Observed Coherent Triads in Swedish Social Work Practice. : Analysis of Observed Successful Collaboration Beneficial for Clients in Swedish Juvenile Care

Previous research on collaboration in social work practice shows that conflicts among collaborating authorities and organizations and that include cooperating actors are common. In this study, I have analyzed a successful dimension of the phenomenon “cooperation.” The purpose of the study is to analyze examples of successful cooperation in Swedish social work practice. This study presents an analysis of factors of “successful collaboration” as described in the field notes of the study and that can be interpreted as beneficial for the youth in question. A total of 119 field observations of organized and informal meetings form the empirical basis for this study. The observations took place before and after these meetings and during visits to youth care institutions in Sweden, social services offices, and the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care. The factors used in the empirical material of this study serve to define successful cooperation that makes visible actors belonging to at least three different categories (coherent triad in the collaborative act). Constructing and reconstructing a collaboration success is a dynamic, interactive process. Coherent triads and success points of interest that are beneficial for the young person in the situation also create the image of a positive development for the young person. In this way, common identities of interplay that are useful for the young person are being created and elucidated. The physical presence of the young person in these situations is especially important factor for the “successful collaboration.

Religion, Violence and Genocide: in Narratives of Survivors from the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The starting point of this study is the war that took place in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s. Serbian soldiers and police targeted their use of violent force directly against the civilian populations in northwestern Bosnia. In their quest to expel Bosniacs and Croats from this area, Serbian soldiers and police used mass executions, forced flight, systematic rape, and concentration camps. The aim of this study is analyzing the narratives of survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia. The focus lies on analyzing interviewees’ description of war-time violence and also analyzing discursive patterns that contribute in constructing the phenomenon “war violence”. Analysis shows that the interpersonal interactions that caused the violence continue even after the violent situation is over. Recollections from perpetrators and those subjected to violence of the war do not exist only as verbal constructions in Bosnia of today. Stories about violent situations live their own lives after the war and continue being important to individuals and social life. The crimes committed in northwestern Bosnia are qualified as genocide according to indictments against former Serbian leaders Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić. All interviewees in this study experienced and survived the war in northwestern Bosnia. These individuals have a present, ongoing relation with these communities: Some live there permanently, and some spend their summers in northwestern Bosnia. Institutions in the administrative entity Republika Srpska (to which northwestern Bosnia now belong administratively) deny genocide, and this approach to war-time events becomes a central theme in future, post-war analysis of the phenomena “war violence”, and “reconciliation”. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the political elite’s denial of the systematic acts of violence during the war that have been conveyed by the Hague Tribunal, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on War Crime, and Bosnian media. The narratives in my empirical material seem to be influenced by (or coherent with) the rhetoric mediated in these fora. When informants emphasize extermination and the systematization of violence during the war, they produce and reproduce the image of a mutual struggle on a collective level. The aim of this struggle seems to be that the described acts of violence be recognized as genocide

Coherent Triads and Collaboration Identities in Swedish Youth Care

Previous collaboration research shows that problems and conflicts sometimes arise as a part of collaboration. Researchers have highlighted the importance of narratives, but have not focused on narratives about successful cooperation. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing stories of successful cooperation, even if it unfolds during shorter interaction sequences. The aim is to analyze how and when the actors within youth care portray successful cooperation, and which discursive patterns are involved in the construction of this phenomenon. The empirical basis for this study is formed by 147 recorded interviews with institution-placed youths, their parents, and different occupational categories within the social services and the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care. The personal interactive aspect of cooperation among actors in youth care is important to the success of a collaboration. This aspect also appears to have significance for producing and reproducing joint collaboration identities. However, joint collaboration identities and the coherence triad can limit the sphere of cooperation to the youth care entities: the juvenile (or his/her parents) is left out

Definitions of War Violence and Genocide: Narratives of Survivors from the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The aim of this study is analyzing the narratives of survivors of thewar in northwestern Bosnia in the 1990s. The focus lies on analyzing interviewees’ description of war-time violence and also analyzingdiscursive patterns that contribute in constructing the phenomenon“war violence”. Analysis shows that the interpersonal interactions thatcaused the violence continue even after the violent situation is over.Recollections from perpetrators and those subjected to violence of thewar do not exist only as verbal constructions in Bosnia of today.Stories about violent situations live their own lives after the war andcontinue being important to individuals and social life. The crimescommitted in northwestern Bosnia are qualified as genocide accordingto indictments against former Serbian leaders Radovan Karadžić andRatko Mladić. All interviewees in this study experienced and survivedthe war in northwestern Bosnia. These individuals have a present,ongoing relation with these communities: Some live therepermanently, and some spend their summers in northwestern Bosnia.Institutions in the administrative entity Republika Srpska (to whichnorthwestern Bosnia now belong administratively) deny genocide,and this approach to war-time events becomes a central theme infuture, post-war analysis of the phenomena “war violence”, and“reconciliation”. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the politicalelite’s denial of the systematic acts of violence during the war thathave been conveyed by the Hague Tribunal, the Court of Bosnia andHerzegovina onWar Crime, and Bosnian media. The narratives in myempirical material seem to be influenced by (or coherent with) therhetoric mediated in these fora. When informants emphasizeextermination and the systematization of violence during the war, theyproduce and reproduce the image of a mutual struggle on a collectivelevel. The aim of this struggle seems to be that the described acts ofviolence be recognized as genocide

Concentration Camp Rituals: An Extreme Case of Insecurity

Reason(s) for writing and research problem(s): This article analyzes the experiences retold by former concentration camp detainees who were placed in concentration camps like civilians at the beginning of the Bosnian war in the 1990s. Aims of the paper (scientific and/or social): The article aims to describe the recounted social interaction rituals after time spent in a concentration camp as well as identifying how these interactions are symbolically dramatized. Methodology/Design: The empirical material for this study was collected through qualitative interviews held with nine former camp detainees and four close relatives. Research/paper limitations: The analyzed empirical examples revealed how the camp detainees’ victim identity is created, recreated, and retained in contrast to ‘the others’ – the camp guards. The camp detainees’ portrayal of their victim identity presents their humiliated self through dissociation from the camp guards. Results/Findings: The detainees’ new (altered) moral career is presented as a result of the imprisonment at the camp and the repetitive humiliation and power rituals. The importance of the camp guards was emphasized in these rituals, in which the detainees’ new selves, characterized by moral dissolution and fatigue, emerged. General conclusion: In their stories of crime and abuse in the concentration camps, the detainees reject the guards’ actions and the designation of ‘concentration camp detainee’. The retold stories of violation and power rituals in the camps show that there was little space for individuality. Nevertheless, resistance and status rituals along with adapting to the conditions in the camps seem to have generated some room for increased individualization. To have possessed some control and been able to resist seems to have granted the detainees a sense of honor and self-esteem, not least after the war. Their narratives today represent a form of continued resistance. Research/paper validity: The interviewees’ rejections of the guards’ actions and their forced “camp detainee” status could be interpreted as an expression of de-ritualization, leading away from their own earlier experiences. The subsequently illustrated myriad of everyday interactions, which can be distinguished analytically in the interviewees’ stories, expose rituals of humiliation, power, resistance, and status. Through these, we see the interviewees’ loss of identity, others’ recognition of one’s identity, emotional involvement, and different symbols of resistance

Victimhood, Forgiveness and Reconciliation: in Stories of Bosnian War Survivors

In this analysis of the retold experiences of 27 survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia, the aim is to describe the informants’ portrayal of “victimhood”, “forgiveness” and “reconciliation” as a social phenomenon as well as analyzing the discursive patterns that contribute to constructing the category “victim” and “perpetrator”. When, after the war, different categories claim a “victim” status, it sparks a competition for victimhood. All informants are eager to present themselves as victims while at the same time the other categories’ victim status are downplayed. In this reproduction of competition for the victim role, all demarcations that were played out so successfully during the war live on. The stories of forgiveness and reconciliation are connected to the past; the interactive consequences of war-time violence are intimately linked to the narrator’s war experiences. The interviewees distance themselves from some individuals or described situations. It is common that the portrayal of possible forgiveness and reconciliation is transformed into a depicted implacable attitude, thus the interviewees negotiate their stances: they articulate between reconciliation and implacability statements. In these stories, “the others” are presented as external actors in the context. Throughout their narrations, some individuals can make a confession or exert a certain self-esteem; others can take the chance to explain for themselves and the audience, to express regret over their actions and possibly restore their social status. Without this type of processing, war victims risk living an existence without confession, and the war perpetrators risk becoming permanently bound to their acts – clearly an unstable future foundation for a post-war society

Concentration Camp Rituals: Narratives of Former Bosnian Detainees

In the German camps during the Second World War, the aim was to kill from a distance, and the camps were highly efficient in their operations. Previous studies have thus analyzed the industrialized killing and the victims' survival strategies. Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but they have not focused on narratives about camp rituals, or analyzed post-war interviews as a continued resistance and defense of one’s self. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing stories told by former detainees in concentration camps in the Bosnian war during the 1990s. The article aims to describe a set of recounted interaction rituals as well as to identify how these rituals are dramatized in interviews. The retold stories of humiliation and power in the camps indicate that there was little space for individuality and preservation of self. Nevertheless, the detainees seem to have been able to generate some room for resistance, and this seems to have granted them a sense of honor and self-esteem, not least after the war. Their narratives today represent a form of continued resistance

Definicije ratnog nasilja i pomirenje u pričama preživjelih poslije rata u Bosni i Hercegovini

Previous research on violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina have emphasized the importance of narratives without focusing on narratives mentioning war violence, but they have not analyzed stories on war violence that were the product of interpersonal interaction and meaning-making activity. The aim of this study is to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing the narratives of survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia in the 1990s. The focus lies on analyzing interviewees’ description of war-time violence and also analyzing discursive patterns that contribute in constructing the phenomenon “war violence”. Analysis shows that the interpersonal interactions that caused the violence continue even after the violent situation is over. Recollections from perpetrators and those subjected to violence of the war do not exist only as verbal constructions in Bosnia of today. Stories about violent situations live their own lives after the war and continue being important to individuals and social life. Individuals who were expelled from northwestern Bosnia during the war in the 1990s are, in a legal sense, in a recognized violence-afflicted victim category. Several perpetrators were sentenced by the Hague Tribunal and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on War Crime. The crimes committed in northwestern Bosnia are qualified as genocide according to indictments against former Serbian leaders Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić. All interviewees in this study experienced and survived the war in northwestern Bosnia. These individuals have a present, ongoing relation with these communities: Some live there permanently, and some spend their summers in northwestern Bosnia. Institutions in the administrative entity Republika Srpska (to which northwestern Bosnia now belong administratively) deny genocide, and this approach to war-time events becomes a central theme in future, post-war analysis of the phenomena “war violence”, and “reconciliation”. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the political elite’s denial of the systematic acts of violence during the war that have been conveyed by the Hague Tribunal, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on War Crime, and Bosnian media. The narratives in my empirical material seem to be influenced by (or coherent with) the rhetoric mediated in these fora. When informants emphasize extermination and the systematization of violence during the war, they produce and reproduce the image of a mutual struggle on a collective level. The aim of this struggle seems to be that the described acts of violence be recognized as genocide