Art and Reconciliation: Conflict, Culture and Community

尽管在国际上投入了数十亿英镑用于冲突后和解项目，主要涉及司法和创作艺术方面，但还没有对这一现象进行研究。到目前为止，只对特定的地方和项目进行了孤立的研究--联合国开发计划署(西巴尔干)指出了这一不足，开发计划署是此类工作的最大资助者之一，该机构试图建立一个与和解有关的编纂知识体系。因此，这一跨学科项目将创新性地调查冲突后和解，以产生解决这一重大(从业者和学术界)差距的第一项总体研究。它将在三个方面结合历史、解决冲突的方法论、艺术和创作实践以及定性和定量的社会科学：1.第一次历史调查，涉及英国内战或1945年后的欧洲等地的和解思想和实践，以及对和解思想(包括宗教和哲学)和实践的综合研究。2.询问过去在和解倡议中使用艺术和相关媒体的情况，以及艺术实践和手工艺品在解决族裔间冲突、纪念、遗忘和宽恕方面发挥作用的潜力。这将包括对由波斯尼亚和赫赛达拉冲突后研究中心(PCRC)运营的一系列倡议产生的数据进行批判性评估，这些倡议利用视觉媒体促进族裔间对话与和解，特别是与青年群体的对话与和解。3.通过对巴尔干地区多语种大型文本数据进行创新的计算机辅助定量和定性分析，对各机构领域、不同国家之间以及一段时间以来关于和解的辩论进行了比较实证研究。这将包括对RECOM进行专门分析，这是一项独特的、由当地推动的非政府组织和解倡议，涉及该区域所有国家和族裔群体的5 000名民间社会成员，生成各种语言的大量数据，这些数据仍有待分析，并有可能使人们了解已形成的和解情况。这三个方面将通过以下方式结合起来：项目讲习班；一本共同编写的综合书籍，其中包括研究，并提供一个理解和解的总体框架；以及一个共同和全面的线索，借鉴申请者的特殊经验和过去的研究。综合研究将提供与和解有关的重要知识，并提供一份框架文件，用于与FCO共同编制的和解活动的批评性评价。这项新颖和开创性的研究建立在以前资助的研究项目的基础上：ESRC和AHRC资助的关于视觉材料、冲突和战争罪的项目(Gow；Gow和Kerr)；USIP和Leverhulme资助的关于过渡时期司法的项目(Kerr；Gow)；开发了这项研究，并与开发计划署(西巴尔干)、人道主义法中心、贝尔格莱德和人道主义法中心(普里什蒂纳)等参与项目设计的从业人员进行了讨论，所有这些机构都致力于该项目的设计、促进和评价。该项目还得到欧盟副秘书长--邻国和扩大谈判的支持，后者将受益于能够更好地评估欧盟资助的项目，并得到北约副助理秘书长的支持，后者将支持和促进研究，并为可能产生的影响提供渠道。这项研究还应有益于接受或参与和解进程的冲突后社区。

Although billions of pounds internationally have been invested in post-conflict reconciliation projects, primarily involving aspects of justice and the creative arts, there has been no study of this phenomenon as such. To date, only isolated studies of particular places and projects have been undertaken - a lack noted by UNDP (Western Balkans), one of the largest funders of such work, which seeks a 'codified body of knowledge pertaining to reconciliation.' This interdisciplinary project will therefore innovatively investigate post-conflict reconciliation to produce the first overarching study to address this major (practitioner and academic) gap. It will do so by combining history, conflict resolution methodologies, art and creative practice, and both qualitative and quantitative social sciences in three strands: 1. The first historical investigation of the idea and practice of reconciliation through time, involving examples, such as the English Civil War or post-1945 Europe, and also an integrated study of thought (including religious and philosophical) and practice on reconciliation. 2. Interrogation of both the past use of art and related media in reconciliation initiatives and the potential of artistic practices and artefacts to play a role in inter-communal conflict resolution, remembrance, forgetting and forgiving. This will include critical evaluation of data generated by a series of initiatives using visual media to stimulate inter-ethnic dialogue and reconciliation, particularly with youth groups, run by the Post Conflict Research Centre (PCRC) in Bosnia and Hercegovina. 3. Comparative empirical research between institutional domains, across countries and over time of debates on reconciliation, applying innovative computer-assisted quantitative and qualitative analysis to multi-language large text data from the Balkans. This will include a dedicated analysis of RECOM, a unique, locally-driven NGO initiative for reconciliation involving 5,000 civil society members from all countries and ethnic groups in the region, generating large data in various languages that remains both to be analysed and also its potential to inform understanding of reconciliation developed. The three strands will be integrated by: project workshops; a co-authored synthetic book integrating the research and offering an overarching framework of understanding reconciliation; and a common and comprehensive thread, drawing on the particular experience and past research of the applicants. The integrated research will provide a critical body of knowledge pertaining to reconciliation and a framework document for critical evaluation of reconciliation activity co-produced with the FCO.This novel and pioneering research builds on findings from previous funded research projects: ESRC- and AHRC-funded projects on visual material, conflict and war crimes (Gow; Gow and Kerr); USIP- and Leverhulme-funded projects on transitional justice (Kerr; Gow); and Leverhulme-funded research on the RECOM initiative (Kostovicova).The research has been developed and discussed with practitioners, including UNDP (Western Balkans) where the absence of an overarching framework for understanding reconciliation was identified and who have been involved in designing the project, the Humanitarian Law Center, Belgrade and the Humanitarian Law Center (Pristina), the PCRC (Sarajevo), and the FCO (the Policy Unit, Research Analysts and the UK UN Mission), all of whom are committed to the project in terms of design, facilitation and evaluation. The project is also supported by the EU DG-Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, who would benefit by benefit by being better able to assess EU-funded projects and by the Deputy Assistant Secretary General, NATO who would support and facilitate the research and provide channels for possible impact. The research should also be of benefit to post-conflict communities subject to, or involved in, reconciliation processes.