Transgenerational transmission of collective victimhood through a developmental intergroup framework: the lasting power of group narratives of suffering

This chapter uses a developmental approach to understand how collective victimhood is transmitted from generation to generation, focusing on the role of the family and drawing on research examples from Vukovar, Croatia, and Northern Ireland. In these two postaccord and divided societies, ethnic socialization in families serves as a major mechanism through which children and youth learn about their group’s history of victimization. The narratives that are shared include both societal narratives of the group’s collective experiences of suffering and individual narratives of family members’ personal experiences. The chapter stresses the active, agentic role of youth in eliciting narratives of collective victimhood when they are often faced with silence. Through the process of developmental provocation, children can stimulate transmission by asking questions, often in response to information received through other socialization agents such as schools or the media.