Oxford Network of Peace Studies (OxPeace)
The Oxford Network of Peace Studies (OxPeace) is a multi-disciplinary initiative to promote the academic study of peace, peacemaking, peacebuilding and peacekeeping at the University of Oxford. OxPeace comprises scholars and students from a variety of disciplines. It organizes lectures, seminars and conferences, and through its email lists it publicizes information about other related events. A website is under construction.
The concept of ‘peacebuilding’ has come to be central to peace studies. Successful outcomes in peacebuilding depend on inclusive perspectives. The study of peace adds a fresh dimension to established disciplines and engenders a distinctive multidisciplinary synergy, drawing on politics and international relations, economics, development; gender, media, environmental studies; history; war and conflict studies; education, anthropology, law, ethics and theology to name only a few.
Oxford has a unique comparative advantage. In addition to its wide range of relevant academic disciplines, it has strong links to practitioners. It is thus well placed to promote dialogue between the two communities, to bring scholarship and research to bear on policy analysis and practice and to draw on the insights of practitioners to inform scholarship. OxPeace has begun to promote links between grassroots practitioners, NGOs, policy makers and academic researchers. It sees opportunities for links with scholars and research institutes in the Global South.
Among other events OxPeace has held three multidisciplinary conferences: in May 2009 ‘The Serious Study of Peace’, May 2010 ‘Building Peace’, and May 2011 ‘Media. Conflict and Peacebuilding’ (links below). In the medium term OxPeace looks forward to the establishment of posts in the study of peace at Oxford.
Aims
If you would like to join this network, and/ or wish to post or receive information about relevant meetings, research, etc., please Contact: Dr Liz Carmichael MBE, St John’s College, liz.carmichael@sjc.ox.ac.uk, tel. 01865 277351 or Dr Andrew Gosler, Mansfield College, andrew.gosler@zoo.ox.ac.uk, tel. 01865 271158
Future Events:
Fambul Tok: ‘Family talk’. A new model for post-conflict reconciliation, peacebuilding and development. Thursday 10 May (Trinity 3rd week), 5pm in the T.S. Eliot Theatre, Merton College. Film with speakers, discussion, drinks reception.
‘Fambul Tok’ is a significant community-based method for post-conflict reconciliation and peacebuilding, developed in Sierra Leone. Research is currently being carried out in Oxford and elsewhere on its effectiveness in promoting grassroots economic development. OxPeace event joint with African Studies and OTJR. All welcome.
Contact: Dr Julia Amos, Julia.amos@qeh.ox.ac.uk
OxPeace Day Conference: ‘Disciplines of Peace’, Saturday 19 May 2012 (Trinity 4th week) 09.30 – 17.30, St John’s Auditorium. Preceded by Conference Dinner 7.30pm on Friday 18 May in Rewley House Dining Room.
This year's conference theme, ‘Disciplines of Peace’, allows the exploration of different aspects of the field of peace studies: the relationship between academic research and the practice of peacemaking, peacebuilding and peacekeeping; the skills needed for these practices; the way in which established academic disciplines feed into our understanding of peace and peacebuilding; and the emerging discipline of peace studies itself. How can this area of study be further developed at Oxford?
Dinner Speaker: Simon Hughes MP, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Conflict Issues (APPGCI) and member of international network of parliamentarians on peqce and conflict. Dinner £8 for students, £30 non-students. Deadline for Dinner registration: Friday 11 May, please contact Trisha.Mittal@sant.ox.ac.uk
Conference speakers: Richard Caplan, Professor of International Relations, on defining ‘Peacemaking, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping’; Dan Smith OBE, Secretary General of International Alert, on the practical disciplines of peace. Henry Shue, Cheyney Ryan, Cjharlotte Bannister-Parker, on Human Rights, Law, Theology and Religion in Peacebuilding; Marcus Meyer, Richard Barltrop, and a speaker from conciliation Resources on the practical skills of peace making, peacebuilding and peacekeeping: Dr Rhys Kelly and OxPeace speakers on developing the study of peace in the University. Conference is free for students (voluntary contribution of £4 for coffee ans sandwich lunch), £8 for non-students. Further information and Conference Registration (by 17 May, to help catering, although it will probably be possible to walk in on the day) contact the Conference Assistant, Trisha.Mittal@sant.ox.ac.uk
Muslim-Christian encounter: Joint Seminar on inter-faith peacebuilding, with the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies. In preparation. Contact: John.chesworth@ssho.ox.ac.uk
Past Events:
"Sierra Leone Elections 2012: Between Democracy and Violence" Workshop
Thursday 23rd February 2012 (Hilary 6th week),
4pm, Clay Room, Nuffield College
Sierra Leone has been praised as a peacebuilding success for its recovery from a civil war, which officially ended in 2002. Ten years on, the November 2012 elections are expected to be the test of this stability but renewed political violence in recent months raises questions about the nature of the country’s path to peace and democracy. What is at stake in these elections? Who are the key players? What will the elections mean for the peacebuilding process? This workshop will bring together Sierra Leone experts to discuss these issues.
Speakers:
Mats Utas (Nordic Africa Institute)
Mats Utas is Associate Professor in Cultural Anthropology at the Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala as well as the Head of the Africa Programme at the Swedish National Defence College. He has written extensively on youth, ex-combatants, urban poverty and election-related violence in West Africa. He conducted fieldwork on these issues in Sierra Leone while being senior lecturer in sociology at Fourah Bay College (University of Sierra Leone). In this workshop, Mats will reflect on his fieldwork in Freetown with a particular focus on youth politics and electoral violence.
David Harris (School of Oriental and African Studies)
David Harris is Senior Teaching Fellow at SOAS and his research focus is on the politics of Sierra Leone and Liberia, specifically elections after conflict, post-conflict justice, rebel groups and political parties. He has been a member of several Election Observation Delegations in Sierra Leone and Liberia. He recently published a book called Civil War and Democracy in West Africa: Conflict Resolution, Elections and Justice in Sierra Leone and Liberia. In this workshop, David will discuss the upcoming elections placing the Sierra Leone case in regional perspective through a comparison with the recent Liberian experience.
After speakers’ presentations, the floor will be open for discussion.
All welcome. For information and registration email luisa.enria@qeh.ox.ac.uk
“I want to build Peace“: grassroots post-conflict peacebuilding in Eastern DRC
Tuesday 6 March (Hilary 8th week) 7.30pm, St John’s Auditorium. Open seminar. Short monologue play, ‘The Peacebuilder’, on the work of Henri Ladyi (North Kivu Province, DRC). Responses and input from Dr Phil Clark (SOAS and OTJR) and speakers from Peace Direct and International Alert. Discussion, drinks reception. Joint with Oxford Transitional Justice Research (OTJR), OPRT and Peaceroots. All welcome.
Maritime Security Conference: Wed 28-Thurs 29 March (Easter Vac) in the TS Eliot Theatre, Merton. Maritime security (crime and conflict prevention; piracy and its causes, drug smuggling, etc). Joint with Merton College and the Naval Staff Strategy Unit. Contact Dr Julia Amos, Julia.amos@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Open joint seminar: Environmental Conflict & its Resolution
17:00pm, 27 October 2011 St John's College,Garden Quad Auditorium
'Ethnic violence, water scarcity and managing resources to promote peace’
Karen Witsenburg, Both ENDS and Max Plank Institute for Anthropology
'Climate Change and Conflict in Sudan: what if development is not the answer to save Darfur?'
Harry Verhoeven, Politics & IR, Oxford
'The Ecology of Conflict: Human-Wildlife Conflict on the Hwange National Park Boundary, Zimbabwe'
Andrew Loveridge, Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Zoology
A joint event open to all hosted by the African Studies Centre, OXPEACE & Institute of Human Sciences
OxPeace Conference links: Media in Conflict and Peacebuilding, May 2011; Building Peace, May 2010; The Serious Study of Peace, May 2009:
http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/search?terms=building+peace
http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/reflections-career-peacebuilding-video
http://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/multimedia/peace.php
OxPeace Steering Committee:
Convenor: Revd Dr Liz Carmichael MBE (Theology)
Co-Convenor: Dr Andy Gosler (Human Sciences)
Minutes Secretary: Trisha Mittal (MSc Global Governance)
Conference Assistant: Claire Schachter (M.Phil candidate, IR)
Dr Nic Cheeseman (African Studies); Dr Julia Amos (Development) Dr John Chesworth (Muslim-Christian Studies); Professor Neil MacFarlane (International Relations); Dr Isabella Bunn (Law & Human Rights); Dr John Gledhill (Development); Dr Kirrily Pells (Development); Dr Nicole Stremlau (Media law, CSLS); Dr Richard Barltrop (Researcher & consultant mediator); Dr Robin Gibbons (Theology); Robert Harris (Modern Languages); Chloe Lewis (PRS, Development)
Advisers:
Professor Richard Caplan (CIS, International Relations); Dr Craig Jeffrey (Geography);
Dr Rama Mani (Senior Research Associate, CIS); Professor Mary King (RAI & UN University for Peace); Dr Phil Clark (Transitional Justice; SOAS); Professor Henry Shue (IR; Human Rights); Professor Margaret Macmillan (History); Dr Hugo Slim; Bryony Winn (Consultant, McKinsey’s; Development).
Patrons:
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu; Rt Revd Rowan Williams;
Rt Hon Lord Patten of Barnes; President Jimmy Carter.