Transformation and Healing in John Paul Lederachs Book...

In When Blood and Bones Cry Out: Journeys through the soundscape of healing and reconciliation (2010), John Paul Lederach, together with his daughter Angela Jill, study the use of metaphors from sound to foster new pathways of conflict transformation and healing. They ask the question â€Å"how do people express and then heal from violations that so destroy the essence of innocence, decency and life itself that the very experience penetrates beyond comprehension and words?† (2010, p. 17). In the Lederach’s perspective, aural properties found in music, poetry, story-telling and creative dance, with their regard for repetition and capacity to resonate diverse sounds, offer alternative facets for conflict transformation and broadminded dialogue. These ideas, linked with aural and sonic metaphors, give voice and sound to societies needing to express the atrocities incurred at the hand of violence. Together, the Lederach’s propel the reader to envision another app roach to social healing in settings of protracted violence. An elemental point made throughout the book is the shift away from the linear and sequential methods for healing transformation and reconciliation to a dynamic and circular process. The linear method is not equipped to handle post-conflict environments where the end of the conflict does not signal the end of violence, especially for women. As Lederach Lederach point out with their story of Sierra Leone, the disturbing reality for women is that the sexual