The embodiment of post-war reconciliation? The issue of the missing after the Georgian-Abkhaz armed conflict

Almost all countries that are experiencing or have experienced war or armed conflict are affected by the issue of the missing. The literature on those who go missing after violent conflicts has focused mainly on technical issues related to the retrieval and identification of bodies, families’ mobilization, transitional justice and psychological consequences for the relatives of the missing. However, despite the staggering number of people who go missing in wars and the unrelenting mobilization by their relatives in the post-war period, little attention has been paid so far to how the issue of the disappeared can influence reconciliation processes. In addition, the corporeal dimensions of post-war reconciliation have remained largely unexplored, and the extent to which the issue of missing bodies can hamper, derail, or enhance reconciliation is unknown. Therefore, this article explores how and why the issue of the missing as an embodied impact of war has influenced possibilities for reconciliation at the personal, communal, and societal levels after the war. It engages with the case of the missing in the Georgian-Abkhaz war (1992–93) as an illustrative example of such interconnections. The article’s conclusions have relevance for other cases of ethnicized secessionist conflicts, notably in the “post-Soviet space”, where the issues of the missing and post-war reconciliation remain understudied. The article is based on original research material collected in Georgia, including interviews with current or former representatives of the key stakeholders: international organizations, government, civil society, and the families of the missing.