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ABSTRACT
Transitional justice and peacebuilding mechanisms have a tendency to reflect the extraordinary nature of conflict. These recognizable mechanisms—official bodies and institutions with preconceived goals and processes—are often inaccessible and undesired. In fact, what is often desired in post-conflict societies is the ordinary: a transition to a ‘new normal’. This article explores the various ways in which Sierra Leoneans practice normality in the post-conflict era. This is done through economic restoration, agricultural activities and religious engagement. Ultimately, these mechanisms are often seen as a more legitimate and meaningful way for many ordinary Sierra Leoneans to move past their war-related experiences and find some sense of peace and justice.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Catherine Baker, Jelena Obradovic-Wochnik, Rebekka Friedman and Denisa Kostovicova for their useful comments and edits.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Laura S. Martin is a PhD Candidate at the University of Edinburgh. ([email protected])
Notes
1. In the preface to an edited volume on post-conflict reconstruction in Cambodia, the editors highlight how the question of a ‘return to normality after violent conflict’ is a relevant, yet under-researched question (see Ojendal and Lilja Citation2009, ix).
2. In their edited volume Gerhard Anders and Olaf Zenker (Citation2014) do engage with the dialectics of the extraordinary and ordinary and the ‘logics of exception.
3. A term a research assistant often emphatically employed to describe the chaos that erupted when rebels arrived.
4. Karina male A, interview by author, Karina, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
5. During this phase of the war, rebels would commonly come to villages looking for people to go on jaja, or food finding, missions.
6. Bumban male A, interview by author, Kadama, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
7. Bumban male B, interview by author, Bumban, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
8. Karina male A.
9. Bumban male C, interview by author, Bumban, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
10. Makromray male A, interview by author, Makromray, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
11. Makromray male B, interview by author, Makromray, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
12. Bumban male D, interview by author, Bumban, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
13. Karina male B, interview by author, Karina, Sierra Leone, April 2014; also see Meith (Citation2013).
14. Bumban male E, interview by author, Bumban, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
15. Benia male A, interview by author, Mayelie, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
16. Makomray male C, interview by author, Makromay, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
17. Makomray male A.
18. Makromray female A, interview by author, Makromray, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
19. Bumban male D.
20. Karina female A, interview by author, Karina, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
21. Karina male B.
22. Makomray female B, interview by author, Makromray, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
23. Karina female A.
24. Bumban male F, interview by author, Bumban, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
25. Bumban male H, interview by author, Panlap, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
26. Makulon woman A, interview by author, Gbintimaria, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
27. Bumban male G, interview by author, Bumban, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
28. These are all expressions from the Krio language.
29. Hannah Arendt describes forgiveness in a similar manner (see Citation1998, 237). Michael Jackson also engages with a similar concept of forgiveness (see Citation2005, 368).
30. Bumban female A, interview by author, Bumban, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
31. Benia male B, interview by author, Mayelie, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
32. Makulon male A, interview by author, Gbintimaria, May 2014.
33. Benia male C, interview by author, Maron, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
34. Karina female A, interview by author, Mayamgbo, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
35. Makomray male A.
36. Panlap male A, interview by author, Panlap, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
37. Makromray male D, interview with author, Makomray, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
38. Karina male B.
39. Karina male C, interview by author, Karina, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
40. Makomray woman C, interview by author, Makromray, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
41. Benia male D, interview by author, Maron, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
42. Makromray male E, interview by author, Makromray, Sierra Leone, April 2014.
43. Karina male C.