Nilanjana Premaratna
Peacebuilding Thorough the Arts: Recognising and Responding to Varying Conceptions of Peace
The project seeks to understand the varying notions of peace that emerge over the course of a conflict, through the space of arts. Arts as an approach enables us to move the analytical focus of peace beyond the state and binary frameworks towards a more nuanced understanding of peace that engages with and responds to contextual realities. Thus, the research puzzle revolves around how the notion of peace changes along with a conflict/peace trajectory and how the arts engage with and reflect these changes.
The empirical ground for the research is Sri Lanka. The project examines selected art initiatives that emerge and engage with issues of peace and conflict during significant phases of the Sri Lankan conflict. This conflict, with its history of internationally mediated attempts at negotiated peace and victor’s peace offers an interesting ground, and the arts offer an innovative approach to the study of peace. The research project therefore provides a deeper understanding of the issues posed by the Varieties of Peace program as a whole.