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- Convenors:
-
Till Förster
(University of Basel)
Jeremy Allouche (IDS)
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- Stream:
- Social Anthropology
- Location:
- Appleton Tower, Seminar Room 2.07
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 12 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
While mainstream conflict studies focus on the use of force and the emergence civil war, this panel reverses this perspective by looking at the formation of spaces that remain peaceful in the midst of violence. It also aims at outlining conceptual alternatives to the binary logic of peace and war.
Long Abstract:
There is a dominant framing of war zones, as a bi-polar world where conflict becomes a zero-sum game between rebel and government armed forces, and where violence is paradoxically the only and last resort to end the conflict. This framing, which is amplified in the media, also affects funding research and policy streams as much of the current research is articulated around this axis. As a result, a vital and important dimension to these wars has been neglected, namely how and why non-violent spaces emerge as 'islands of peace' during civil wars. Our general 'obsession' as human beings has been to try to understand rationally why 'other' human beings commit violence, thereby ignoring how individuals and groups have managed to escape from this violence during periods of armed conflict. In general, these third-party actors have been seen as passive, as the storylines and analyses of most civil wars focus on the insurgents and the army. There are still a number of influential actors that may situate themselves outside of the dispute by not taking a particular side. These actors nonetheless can still play an important role during a conflict. Furthermore, ordinary people have more agency than they are credited with in producing political projects, considering that a resort to military confrontation and physical violence is not necessary.
The aim of this panel is to document and discuss these islands of peace in African wars and to understand how civilians manage to contain violence in unstable and conflict-affected environments.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 12 June, 2019, -Giulia Piccolino (Loughborough University)
Paper short abstract:
How do former armed militants exercise local political power after civil wars end? This paper offers a typology of ex-rebel authority that emphasizes local-level ties to civilian populations ruled during civil war, and national-level ties to post-conflict state elites.
Paper long abstract:
How do former armed militants exercise local political power after civil wars end? Building on recent advances in the study of "rebel rulers" and local goods provision by armed groups, this paper offers a typology of ex-rebel authority that emphasizes two dimensions of former militants' power: local-level ties to civilian populations ruled during civil war, and national-level ties to post-conflict state elites. Put together, these dimensions produce four unique trajectories of ex-rebel authority. These trajectories shape whether and how ex-rebels provide social goods within post-conflict communities, as well as the likely durability of ex-rebels' local authority over time. We illustrate this typology with qualitative evidence from northern Côte d'Ivoire based on extensive field research. The framework yields theoretical insights about the creation of local political orders after civil war, as well as implications for peacebuilding policies aimed at co-opting and dislodging ex-rebel actors.
Marysol Valle (University of Sussex)
Paper short abstract:
This paper will explore the local conceptualisations of peace in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. By investigating peace in a relatively stable region of the DRC, this presentation will look at how the Congolese speak and think about peace in terms of their everyday realities.
Paper long abstract:
The means to achieve peace, in whatever way it may be defined contingent upon time and place and actor(s), are varied, convoluted and dynamic. As Sarah Koopman states, ''[. . .] peace means different things at different scales, as well as to different groups, and at different times and places. Peace is not the same everywhere anymore than war is,' (2011: 194). Based on my fieldwork in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), this presentation will explore local understandings for peace in the relatively stable capital of the Haut-Katanga province. What forms of violence manifest and what are the conceptualisations of peace outside of dominant liberal peace knowledge production? Ukimya, Salama, Amani, Ndoe, Djitalala, Kuliva, Koujan: these are just a fraction of the words for "peace" in the local languages within Lubumbashi. While peace research in the DRC tends to focus on armed conflict in and around the North and South Kivu provinces, Lubumbashi is not without its own forms of violence, and it is not without local peace discourse. Conceptualisations of peace are embedded within language, songs, proverbs, and within the everyday. Not only are "Amani" and "Salama" used in reference to war and armed conflict, but the notions of peace are also present within the individual, the family, and the community.
Laetitia Chantrait (Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University)
Paper short abstract:
The Cultural Caravan for Peace was created as a peacekeeping mean, promoting political reconciliation to face the aftermath of the Malian political crisis. This proposal aims at underlining the paradoxical position of cultural actors in a conflict situation, between neutrality and involvement.
Paper long abstract:
When the Malian crisis starts in 2012 with the military coup and the occupation of the North by rebel armed groups - mostly jihadists groups, more than 200 000 northern inhabitants urgently leave their home to flee oppression and violence. Founded on former claiming for independence from Touareg populations, the conflict strengthens a feeling of division within the whole country, between main geographical and ethnical areas.
As per a reaction to this situation, a group of artistic promoters decide to launch the Cultural Caravan for Peace. This peacekeeping mean aims at circulating a federating message, promoting intercultural dialogue and political reconciliation through shows to be given in different affected places in Mali and around. Every stop on the road appears as a quiet and joyful musical meeting point between different ethnic groups composing the public for one night, despite rampant surrounding threats. The peaceful word is widely spread thanks to the artist's fame and international medias. But the Caravan becomes institutionalized year by year. A large portion of the northern communities, including rebel groups, who are still favourable to obtain the autonomy of their Saharan region, doubt over its initial political neutrality.
Until today, the Cultural Caravan for Peace has surely impacted people's minds everywhere it passed by, sensitizing about mutual understanding. However, although cultural actors would rather stay on the side of the conflict, they finally get involved in actions reflecting their political opinion. This proposal aims at underlining the paradoxical position of cultural actors in a conflict situation.
Mona Abu Bakr (University of Khartoum)
Paper short abstract:
Sudan is still suffering social discontent after the secession of the Southern part. The multi-ethnic Butana region represents a unique experience of stability resort and peaceful co-existence which never took arms against the state, and where discontent is peacefully negotiated.
Paper long abstract:
Sudan as a multiethnic and multicultural country is still looking for a common formula to manage its diversities. It has been undergoing the longest civil war in Africa which ended in the secession of the mother land. Now, several complains are mounting in many other regions in the country. This paper intends to reflect the experience of the Butana region in Sudan which lies between the Blue Nile and Atbara River, and which has been exposed to various experiences that could have led to rebellion and protest as in other parts of the country. Yet, this region has historically been a source of stability in the country. It is resided by several tribes who are peacefully coexisting for a long time. The region incorporated all its problems, presuming negotiation and other nonviolent methods as tools for problem-solving. It has also accommodated all migrants (internal and external) and integrated them into the society. Moreover, the Shukria tribe as the leading group in the region never took arms against the state. This unique and exceptional manner in Sudan led to the consideration of the region as a stability and solidarity resort for conflicting partners as well as for the state.