Ethnographic Peace Research

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

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2. Introduction: The Key Strengths of Ethnographic Peace Research

   • Gearoid Millar

   Pages 1-19

3. Contextualizing Ethnographic Peace Research

   • Birgit Bräuchler

   Pages 21-42

4. Feminist Ethnographic Research: Excavating Narratives of Wartime Rape

   • Annika Björkdahl, Johanna Mannergren Selimovic

   Pages 43-64

5. Institutional Ethnography as Peace Research

   • Mike Klein

   Pages 65-87

6. The Impetus for Peace Studies to Make a Collaborative Turn: Towards Community Collaborative Research

   • Bennett Collins, Alison Watson

   Pages 89-113

7. Conflicting Boundaries and Roles: Impressions of Ethnographic Fieldwork in the French Banlieues

   • Luuk Slooter

   Pages 115-135

8. Violent Spirits and a Messy Peace: Against Romanticizing Local Understandings and Practices of Peace in Mozambique

   • Nikkie Wiegink

   Pages 137-157

9. Understanding Reconciliation Through Reflexive Practice: Ethnographic Examples from Canada and Timor-Leste

   • Victoria K. Sakti, Anne-Marie Reynaud

   Pages 159-180

10. Researching Peace Peacefully: Using Ethnographic Approaches in Timor-Leste

    • Sophia Close

    Pages 181-205

11. How Much Peace Can the Military Instigate? Anthropological Perspectives on the Role of the Military in Peace Intervention

    • Maren Tomforde

    Pages 207-229

12. Beyond “Being There”: Space and Mobility in Ethnographic Peace and Transitional Justice Research

    • Courtney E. Cole

    Pages 231-252

13. Conclusion: The Constructive Tension of Interdisciplinary Endeavours

    • Gearoid Millar

    Pages 253-271

14. Back Matter

    Pages 273-285

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This volume calls for an empirical extension of the “local turn” within peace research. Building on insights from conflict transformation, gender studies, critical International Relations and Anthropology, the contributions critique existing peace research methods as affirming unequal power, marginalizing local communities, and stripping the peace kept of substantive agency and voice. By incorporating scholars from these various fields the volume pushes for more locally grounded, ethnographic and potentially participatory approaches. While recognizing that any Ethnographic Peace Research (EPR) agenda must incorporate a variety of methodologies, the volume nonetheless paves a clear path for the much needed empirical turn within the local turn literature.

• Ethnographic
• Peace
• Research
• EPR
• Peace Studies
• Anthropology
• Conflict Transformation
• Feminist International Relations
• Eastern Indonesia
• Peacebuilding
• Wartime Rape
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• ICTY
• Women’s Court
• Ethnography
• Mozambique
• Reconciliation
• Timor-Leste
• Indian Residential Schools Settlement
• Transitional Justice Research

“Peace research has been under-going an “ethnographic turn” whereby peace researchers are increasingly influenced by anthropology – as well as sociology and feminist studies. Gearoid Millar has put together a magnificent line up of authors who have grappled first hand with the ethical and practical challenges of field research. This is a must-have companion for everyone about to embark on field research, and underscores the importance of putting people – and their experiences – at the heart of our research.” (Roger MacGinty, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Manchester, UK)

“This is an important book that elaborates an approach to studying conflict that puts those who experience conflict at the centre. Ethnographic peace research is based on the premise that we can only understand conflict or peace through the lived experience of those who are there. This book is a timely antidote to approaches that remove thestudy of actual people from research, whilst developing a convincing argument that mixed approaches incorporating ethnography can provide a sufficiently accurate understanding of violence and how it can be overcome.” (Paul Jackson, Professor of African Politics, University of Birmingham, UK)

 “This volume demonstrates the contributions that locally grounded research can make to the field of peace studies, and to understanding the irreducible complexities of post-conflict societies. The contributors illustrate the insights that a scalar ethnographic analysis can make to rebuilding lives and livelihoods in the aftermath of war and, as such, the volume as a whole illustrates the importance of the ethnographic turn in peace research and should be required reading for practitioners and policy-makers.” (Kimberly Theidon, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, USA)

• University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom

  Gearoid Millar

Gearoid Millar is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) of Sociology at the Institute for Conflict, Transition, and Peace Research (ICTPR), University of Aberdeen, UK.

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