21

This contribution is concerned with what it may mean to « construct » peace, in societies that have been subjected to mass crimes. It underlines the specific difficulties that researchers are confronted with in practical situations. On the one hand, they have to understand how such massacres could be committed beyond common beliefs on the subject ; on the other, they have to identify resources from which peace may be built in the given society. In so doing, they have to delve deeply into highly paradoxical situations. Such is the adventure for which the first part of this article advances several methodological propositions.