Imagining the Common Ground: Utopian Thinking and the Overcoming of Resentment and Distrust

这一领导力活动和研究计划将主要通过与思想和信念核心领域的接触，解决全球不确定性的总体战略目标，即“在不断变化的世界中为所有人提供安全”。拟议方案的工作假设是，“在不断变化的世界中为所有人提供安全”取决于想象共同点和共同人性的能力，而这又取决于克服怨恨和不信任的能力，以及运用某种乌托邦思维形式的能力。将探讨的是前瞻性和投射思维在促进社会正义和社会凝聚力方面的作用，以及它阻碍这种作用的可能性。该方案的一个主要目的是在现有和新出现的研究领域提供在全球不确定因素计划下协同增效的机会，并确定这项工作的共同关切，特别是在了解如何利用人的能力来加强安全的问题上。特别是，研究活动将侧重于下列调查专题：对极端主义的跨文化理解，特别是从青年文化的角度和关于其潜在共同点的理解；暴力宗派冲突和旨在重建信任和加强社会复原力的冲突后康复形式可能造成的对人类的信心丧失；在社会自治和受欢迎和不受欢迎的国家干预形式方面的政治疏忽；通俗文化和社区艺术倡议能够通过利用当地资源和促进社会和经济包容性，在转变发展中社会和新民主国家的弱势群体方面发挥的作用，以及社区领导人在这方面发挥的作用；乌托邦思想在理想主义、社会期望和愿望问题上的破坏性和建设性方面，以及采取协商一致行动的理由。拟议的研究方案将通过一系列全球不确定因素活动(一次会议和讲习班)进行，公共部门参与，并以创造性项目、实地考察和建立网络的形式开展以实践为基础的研究。两个创造性项目中的第一个包括制作一部关于贝鲁特冲突后恢复的纪录片，这将对中东和北非地区具有更广泛的意义。两个创造性项目中的第二个项目是为英国的嘻哈表演编写脚本并提供年轻人对极端主义、政治不信任和伸张正义的途径的看法。实地考察工作包括在开普敦、开罗和德里等地研究以社区艺术为基础的社会倡议，以及拍摄鼓舞人心的榜样肖像，以促进知识交流的机会。与此相关，该项目将以文化学院的形式建立中东和非洲流行文化专家网络，该学院由英国学者及其国际同行以及艺术和新媒体领域的从业人员组成。预计该网络将成为文化组织、非政府组织和慈善机构的资源基地，这些组织、非政府组织和慈善机构对大众想象力在鼓动各种形式的社会动员和接受新形式的文化外交方面所起的作用感兴趣。该项目还将通过试点讲习班促进英国、中东和北非地区和南部非洲的大学之间的合作，以激活该网络。在该项目的头两年，国际和平研究所将得到一名早期职业研究助理的协助，该计划将进一步编写散文集，并出版一本关于建立中东文化共同点的文学尝试的专著。

This programme of leadership activities and research will address the over-arching Global Uncertainties strategic aim of 'security for all in a changing world' primarily through engagement with the Ideas and Beliefs core area. The working hypothesis of the proposed programme is that 'security for all in a changing world' is dependent on the capacity to imagine a common ground and a common humanity, which is in turn dependent on the ability to overcome resentment and distrust, and on the ability to deploy a certain utopian form of thinking. What will be explored is the role of prospective and projective thinking in advancing social justice and social cohesion, as well as its potential for impeding such. A key aim of the programme is to provide opportunities for synergies under the Global Uncertainties scheme in areas of existing and emergent research, and to identify the mutual concerns of this work, especially with respect to the question of understanding how human capabilities may be drawn on to enhance security. In particular, research activities will serve to focus attention on the following topics of enquiry: cross-cultural understandings of extremism, especially from the perspective of youth culture and with respect to its potential common ground; the potential loss of faith in humanity occasioned by violent sectarian conflict and forms of post-conflict rehabilitation that aim to rebuild trust and strengthen social resilience; perceived forms of political negligence in relation to social autonomy and welcome and unwelcome forms of state intervention; the role that popular culture and community arts initiatives are able to play in transforming the disadvantaged sectors of developing societies and new democracies through drawing on local resources and advancing social and economic inclusiveness, together with the role played by community leaders in this regard; the destructive and constructive aspects of utopian thinking with respect to questions of idealism, social expectations and aspirations, and the grounds for consensual action. The proposed programme of research will be carried out through a series of Global Uncertainties events (a conference and workshops) entailing public sector involvement, together with practice-based research in the form of creative projects, fieldwork and the setting up of networks. The first of the two creative projects consists of the making of a documentary film on post-conflict rehabilitation in Beirut that will be of wider significance to the MENA region. The second of the two creative projects concerns the scripting and mounting of a UK-based hip hop performance offering youth perspectives on questions of extremism, political distrust and pathways to justice. The fieldwork entails studies of community arts-based social initiatives, together with filmed portraits of inspiring role models, in the locations of Cape Town, Cairo and Delhi, in order to facilitate opportunities for knowledge exchange. Related to this, the project will serve to set up a network of experts on popular culture in the Middle East and Africa in the form of a cultural academy comprised of UK academics and their international counterparts, together with practitioners in the areas of the arts and new media. It is envisaged that this network will serve as a resource base for cultural organizations, NGOs and charities interested in the role of the popular imagination in instigating forms of social mobilization and receptive to new forms of cultural diplomacy. This project will also serve to foster collaborations between universities in the UK, the MENA region and Southern Africa through pilot workshops that will serve to activate the network. The PI will be assisted by an early career Research Associate for the first two years of the project and the programme will further lead to edited collections of essays and a monograph on literary attempts to establish the common ground of cultures in the Middle East.