Have the changes of reconciliation helped to heal the nation from the past and United the people or not?
Answers
The stories we have created form a social framework that limits the choices that we see as being possible or moral (Hunt 2010; Rosenwald & Ochberg 1992:5). There is a trend in narrative research to engage with stories uncritically so as not to impose an 'ideal' onto these stories. A hermeneutical, non-canonical perspective might insist that no one has the right to judge one story as better as or worse than another. However, Rosenwald and Ochberg (1992:6) argue that engaging with our stories critically is imperative for 'emancipation'. Our stories are often developed in struggle with or against other narratives. Every story is then an area of contention or struggle between individuals and the society in which they find themselves. If we see stories as sites of struggle or contention, we could further argue that there are better and worse stories (Hunt 2010; Rosenwald & Ochberg 1992). Individuals may be able to enlarge the range of their personal story to include more of the stories of others. As individuals become more aware of the influence that their political-cultural conditions have had on their stories, they become able to critique their own story. This critique will most likely lead to a shift in the individual's story and in how they imagine and communicate their position in the society around them (Rosenwald & Ochberg 1992:8).