In Chapter 10, we advance concrete ideas that peace and social activists are invited to adopt when interested in using personal narratives of genocide and/or intractable war in intergroup processes of sustainable peacebuilding and reconciliation. Our suggestions draw on conceptualizations discussed in the book, as well as recommendations derived from previous on-the-ground experiences in such contexts. Our proposals focus on the following four arenas: (1) intergroup methods for moving from narratives of distancing to narratives that encourage peacebuilding; (2) ways to deal with social forgetting and “dangerous memories” of genocide and intractable war in peacebuilding efforts; (3) how to deal with fake news, denial of atrocities, and distancing narratives in reconciliation endeavors; and (4) concrete suggestions for pursuing peace with personal narratives of genocide and war when the macro-social level is sabotaging peace efforts.

Chapter 9 proposes topics and issues that connect to further research of personal narratives of genocide and war, and their connections to sustainable peace and reconciliation. This chapter proposes four different areas that have relevance for further exploration of this topic that can be explored qualitatively, quantitatively, or via mixed methods. The four research arenas are: (1) exploration of the categories of personal narratives of genocide and war; (2) personal narratives of genocide and war and their ties to societal transformation; (3) personal narratives and coping with the effects of genocide and war; and (4) further exploration of our conceptual model concerning kinds of personal narratives and the conditions that can either encourage peacebuilding processes or peace obstruction.