Children and the Aftermath of War

What happens when wars end? Historians have written endlessly on wars' origins, far less on their aftermath. We seem happy to explode myths and deconstruct images, yet strangely indifferent to the very real social and psychological problems that wars leave behind them. As the conflict in Bosnia gives way to an uneasy peace, the question of how people rebuild their lives and communities assumes new urgency. Have historians nothing to contribute here? Fifty years ago, as in Bosnia now, the ending of war left society confronting bitter conflicts over property, issues of violence and justice, separation and loss. A conference at the University of Sussex this July, After the War was Over, will bring together historians, anthropologists, psychiatrists and lawyers, as well as former partisans, journalists and relief workers, to discuss these issues.