Description
With this paper, I explore combatants’ narratives of war and of reintegration in Central Africa. More specifically, the discussion offers insights into lived experiences of war among ex-combatants using body maps as anchoring narrative creation. Outlining a gap in scholarship in the examination of trauma experiences, it postulates a need for greater representation of ex-combatants’ views in the field. As such, this paper central argument proposes individual narratives as an essential source of exploration for examining individual trauma and the complexity of the war experience. In addition to body-mapping, it utilises narrative interviews conducted with 20 youth formerly associated with armed groups in CAR to provide thematic insights into experiences of trauma, moral injury, and violence. In doing so, this work refocuses scholarly attention to ex-combatants and their experiences and sheds light on individual trauma narratives as building new knowledge and situates the study of trauma as central to the study of war.
