Learning from Postconflict Societies Through the Eyes of Political Trauma Victims: An Interview with Romanian Psychologist and Family Therapist Ileana Rogobete

On may 25, 2010, I had the opportunity to interview Romanian psychologist Ileana Rogobete and learn about her work with victims of post-conflict societies. In my visit of Robben Island, the location of the prison where Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life, I observed her interview of a former prisoner during the apartheid era. He now leads individual tours of the prison, personalizing his experience and stories from those tumultuous times. What follows is a record of a conversation that took place follwing her interview with a victim of political trauma.

ADRIAN

My sincere appreciation for your time and interest in giving our journal a glimpse of the important and creative work you are doing in Cape Town, South Africa. As editors of an international scholarly journal we have an interest in publishing innovative work but also in discovering authors and spotlighting groundbreaking research that is related to the mission of AUDEM: The International Journal of Higher Education and Democracy. The purpose of our interview will be to introduce the important work you are doing in capturing the stories of political trauma victims in a young developing democracy like South Africa. Given that your work is really one-of-a-kind, tell me about your study and what informed the purpose and development of your study.

ILEANA

At a practical level, the purpose is to reconnect with former victims of apartheid repressive structures and see where they are in the process of recovery, sixteen years into democracy. From a research point of view, the purpose is to explore the traumatic experiences of people who lived under political oppression and their understanding of forgiveness and reconciliation on their journey to recovery. Participants in my study experienced forced displacement, detention, torture or witnessing political violence inflicted on family members or close friends. Trauma research typically focuses exclusively on the impact of individual traumatic events that happened in the lives of people. I think trauma experienced by people under apartheid and for that matter under any totalitarian regime, including communism, has specific characteristics due to the traumatic context created by these repressive regimes. Therefore, I am looking not only at how individuals were affected by political trauma but also how this impacts larger systems like families, groups, and communities.

ADRIAN

How did you arrive at this topic given that you are not a South African?

ILEANA

There are several reasons that led me to this topic. When we arrived in South Africa three years ago, as a psychologist and family therapist, I wanted to reconnect with my profession and continue my clinical work in this new context. I started to see individuals and families who were coming to counseling for a wide range of issues related to difficulties in their relationships. Working with them I realized how much their political past is still present in their minds and lives and how much it is still influencing them, and how working through past issues, they were able to embark on a process of healing. For example, violence, broken relationships, anxieties, lack of trust, were very much linked to the experiences they had during apartheid. That was one of the reasons for this topic, realizing this is an important aspect in the South African context, for people living here. Secondly, I think it was a personal journey as well, myself living under repression during the communist times in Romania and the personal questions I had linked with who I am in regard to my own experiences and how I understand myself in the context of these new experiences today. Reflecting more on my own past, I realized how some of my attitudes, fears, and anxieties today are connected with past experiences. For example, for a long time I didn’t know why I had a sense of panic when it’s very hot outside. It is very similar with the panic I had while waiting for food in huge lines during burning hot summers in Romania. I remember standing in crowds that...