Many of the papers in the book attempt to explain the interaction between experience, emotion and response. The chapters by Nkhum Bu Luand Hkanhpa Tu Sadan in particular express how the subjective experience of life in the ceasefire, how it impinged upon families and influenced their emotional lives, was important for the growth of discontent around the political situation. Those in the community deemed to have experienced great suffering take on an emotional symbolism for the group in these circumstances: women who have suffered sexual violence; children experiencing the trauma of disrupted childhoods; and the tens of thousands of ordinary people who have been forced into cramped IDP camps since 2011.Joy Pachuau and Mandy Sadan also discuss the need for new kinds of public history and historical memorialisation as a part of the process of social reconciliation. These issues go beyond the setting in place of new political structures to look at the emotional recovery of whole communities as an important part of reconciliation and trust building. In other chapters, authors have tried to show how that emotional response is expressed verbally (Laur Kiik) and visually (Helen Mears).
Below we feature some of the work of the artist Ko Z (Z Hkawng Gyung), a Kachin artist originally from Taunggyi in the Southern Shan State. Ko Z is well known in Kachin communities as a graphic artist who has developed many graphic projects for local groups and projects, including many of the calendars to which Helen and Hkanhpa Tu Sadan refer in their chapters. However, Ko Z is also well known as an artist who has tried to materialise the emotional reaction to experiences during the ceasefire as it gradually unravelled, as well as the outrage of Kachin people to the violence that many have experienced since 2011, especially the plight of IDPs. See alsoPublic History and Memorialisation.