relationship between transitional justice and reconciliation... more "Abstract: This article examines the relationship between transitional justice and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The author aims to answer the question how, to what extent and on the basis of what mechanisms transitional justice contributes to reconciliation. In the first, descriptive part of the article she introduces the term and the mechanisms of transitional justice, and in the second, analytical part she examines their concrete form in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their contribution to the process of reconciliation, which is understood here as a renewal of relationships between individuals and a recognition of one’s own responsibility for past wrongs. The author concludes that transitional justice contributes to the reconciliation process only in a limited way because of its low trustworthiness, its low visibility and the overly small invesments in its measures. To bring about a societal change transitional justice needs to be implemented better, in a more thorough and sensitive way and especially visibly above all in terms of restorative justice and truth telling.
Keywords: Transitional justice, reconciliation, post-war reconstruction, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, Bosnia and Herzegovina, ICTY, truth commission""
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Papers by Hana Oberpfalzerova
Keywords: Transitional justice, reconciliation, post-war reconstruction, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, Bosnia and Herzegovina, ICTY, truth commission""
Keywords: Transitional justice, reconciliation, post-war reconstruction, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, Bosnia and Herzegovina, ICTY, truth commission""