Speaker: Pauline Zerla, PhD Candidate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London

Discussant: Dr Roxani Krystalli, Assistant Professor at the University of St Andrews, focusing on feminist peace and conflict studies

This talk focuses on experiences of trauma and perceptions of reintegration in the Central African Republic. Specifically, it asks how community experiences of ex-combatants’ reintegration challenges wider Disarming, Demobilising and Reintegrating (DDR) discourse.

Through narrative interviews and focus group discussions conducted in South-eastern Central African Republic in 2022, Pauline Zerla explores spaces where reintegration, justice, and violence prevention interact in conflict. By focusing on community narratives, she shifts academic focus to those who live through the legacy of reintegration programmes. In doing so, her research brings to light community experiences as an important source of knowledge in understanding war and its aftermath. 

About the speaker

Pauline Zerla is PhD Candidate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London where she researches war experiences, trauma, ex-combatants’ reintegration, and narrative methods. Her research mostly focuses on the reintegration of ex-combatants, trauma and mental health in conflict, and veterans' return from war. She is particularly interested in embodied and participatory approaches to researching war. At King's, she is a member of the War Crimes and Conflict, Security and Development research groups and the Visual and Embodied Methodologies Network. Prior to joining King’s, she worked as a researcher and peacebuilding practitioner. She spent a decade working in fragile and conflict-affected states including the DRC, Central African Republic, Nigeria, and Somalia.