Performing Empowerment: Disability, Dance, and Inclusive Development in Post-Conflict Sri Lanka

战争给许多人造成持久的身心伤害，而随后的冲突后发展往往将他们抛在后面。战争结束后很长一段时间，前战斗人员和与冲突有关的残疾平民仍然陷于极端贫困和社会排斥之中。改变这种状况的一种方法是赋予他们信心、知识和技能，以维护其社会经济权利，并要求政府提供服务。这种“法律赋权”是一种基于权利的发展形式，符合2015年联合国可持续发展目标对诉诸司法和包容的强调。本研究项目探讨了一种创新的方式，通过舞蹈和法律的不同寻常的结合，赋予斯里兰卡与冲突有关的残疾人权力。尽管斯里兰卡长达26年的残酷内战于2009年结束，但直到2015年新总统的选举，该国才开始认真处理冲突的遗留问题。考虑到斯里兰卡今年批准了《联合国残疾人权利公约》，且该国目前正在讨论对受战争影响者的赔偿问题，该项目也非常及时。该项目包括四个主要活动：(1)结合综合舞蹈（残疾人和健全舞者一起表演）和法律赋权的讲习班；(2)工作坊参与者在繁忙的公共场所进行快闪和舞蹈表演；(3)研究工作坊和演出对冲突残障人士的能动性、尊严、福利和包容的影响；(4)与广泛的受益者分享研究成果，以最大限度地发挥影响。讲习班和演出将在斯里兰卡受冲突影响最严重的两个地区——拜蒂克洛和贾夫纳举行。研究部分探讨了将法律赋权与综合舞蹈相结合如何有助于冲突后环境中残疾人的包容性发展。为了回答这个问题，该项目解决了当前知识中的三个空白。首先，关于赋予与冲突有关的残疾人法律权力的研究很少。第二，有证据表明，综合舞蹈可以促进残疾人的自尊和包容，但这是否也适用于与冲突有关的残疾和冲突后环境，还需要更多的研究。最后，利用参与式表演艺术来实现发展目标的研究尚不充分。该研究小组由舞蹈和人权领域的学者和实践者之间的一个新的跨学科合作组成。该小组将与两个项目伙伴密切合作：一个已经在斯里兰卡试点举办讲习班和演出的德国非营利协会；以及一座斯里兰卡教堂，为这两个地区的残疾人和其他边缘人群提供服务。这项研究将在两个斯里兰卡合作者的帮助下进行和传播：斯里兰卡东部大学美术系和佩拉德尼亚大学法律系。该项目还将建设这些部门的能力，使它们能够在该具体项目结束后继续开展讲习班和研究。这项研究将提供一个证据基础，将法律授权与参与性表现联系起来，以减少冲突后与冲突有关的残疾人的极端贫困和社会排斥。其影响是告知决策者、从业者和捐助者如何在斯里兰卡和类似的冲突后国家（如缅甸和尼泊尔）扩大此类发展干预措施。

War inflicts lasting physical and psychological damage on many people and subsequent post-conflict development often leaves them behind. Long after the war is over, ex-combatants and civilians with conflict-related disabilities remain trapped in extreme poverty and social exclusion. One way to change this is to empower them with the confidence, knowledge, and skills to assert their socio-economic rights and to demand government services. Such "legal empowerment" is a form of rights-based development that accords with the emphasis on access to justice and inclusion in the 2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals.This research project examines an innovative way of empowering persons with conflict-related disabilities in Sri Lanka through an unusual combination of dance and law. Although Sri Lanka's brutal, 26-year civil war ended in 2009, the country only began seriously addressing the legacies of the conflict with the election of a new president in 2015. The project is also timely given that Sri Lanka ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities this year and the country is currently debating reparations for those affected by the war. The project consists of four main activities: (1) workshops that combine integrated dance (where disabled and able-bodied dancers perform together) and legal empowerment; (2) flash mobs and dance performances in busy, public spaces by workshop participants; (3) research on how the workshops and performances affect the agency, dignity, welfare, and inclusion of persons with conflict-related disabilities; and (4) sharing the research findings with a wide range of beneficiaries to maximize impact. The workshops and performances will take place in Batticaloa and Jaffna, two of the most conflict-affected districts in Sri Lanka. The research component asks how combining legal empowerment with integrated dance can contribute to inclusive development for persons with disabilities in post-conflict settings. In answering that, the project addresses three gaps in current knowledge. First, there has been very little research done on legal empowerment for persons with conflict-related disabilities. Second, there is evidence that integrated dance can promote self-esteem and inclusion for persons with disabilities, but more research is needed to see whether this also applies to conflict-related disabilities and post-conflict environments. Finally, the use of participatory performing arts to achieve development goals is under-studied. The research team consists of a new, interdisciplinary collaboration among scholar-practitioners in dance and human rights. The team will work closely with two project partners: a German non-profit association that has already piloted workshops and performances in Sri Lanka; and a Sri Lankan church that provides services to persons with disabilities and other marginalized persons in those two districts. The research will be conducted and disseminated with the help of two Sri Lankan collaborators: the Fine Arts Department at Eastern University of Sri Lanka and the Law Department at the University of Peradeniya. The project will also build capacity in these departments so they can continue the workshops and research after this specific project ends.The research will produce an evidence-base on linking legal empowerment with participatory performance to reduce extreme poverty and social exclusion for persons with conflict-related disabilities after conflict. The impact is to inform policymakers, practitioners, and donors on how to scale up such development interventions in Sri Lanka and similar post-conflict states like Myanmar and Nepal.