Discursive psychology and social practices of avoidance

This is a chapter about the contribution of discursive psychology to researching social practices of avoidance (gaps, silences, ambivalence) in contexts of rapid social change. I open the chapter with a description and discussion of discursive psychology’s main tenets. I then move to explore the production of the essence of the communist social past in one of the most controversial texts of the Romanian post-communist transition (the Tismaneanu Report condemning communism in Romania). I place emphasis on one particular aspect – the relationship between social repression and resistance in constructing communism as Other, not quite ‘us’. Finally, I highlight the relevance of discursive psychology for peace psychology, and show how discursive psychological research can provide significant insights to understanding the social impact of discursive and textual practices around topics or feelings that are too “difficult” to discuss that, nonetheless, matter for communities that aspire to coming to terms with an unjust past.