Searching for Normal in the Wake of the Liberian War. Sharon Alane Abramowitz

      UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS

      PHILADELPHIA

      Copyright © 2014 University of Pennsylvania Press

      All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.

      Published by

      University of Pennsylvania Press

      Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112

       www.upenn.edu/pennpress

      Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

       Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Abramowitz, Sharon Alane.

      Searching for normal in the wake of the Liberian war / Sharon Alane Abramowitz. — 1st ed.

      p. cm. — (Pennsylvania studies in human rights)

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-0-8122-4626-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)

      1. Social psychology—Liberia. 2. Postwar reconstruction—Liberia. 3. Mental health—Liberia—International relations. 4. Psychic trauma—Liberia. 5. Women—Violence against—Liberia. 6. Liberia—Social conditions—1980– 7. Liberia—History—Civil War, 1989–1996—Psychological aspects. 8. Liberia—History—Civil War, 1999–2003—Psychological aspects. I. Title. II. Series: Pennsylvania studies in human rights.

      HM1027.L7A27 2014

      306.09666209′04—dc23

      2014004863

       For Judy and Jacob Abramowitz,Gertrude and Jerome Eisenbruck,and Myron Wolk

      Contents

       List of Abbreviations

       1. Searching for Normal in the Wake of the Liberian War

       2. Clusters, Coordination, and Health Sector Transitions

       3. Trauma and the New Normal

       4. Individual Interventions

       5. The GBV Proxy

       6. Ex-Combatant Rehabilitation

       7. Redemption Time

       8. The Healers

       Notes

       Bibliography

       Index

       Acknowledgments