When asked if we can ever truly achieve peace, peace was compared to health by
Nathan Funk, an associate Professor at Conrad Grebel University College in Peace and Conflict Studies. He illustrated peace as health, in that we need to always be striving towards it, always seeking to be better and to not give up on it. Nathan, during his presentation to the INDEV 101 class, presented the traditional African practices to illustrate his view of peace and conflict. Traditionally, many cultures have peace rituals to resolve conflict and to promote peace. One example given by Nathan to illustrate culturally-embedded conflict
resolution measures was
mato oput, or “drinking the bitter root.” This ritual is practiced in Uganda between the family of a victim of violence and child soldiers who had killed the family member. Drinking the bitter root symbolizes forgiveness from the family members and reconciliation between the two parties. This African practice serves as a reference for other nations and cultures to adopt. Sharing a moment between the victim and the perpetrator to move on from conflict, with mutual understanding, is crucial for conflict resolution and development.
Policy framework is a universal tool that
can often generalise the issue, lacking a comprehension of local values, causes and actors. On the other hand, a bottom-up strategy utilizes the best competencies of local society through dialogue and redefines what welfare actually stands for in different communities. Peace is often just a mindset, which is shaped and developed through interactions with surroundings. Accordingly, the nature of physical and abstract environments has a significant effect on the outcome of conflicts on a local scale. The main intention of providing external aid is to create long-lasting effects. Investing funds into infrastructure can be seen as a stepping stone towards such a trend because it is a sustainable tool allowing local people to become drivers of change. Enjoyable physical space has a correlation to the mental well-being, producing the positive feedback loop. Bottom-up approaches don’t always need to be expensive but innovative instead, because even symbolic structures can have a tremendous impact on people's well-being.
Conflict goes hand-in-hand with development. Whether the tension is internal or external, dominant or miniscule, some fragment of discord is always present. Historically, international peacekeeping agencies have dealt with conflict in the sense of intervention and patrol. While these methods are effective in the short-run, they do not provide a sustainable solution. Once these agencies are gone, locals are once again plagued with similar problems. By promoting more local, cultural initiatives as solutions, communities are better able to manage their issues and develop their own ideals of peace and development. Cultural pluralism must not be ignored and local beliefs must be analyzed, in addition to the socio-economic and political contexts of the community, in order to find the best solution.
Peace is both simple and complex. It is not defined by the complete absence of violence but rather it is a state of being. Fundamentally, peace and conflict cannot live outside of each other. If there is always conflict in development then there must also be peace.
References:
Funk, Nathan. NATHAN FUNK University of Waterloo: Conrad Grebel University College. Retrieved from Conrad Grebel University College.
