At the 2005 Escom conference in Porto I will provide an overview of the field of music use in peace building/conflict transformation and discuss my future research in this area. The full abstract is below.

Aims

I want to look at the history of music in conflict resolution, and what makes it different from other art forms as a conflict resolution tool. By comparing different approaches in current or past conflict resolution programmes I hope to be able to compare different strategies and different uses of music and their ‘effectiveness’ in meeting the aim of conflict resolution. As well as talking with initiators of conflict resolution programmes, I want to find out what the participants thought of the programmes initially and in the longer term and what it has changed for them. Through this information I want to develop a critical understanding of how aesthetic experiences can contribute to the breaking down of enemy images and afford a change in learnt behaviour. I also hope that this study will allow me to explore whether these experiences add to the process of knowledge formation and what resources, if any, they provide for building communities or creating social relations.

Context

My main area of interest is societies that have experienced violent conflict, although I will also use data from non-violent conflicts. After the World War II the conventional view was that conflicts took place between states, and conflict resolution was geared towards state level solutions. However, after the Cold War there has been many more conflicts that break out inside states, often between rival ethnically defined groups, resulting in protracted and bitter warfare. At the same time there are many more small scale NGOs who work with conflict resolution, most of these focusing on a bottom-up approach to resolving conflict, in other words working with local and regional leaders and populations. This is in stark contrast to more conventional peace negotiations which usually happened at state level. This has opened up the possibility for more innovative approaches when it comes to transforming conflicts, there is often a focus on dialogue and workshops, and herein lies the possibility for the use of music.

I am doing two distinct and linked ethnographic studies in Norway and Sudan using mainly qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The purpose of this triangulation strategy is to see how three very different societies use music in conflict reduction strategies, thus enabling me to get a broader, and more culturally sensitive, perspective.

Norway is a wealthy, western country where people traditionally are fairly conformist. Tensions since the early 80s is linked to an increased presence of immigrants. Musically speaking there's a typical western divide between musicians and non-musicians.

Sudan has on-going civil war(s), one negotiated to an end in the South, and another one simmering in Darfur. The tensions are very much between the centre (currently strictly Islamic) and the other parts of Sudan that for various reasons want a certain autonomy. Here music is very much a part of daily life and not seen as an external object.

Results

At this early stage in my research I have come across several one-off examples of music use in different conflict resolution programmes. There is however no coherent theoretical framework in use, with instigators of conflict resolution events often having a fairly romantic view of music's ability to influence behaviour. Several musical events aimed at conflict resolution have also tended to use music as a standalone resource, with no backup support, thus squandering the emotional capital gained through music use.

Combined with this, music is often not taken seriously as a resource for dialogue by funders or conflict resolution workers. However, on the “other” side, in other words among people who want to start and/or sustain a conflict, there has been a lot of very systematic use of music to enhance identities of their in group, and paint enemy images using an easily distributable medium such as music.

Contribution

At this stage it seems that music can play a valuable role in conflict resolution programmes. This is not to say that it will be a solution in itself, it will be one more tool, albeit one that is unique, in the toolkit of conflict resolution work. The use of music however assumes an increased sensitivity to local culture and requires an analysis of musics that may be suitable in a given context.

In addition there must be an overt understanding and exploration of the power relationships that occurs when NGOs, often from wealthy Western countries, goes into a conflict resolution role in a post violent conflict.