School of EcumenicsSchool of Ecumenicshttp://hdl.handle.net/2262/22024-03-28T13:08:46Z2024-03-28T13:08:46ZKnowledge sharing in peacebuilding: A case study of the Nuba Mountains' war zone in SudanGreeley, Elizabeth Meganhttp://hdl.handle.net/2262/1043122023-12-20T18:02:23Z2023-01-01T00:00:00ZKnowledge sharing in peacebuilding: A case study of the Nuba Mountains' war zone in Sudan
Greeley, Elizabeth Megan
Over the past decade, there has been an increase in decolonial/postcolonial approaches to peace, peacebuilding and peace education pedagogy, with scholars asking scholar-practitioners and practitioners to rethink `the world from the perspective of the marginalized, that is, from Latin America, from Africa, from Indigenous places and from the global South' (Zembylas, 2020, p. 5; see also Ayindo, 2017; FitzGerald, 2021; Fontan, 2012; Hajir & Kester, 2020; Omer, 2020; Sabaratnam, 2013, 2017; Schirch, 2022; Shirazi, 2011; Weerawardhana, 2018; Zondi, 2016). However, decolonial/postcolonial-informed peacebuilding scholarship has yet to focus on the different conceptions and functions of knowledge sharing within peacebuilding practice from the perspective of peacebuilders working in a war zone, particularly in Africa. While scholars have called for more research on exactly how knowledge sharing could contribute to peacebuilding directly, empirical studies focusing on how knowledge sharing impacts peacebuilding practice within a war zone have yet to be conducted (Verkoren, 2006, 2008). This study contributes to filling this gap by using a postcolonial indigenous research paradigm (Chilisa, 2020) and a combined participatory action research case study methodology to better understand the role of knowledge sharing in peacebuilding practice in the Nuba Mountains war zone during the current war between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) and the Government of Sudan (GoS), which has been ongoing for 12 years.
The study found that the role of knowledge sharing in peacebuilding practice within the Nuba Mountains war zone was more than just information flowing between people. It was a far more profound communal experience that was based around a collective self-concept, using different kinds of knowledge within endogenous knowledge systems involving informal and formal community settings rather than organisational settings. These endogenous knowledge systems were an amalgamation of African, Arab-Islamic and Western knowledge systems due to the trans-Saharan slave trade, colonialism, globalisation and successive authoritarian regimes in Sudan that marginalised African knowledge systems within Nuba Mountains communities, over centuries. The study found that the Nuba Mountains communal knowledge sharing practice became a function of Nuba Mountains peacebuilding practice. It generated endogenous knowledge, unearthed buried knowledge, lessened inherited power imbalances, and played an epistemic violence prevention role within the peacebuilding practice. The study offers a contribution to peacebuilding scholarship and practice by highlighting a missing knowledge system dimension within peacebuilding scholarship and practice and offering a research design that borrows and integrates decolonial/postcolonial and relational mentoring constructs for its transdisciplinary analytical framework. Rather than offering a specific methodology for practitioners to use in practice, this study offers guiding questions that can aid any peacebuilding scholar-practitioner who is thinking about engaging in knowledge sharing as part of peacebuilding practice or scholarship in war zones or with war-affected communities.
APPROVED
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZConsociation and Young People: The Case of Northern Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement GenerationWallace, Sarahhttp://hdl.handle.net/2262/1039392023-10-09T17:05:27Z2023-01-01T00:00:00ZConsociation and Young People: The Case of Northern Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement Generation
Wallace, Sarah
Employing a reflexive thematic analysis with qualitative semi structured interview data, this research explores the lived experiences and attitudes of members of the Good Friday Agreement generation; the first generation to be born after the Troubles ended, and to have come of age in a Northern Ireland governed by consociationalism. The rationale for this research is twofold: firstly, to expand our knowledge of consociational theory and secondly, to provide a snapshot of contemporary Northern Ireland as experienced by members of the Good Friday Agreement generation. The research focuses on four domains of society that should be expected to be positively impacted by consociationalism, and that are relevant to the lives of young people in Northern Ireland, they are: cross community relations; economic opportunities; security; and governance. In exploring these four domains, the study has attempted to answer the research question from which the investigation originated: what is the possible societal impact of consociationalism, as experienced by members of the Good Friday Agreement generation? It is the position of this study that it would be inaccurate, if not impossible, to conclude one singular narrative when it comes to the social meaning of living in a society governed by consociationalism. The lived experiences and attitudes of members of the Good Friday Agreement generation reveal the complicated, complex, and often contradictory realities of living in a society that continues to bear the scars of its recent violent history, as well as the complexities of the consociational model that governs it.
APPROVED
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZTHE WEST BANK BARRIER AS A CANVAS FOR POLITICAL EXPRESSION: THE DIALECTIC BETWEEN LOCAL PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE AND INTERNATIONAL GRAFFITI TOURISMWilkinson, Chelseahttp://hdl.handle.net/2262/1039122023-10-09T17:03:36Z2023-01-01T00:00:00ZTHE WEST BANK BARRIER AS A CANVAS FOR POLITICAL EXPRESSION: THE DIALECTIC BETWEEN LOCAL PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE AND INTERNATIONAL GRAFFITI TOURISM
Wilkinson, Chelsea
Arguably the most notorious symbol of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the West Bank
Barrier. The barrier and its negative impact on Palestinian life have been protested by
Palestinians, Israeli activists, and international human rights advocates, but it is the politically
charged graffiti found on its concrete wall segments that attracts the most international media
attention today. Palestinians using graffiti as political expression have in recent years been joined by increasing numbers of international artists and tourists, who come to contribute their own
graffiti on the wall. While graffiti tourism and graffiti by world-renowned international street
artists have benefitted the Palestinian economy, it simultaneously fuels conflict consumerism and
overshadows Palestinian artwork, used as resistance against Israeli occupation. Many
Palestinians are resentful of international groups using their experiences as subject matter and
Palestinian artists often must sacrifice artistic freedom to the demands of international sponsors.
Though most international graffiti attempts to promote solidarity, the Palestinian narrative is
often distorted, leading Palestinian artists to create counter graffiti or deface toxic graffiti to
combat harmful stereotypes and accurately represent their values and stories. This project
examines Palestinian responses to international graffiti-making through ethnographic study as
well as a systematic literature review. Interviews and documentation highlighting international
artist, tourist, and Israeli perspectives are included. Additionally, this paper uses the theoretical frameworks of conflict transformation and poiesis from the lens of the field of expressive arts to make the case that graffiti is a powerful nonviolent method for communities in conflict zones to raise awareness, assert and control accurate narratives, shift perspectives of outside actors, and build solidarity. Potential additional components to poiesis as a framework are offered, in which the intent, goals, and tangible outcomes of community creative resistance and social change are outlined. This information could be helpful in learning the motivations behind graffiti-making, perceived impact and effectiveness, and future steps towards using graffiti as a tool to protest injustice and build international solidarity without the graffiti losing its meaning or demeaning Palestinian locals, for whom the graffitied wall is part of their everyday lives.
APPROVED
2023-01-01T00:00:00Z'For You One Flesh': Allusions to Genesis 2:4-3:24 and the Construction of Male-Female Relationships in Select Second Temple TextsBrown, Katiehttp://hdl.handle.net/2262/1030362023-07-02T17:02:34Z'For You One Flesh': Allusions to Genesis 2:4-3:24 and the Construction of Male-Female Relationships in Select Second Temple Texts
Brown, Katie
Throughout history, countless writers have ventured to explore the myriad of questions that arise from the short but deeply enigmatic text of Genesis 1-3. In particular, the Eden narrative of Genesis 2:4b-3:24 has been cited as a major influence over Judeo-Christian understandings of gender and sexuality. Due to its prominent place in western culture, ideas relating the first woman to the origin of sin and the fallen state of mankind are engrained in our psyche, negatively influencing relations between the sexes. However, many of the common assumptions that prevail regarding this text are not to be found in the original Hebrew text itself, and instead, are a culmination of centuries of disparate interpretations arising from particular social, political, and cultural contexts. This thesis is concerned with examining how male-female relations, in particular marital relations, were explained and justified through allusions to Genesis 2-3 in its earliest interpretations, in the late Second Temple period. Four texts will be examined in greater detail; Sirach, Tobit, 4QInstruction, and Ephesians, so as to limit our investigation purely to allusions and references, rather than explicit exegesis or rewritings of the Eden narrative.