Course Description
Conflicts and wars have a strong impact on the identity formation and enemy perceptions of individuals and societal groups. The identity-building process of the young generation is particularly affected by violent conflicts, which in turn has a significant impact on the success of building peace after a conflict has ended. A number of peacebuilding activities address this aspect and promote structured encounters between the youth of conflicting parties in the fields of sports and culture. Some of the most prominent examples are the “West Eastern Divan Orchestra” founded by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said or the skateboard school “Skateistan” in Afghanistan. Playing together requires listening to and respecting each other while working towards a joint performance.
In this course, we explore the theoretical foundations of the relationship between arts-based peacebuilding, identity formation and enemy perceptions based on existing research from political science and social psychology. We further compare different arts-based peacebuilding activities in theatre and music in current and past conflict settings in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. By participating in this course, students will have the unique opportunity to contribute to an ongoing research project of the instructor.
Objectives of the course
This course is a bi-weekly seminar that is based on extensive in-class discussions under the guidance of the instructor which is expected to enable students to profoundly and critically engage with inter-disciplinary debates on arts-based peacebuilding. Students will familiarize themselves with the theoretical debates in the disciplines of political science and social psychology (objective 1). Small independent research exercises will help students to develop their own research skills and acquire in-depth knowledge on selected empirical cases (objective 2).
Study material
Academic articles and book chapters available through Leiden University
Documents of individual peacebuilding initiatives publicly available
Assessment
A combination of several in-class assignments (35%) and a final paper (50%). In-class participation as well as contribution to group work is mandatory for this course (15%).
Literature
Barnett, M. et al. 2007. Peacebuilding: What Is in a Name? Global Governance 13: 35-58; Cousens, E. M. et al. Eds. 2001. Peacebuilding as Politics: Cultivating Peace in Fragile Societies. Boulder, Co. and London: Lynne Rienner.
Hassler, L. & Nicholson, C. 2017. Cello Lessons and Teargas: War, Peace and Music Education. In The Palgrave Handbook of Global Arts Education, edited by Barton, G. & Baguley, M. 417-29. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Shank, M. & Schirch, L. 2008. Strategic Arts-Based Peacebuilding. Peace & Change 33(2): 217-242.
Urbain, O. 2015. Music and Conflict Transformation: Harmonies and Dissonances in
Geopolitics. New York/ London: Tauris.
United Nations General Assembly 2018: Report by the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights 2018: Report, available at: http://www.brandeis.edu/ethics/peacebuildingarts/images/news_from_the_field/2018/01_04_report-special-rapporteur-cultural-rights.pdf
Registration
See general information on tab 'Year 3'