Newsletter #9 - Mastering the Art of Creative Peacebuilding
Trust After Betrayal
Innovating development & security in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Understanding interpersonal trust-building.
Dear Reader,
We hope you had a relaxed summer and are glad to welcome you back with this Trust After Betrayal newsletter edition on the underappreciated value of creativity in peacebuilding. Most peacebuilding workshops, seminars or community projects worldwide entail approaches and targets rooted in a somewhat dispassionate logic that fall short of addressing the salient emotional dimensions of armed conflict. This edition’s original Research Brief therefore advocates for the promotion and contextually adequate execution of alternative, creative, and embodied methods in peacebuilding. Drawing, poetry, music, dance, embroidery, or sport, among many others, are forms of expression that may help people?more effectively cope with trauma and foster the?intimate interpersonal understanding necessary for reconciliation and collective healing.
With this edition, we want to give you a succinct introduction and a few examples of the benefits of creative and embodied methods. They are not meant to replace traditional approaches and have their own limits and shortcomings, especially in the realm of measurement and evaluation. However, they are a useful addition to the existing repertoire of common peacebuilding methodologies and deserve more attention in research and practice. The particular strength of creative expression with its multi-perspectivity and unconventional, less structured outputs lies in its potential to decolonise the field. This outcome, however, largely depends on the right implementation of these methods, which we also give recommendations on in the Research Brief below.
Enjoy reading this newsletter and feel free to share it with anyone who may be interested in the topic. We are happy to announce that our recent integration of CrossRef’s Digital Object Identifier (DOI) system now makes the citation of our Research Briefs easier. Please also leave us any feedback or inputs through the contact form on our website.
Thank you for your continued support!
Research Associate, Trust after Betrayal
Research Brief: Creative and Embodied Peacebuilding
This research brief highlights the power of creative and embodied peacebuilding methods in (post-)conflict environments. It underscores the importance of acknowledging the emotional dimension?of violent conflict, often neglected in conventional, dispassionate approaches. The brief suggests that incorporating local forms of creative and embodied expression?alongside?community-defined success criteria into peacebuilding interventions can help decolonise these efforts, fostering healing and growth on both the individual and community level.??trustafterbetrayal.org/researchbriefs
Global Affairs: Art as a Tool for Peace
Transforming Urban Conflict through Hip Hop
In 2010, Professor Arthur Romano, who teaches at one of Trust After Betrayal's partner institutions, the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, founded the program "Next Level", an initiative employing hip-hop as a tool for peacebuilding in fragile social settings worldwide. The primary objective of Next Level is to develop programming that engages young individuals and effectively imparts conflict resolution strategies through the medium of hip-hop and urban arts.
The initiative brings together a diverse array of hip-hop DJs, MCs, beatmakers, dancers, and graffiti sprayers hailing from violence-ridden areas worldwide, including Uganda, El Salvador, Tanzania, Thailand, and Honduras in workshops that equip them with pedagogical skills in peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Participants are chosen not only for their musical talents but also for their leadership abilities and eagerness to drive positive change through their art and personal and cultural connection to the youth. During these workshops, the organisers encourage artists to apply critical thinking to understand and address the intertwined dimensions of violence, socioeconomic inequality, and power dynamics.
Romano asserts that hip-hop is particularly effective for peacebuilding activities due to its roots in marginalised communities in the United States. Furthermore, he highlights that engaging in the arts allows individuals to reflect on their inner emotional lives, providing a valuable tool for dealing with destructive emotions and healing from trauma. A striking example of how hip hop and the urban arts can contribute to peacebuilding is found in the Comuna 13 neighbourhood in Medellin, Colombia. What was once considered the city’s most dangerous slum has undergone a significant transformation through community projects involving graffiti murals depicting its strengths and struggles, rap music, dance and other forms of creative expression. Many former gang members have found new livelihoods, such as working as graffiti tour guides and street performers, due to the significant tourist interest that has emerged in Comuna 13. These developments and successful initiatives like “Next Level” demonstrate that investing into the potential of local artists and the creative reimagination of public spaces can invoke positive transformations in violence-ridden urban areas worldwide.
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Leveraging Nigeria's Creative Industries?for Peace
Nigeria’s ?rich and vibrant film, music and comedy industries, which generate an estimated US$720 million annually, are characterised by their young professional demographic and a relationship of deep trust with the country’s youth, impacting how it relates to society and the state. Nigerian artists can thus be powerful advocates for peace, security and accountability from the government while the sector’s reach and influence can consolidate popular peacebuilding action through entertainment and music - mediums understood by everybody.
Nigeria suffers from a continuous state of insecurity, particularly due to corruption and performance issues of the state and violent extremism and banditry in its north - a context ?in which the creative sector can demand good governance and facilitate regional peacebuilding. Nollywood, for instance, as the prominent film industry in northern Nigeria, has the potential to creatively mainstream otherwise diffuse peace conversations by leveraging its familiarity with local cultures, while radio programs in northern Nigeria can play a crucial role in disseminating artistic messages to counteract violent extremism.
In other parts of Africa, initiatives like Peacelinks, a collective of youth performers in Sierra Leone, have demonstrated how the arts can be an effective tool for social mobilisation, using traditional themes and cultural imagery to educate and motivate young people to advocate for peace. To untap the potential of the creative sector in Nigeria, dialogue needs to be fostered among conflict researchers, policymakers, and creative professionals, enabling the exchange of ideas that often stay confined within their respective domains. Researchers can leverage the creative sector's ability to widely disseminate their findings while the creative industries possess a unique capacity to convey and translate knowledge in a relatable manner, a skill that eludes most researchers and government officials.
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Past and Future Activities
Dr Erin McFee and TAB Researchers Connor Christensen and Luke Magyar published the policy paper "Afghan Allies Out of War: Addressing the Needs of the Afghan Special Operations Forces Community and their Families in the United States" in?collaboration with Honor the Promise.
Dr Erin McFee travelled to Mogadishu, Somalia where she engaged with some of TAB’s local partners and conducted interviews with several formerly armed actors (FAAs) of the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab.
Trust After Betrayal and the Corioli Institute will host the conference "Out of War: Global Insights on Reintegration to Support Strategies for Ukraine’s Front-Line Returnees" on October 13th and 14th at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The purpose of this conference is to have a global collective of academics, policymakers and practitioners elaborate on a plan of action for the sustainable reintegration of formerly armed actors (FAAs) returning from the frontlines in Ukraine and contribute to advancements in the scientific field of FAA reintegration on a broader scale.
Meet our Research Team: Rimjhim Agrawal
Hi everyone! I'm Rimjhim and I joined the Trust After Betrayal team in July 2023 as a consultant to assist with ongoing and upcoming project developments as well as contribute to research and analytics with Trust After Betrayal and the Corioli Institute. I am excited and humbled at the opportunity to be involved in research and development in veteran reintegration, particularly with pertinent global events. I recently graduated with a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago in June 2023, and I'm energized to apply my skills and experience to such an impactful and significant subject.
Prior to my graduate studies, I worked in climate and disaster risk for about three years, engaging with international state actors as well as multi-lateral banks to project future risks due to climate change and disasters, in regard to economic, social, and physical vulnerabilities. My background and recent studies make working at the intersection of global conflict and violence and climate change migration incredibly stimulating. I enjoy traveling and immersing in new experiences, hiking, painting, gardening, cooking, and take an avid interest in film and photography. I welcome any conversations, recommendations, ideas, and memes!