Acknowledgment of collective victimization: Findings from four contexts of historical victimization

Abstract

Acknowledgment of collective victimization is often understood as a crucial precursor to promoting victimized groups’ well-being and breaking the cycle of violence. Yet, research on acknowledgment has focused on a few forms of acknowledgment from the perpetrator group, thus limiting our understanding on what acknowledgment entails and who should engage in it. Furthermore, what is considered to be appropriate acknowledgment may be shaped by the historical and sociopolitical context. To address these issues, we conducted a qualitative online survey that explored how four historical victim groups (Armenian Americans, Black Americans, Jewish Americans, and the Palestinian diaspora, total N = 273) perceive how acknowledgment of their group's collective trauma should look like. Qualitative content analysis revealed four broad theoretical categories of what acknowledgment entails: symbolic gestures, knowledge and education, structural redress, and learning lessons and preventing violence. We also found four categories concerning who should acknowledge the ingroup's trauma: everyone, adversaries, the ingroup, and third parties. Responses varied across groups, suggesting the importance of the sociopolitical context in acknowledgment. The findings extend theoretical and empirical work on acknowledgment and have important program and policy implications.