Youth Peacebuilding , livre ebook

State University of New York Press - Lesley J. Pruitt

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145 pages

English

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This book highlights the important role youth can play in processes of peacebuilding by examining music as a tool for engaging youth in such activities. As Lesley J. Pruitt discusses throughout the book, music—as expression, as creation, as inspiration—can provide many unique insights into transforming conflicts, altering our understandings, and achieving change. She offers detailed empirical work on two youth peacebuilding programs in Australia and Northern Ireland, countries that appear overtly peaceful, but where youth still face structural violence and related direct violence at the community level. She also pays careful attention to the ways in which gender norms might influence young people's participation in music-based peacebuilding activities. Ultimately, the book defines a new research area linking youth cultures and music with peacebuilding practice and policy.
Acknowledgments
Prelude
Introduction

1. Youth in Peace and Conflict

2. Music Makes the (Young) People Come Together?

3. The Beat on the Ground: Introducing the Case Studies

4. Building Peace Through a Musical Dialogue

5. Shifting Identities, Performing Peace

6. Making Space, Creating Common Ground

7. Gendering the Jam: Possibilities and Prohibitions

Postlude

Appendices
Appendix 1. Third Place Respondent Demographics
Appendix 2. Third Place Participant Interview Schedule
Appendix 3. Third Place Facilitator Demographics
Appendix 4. Third Place Facilitator Interview Schedule
Appendix 5. Breaking Barriers Respondent Demographics
Appendix 6. Breaking Barriers Youth Participant Interview Schedule
Appendix 7. Breaking Barriers Facilitator Demographics
Appendix 8. Breaking Barriers Facilitator Interview Schedule

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

Musique

Película fotográfica

Visual culture

Gender studies

Music

Film

Informations

Publié par	State University of New York Press
Date de parution	01 avril 2013
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9781438446561
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1648€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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SUNY series, Praxis: Theory in Action Nancy A. Naples, editor

Youth Peacebuilding
Music, Gender, and Change
Lesley J. Pruitt

Cover image © Mecaleha / iStockphoto.com
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2013 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pruitt, Lesley J.
Youth peacebuilding : music, gender, and change / Lesley J. Pruitt.
p. cm. — (SUNY series, praxis: theory in action)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4655-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Youth and peace 2. Children and peace. 3. Peace-building. 4. Peace—Songs and music. 5. Youth—Political activity. I. Title.
JZ5579.P78 2013
303.6'6-—dc23
2012023135
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To the amazing, talented, awe-inducing young peacebuilders who inspired this study from the beginning: Thank you for letting me into your world, sharing your dreams with me, and making me believe this universe is a much better place than I could have envisioned. May your vision for a better tomorrow shine brighter than a thousand splendid suns!
Acknowledgments
F unding for this project was provided by a 2008 University of Queensland Graduate School International Travel Grant and by the University of Queensland School of Political Science and International Studies.
A modified version of some paragraphs from the following articles have been partially incorporated in chapters 3 – 7 : “They Drop Beats, Not Bombs: A Brief Discussion of Issues Surrounding the Potential of Music and Dance in Youth Peace-building,” Australian Journal of Peace Studies 3 (2008): 10–28; “Music, Youth and Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland,” Global Change, Peace & Security 23, 2 (2011): 207–222; parts of an earlier version of chapter 4 appeared in “Creating a Musical Dialogue for Peace,” International Journal of Peace Studies , 16, 2 (Autumn/ Winter 2011): 85–106; some excerpts from chapter 7 appeared in the current or modified form in “‘Fixing the Girls’: Neoliberal Discourse and Girls' Participation in Peacebuilding,” International Feminist Journal of Politics (2012).
I am thankful to the editors of these journals listed as well as the several anonymous reviewers for providing thoughtful and constructive feedback, which I hope is evident in the modified versions found in this book. I am also grateful for guidance and support I received from Barbara Sullivan, Roland Bleiker, and Anita Harris. Many thanks are also due to Siobhan McEvoy-Levy, Ross Marlay, and Mark Chou for their helpful engagement with my work over the past several years. Any and all errors that remain are my own.
Prelude
What would you think if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song, and I'll try not to sing out of key.
— John Lennon and Paul McCartney,
“With a Little Help from My Friends”
I t seems only right to begin this musical journey with a plea from a song. As I discuss throughout this book, music—as expression, as creation, as inspiration—can provide many unique insights into transforming conflicts, altering our understandings, and achieving change. Some of the unique capacities of music are found precisely in its difference from other forms of communication, such as writing and speaking. Therefore, I want to acknowledge that in some ways it is reductive to talk about music with only written words. Moreover, I am a scholar of peace studies, a social scientist rather than a trained musician, so my lack of technical knowledge around music also limits what I can say. Nevertheless, I humbly ask the reader to suspend disbelief long enough to engage with the ideas discussed here. Based on my experiences with the young people I had the pleasure to meet in researching this book, I truly believe that music is not only an accessible medium in its own right, but that it can also change the way we think and communicate in our day-to-day lives. So I invite you to put on a song that means something to you when you read this and let the rhythm lead your mind someplace new …
Introduction
I n the peacebuilding arena, the United Nations (UN) has tended to focus on formal political processes such as peace negotiations, institution building, and elections. It is difficult, if not impossible, for young people to be actively engaged in many of these peacebuilding activities. However, it is clear that young people are not disengaged from peacebuilding work. Around the world we see young people involved in a range of activities that aim to build more peaceful societies. For example, many youth take part in programs that use popular culture as a medium for political engagement, are involved in political movements and activism, or participate in local peace education programs.
Despite this, research in the field rarely mentions youth; and their experiences and knowledge are often ignored, both in attempts at theory-building and in efforts at understanding peacebuilding practice at the grassroots level. This is important, as it does not account for peacebuilding practice through the eyes of those who experience it. However, there are some scholars of peacebuilding who have recently emphasized the importance of youth in the construction of effective peacebuilding. 1 Their scholarly contributions in particular offer a sound starting point for this investigation.
More attention is needed to how everyday activities of people, including young people, may be utilized in peacebuilding activities. One activity that young people are particularly involved in is music. Over the last few decades, the music industry has grown significantly and spread with globalization. Consequently, there is now a wider variety of music accessible to more people than at any time in history. Music is an integral part of youth culture around the world. Young people use it to express themselves, create new styles, make a statement, define their circle of friends, or set the mood for events. We see young people involved in a range of activities including listening to music, dancing, creating and performing their own music and dance, and participating in community music and dance programs.
For some of these young people, these practices are also involved in building a culture of peace—for example, by challenging racial and gender inequality, poverty, and community violence. These stories for the most part remain to be told. What I aim to do in this book is draw on the experiences of the young people I encountered in my research to share their stories and explore the many ways I think they can contribute to our understandings of peacebuilding, both in theory and in practice. I hope this will be of interest and useful to researchers of peacebuilding who have never considered youth or are looking to learn more about their experiences, as well as to policymakers and practitioners of peacebuilding who are interested in hearing more from youth and applying what they learn in their planning, implementation, and evaluation.

The Research Puzzle and Key Terms
My primary research question in this project is: Can music be a useful tool for engaging young people in peacebuilding?
I use the term “music” here to denote participation in a range of activities, including performance via singing, dancing, playing musical instruments, or otherwise appropriating existing music to forge new musical creations. This includes learning and practice of musical expression.
The definition of “youth” is highly contested in the contemporary world. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) defines “youth” as the age group from 15–24 years old and young people as those in the range of “10–24” years. However, it is impractical to use rigid age categories to define youth in divided societies facing violent transformation. 2 After all, child soldiers may in some ways be adults and former combatants in their mid-30s may have lost their youth to the cause. In any case, the term “youth” is variable and context-specific, so it is reasonable to consider any definition both critically and flexibly. 3 I use the term “youth” to include young people who self-identify and/or are identified by their peers and mentors as youth.
In post-conflict societies, peacebuilding is often understood as a sequence of activities ranging from cease-fire to creating a new government and reconstructing the economy while bringing together former enemies. 4 However, peacebuilding is also needed in diverse contexts with different types and levels of conflict; thus, it more broadly includes grassroots processes that can: aid in restoring and healing relationships in communities affected by conflict; create institutions to prevent both social and political violence; and empower citizens working for social change across religious, ethnic, and political divides. 5 When looking at peacebuilding here, I refer to bottom-up approaches aimed at preventing, reducing, transforming, and assisting people with recovery from all forms of violence, including structural violence that has yet to result in widespread civil turbulence. 6 So my focus is on the building of positive peace. This is similar to what the UN calls a “culture of peace.” Because they are synonymous, I use “positive peace” and “culture of peace” interchangeably throughout this book.
Positive peace has been advanced as a deeper, more just, and therefore m