Enforced silence or mindful non-violent action? Everyday peace and South Korean victims of civilian massacres in the Korean War

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines why victims of violence pursue and justify non-violent forms of life in post-conflict environments. While previous scholars tend to explain that victims’ daily mechanism is marked by their silence and avoidance of violent confrontation to have a secure life, this study elaborates victims’ accounts of such actions when they should live together with their perpetrating enemies in the same place. Investigating victims’ narratives in the South Korean context as an example, this study found that victims perform non-violent behaviours as a survival strategy to avoid social stigma and further victimization. Moreover, they adopt ethical considerations to cultivate the moral self and envisage social change. Given the research findings, this study concludes that victims’ daily behaviours have the quality of everyday peace, in that they demonstrate reactive and proactive responses with both practical and moral considerations of their adversaries and the suppressive social structure.