PEACE FESTIVAL: Sharing Creative Methodologies for Unearthing Hidden War Stories for Peace
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: School of Modern Languages
Abstract
Wars and conflicts shape societies worldwide. In the last two decades, Latin America's truth and reconciliation projects, and its attempts at transitional justice, have often been used as model for states just entering their own post-conflict scenarios. Latin Americanist scholarship has shown, however, that the voices of marginalized peoples have too often been absent from official 'truths'. Creative methodologies have been adopted in order to integrate the voices of women, indigenous people, young people and rural residents into discussions about the history of wars.
In order to foster an inclusive transition, we start from the premise that it is essential to amplify voices from such local initiatives working with marginalized populations (indigenous, women, youth, rural). While existing initiatives have been important they have in most cases remained isolated from one another, impeding the exchange of know-how and knowledge. As a result, their chances of having an impact in the struggles over the narratives of the war in order to achieve reconciliation and peacebuilding, can be limited.
This project proposes to tackle these challenges by creating a space for dialogue across methodologies, actors and countries regarding the methodological challenges and possibilities, the alternative narratives that subvert the already established accounts of the war and the strategies for the preservation of these non-official stories.
We are an interdisciplinary team: the PI is Professor Matthew Brown, a historian of Latin America based in the School of Modern Languages, and the CI is Dr Karen Tucker a political scientist based in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies. The RAs are Goya Wilson, a Peruvian researcher who has recently completed a PhD on memory in the Graduate School of Education at UoB; and Maria-Teresa Pinto, a Colombian researcher who is working on a doctoral thesis - supervised by the CI - on historical memory in the Colombian peace process. Our diverse backgrounds are fused together in this project, which aims to bring to bear the extraordinary moment taking place right now in the Colombian peace process, to compare it with the Peruvian experience, and to share experiences and innovations globally.
We will identify outstanding examples of projects in Peru and Colombia that have been able to amplify the voices of marginalized peoples, and to incorporate their stories into historical memory. Projects such as:-
Colombia:
1) Ruta Pacifica.
2) Hijas e hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio (Daughters & sons for Identity & Justice against Oblivion & Silence)..
3) National Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE).
4) Association of Indigenous Councils Nasa Çxhãçxha.
5) Peace Village of San José de Apartadó (Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó)
Peru:
1) Lugar de la Memoria, la Tolerancia y la Inclusión Social (LUM).
2) Movimiento Ciudadano Para Que No Se Repita (PQNSR).
3) Coordinadora Regional de Organizaciones de Victimas de la Violencia Politica en Ayacucho (CORAVIP)
4) Coordinadora Contra la Impunidad (CCI).
5) H.I.J.O.S. de Peru (a.k.a. HIJXS).
We will bring participants from those projects into dialogue by means of a three-day Peace Festival, to be held in Cartagena de Indias, in Colombia. Participants will present their own project, learn about other complementary projects, and discuss how to overcome the challenges that face their work and the endeavours of projects like them.
We will analyse the discussions from the Peace Festival, and disseminate our findings through academic articles, traditional press and broadcast media, and through social media. The lessons learned will help Colombians and Peruvians to identify marginalized voices, and to incorporate their stories into post-conflict societies.
In order to foster an inclusive transition, we start from the premise that it is essential to amplify voices from such local initiatives working with marginalized populations (indigenous, women, youth, rural). While existing initiatives have been important they have in most cases remained isolated from one another, impeding the exchange of know-how and knowledge. As a result, their chances of having an impact in the struggles over the narratives of the war in order to achieve reconciliation and peacebuilding, can be limited.
This project proposes to tackle these challenges by creating a space for dialogue across methodologies, actors and countries regarding the methodological challenges and possibilities, the alternative narratives that subvert the already established accounts of the war and the strategies for the preservation of these non-official stories.
We are an interdisciplinary team: the PI is Professor Matthew Brown, a historian of Latin America based in the School of Modern Languages, and the CI is Dr Karen Tucker a political scientist based in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies. The RAs are Goya Wilson, a Peruvian researcher who has recently completed a PhD on memory in the Graduate School of Education at UoB; and Maria-Teresa Pinto, a Colombian researcher who is working on a doctoral thesis - supervised by the CI - on historical memory in the Colombian peace process. Our diverse backgrounds are fused together in this project, which aims to bring to bear the extraordinary moment taking place right now in the Colombian peace process, to compare it with the Peruvian experience, and to share experiences and innovations globally.
We will identify outstanding examples of projects in Peru and Colombia that have been able to amplify the voices of marginalized peoples, and to incorporate their stories into historical memory. Projects such as:-
Colombia:
1) Ruta Pacifica.
2) Hijas e hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio (Daughters & sons for Identity & Justice against Oblivion & Silence)..
3) National Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE).
4) Association of Indigenous Councils Nasa Çxhãçxha.
5) Peace Village of San José de Apartadó (Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó)
Peru:
1) Lugar de la Memoria, la Tolerancia y la Inclusión Social (LUM).
2) Movimiento Ciudadano Para Que No Se Repita (PQNSR).
3) Coordinadora Regional de Organizaciones de Victimas de la Violencia Politica en Ayacucho (CORAVIP)
4) Coordinadora Contra la Impunidad (CCI).
5) H.I.J.O.S. de Peru (a.k.a. HIJXS).
We will bring participants from those projects into dialogue by means of a three-day Peace Festival, to be held in Cartagena de Indias, in Colombia. Participants will present their own project, learn about other complementary projects, and discuss how to overcome the challenges that face their work and the endeavours of projects like them.
We will analyse the discussions from the Peace Festival, and disseminate our findings through academic articles, traditional press and broadcast media, and through social media. The lessons learned will help Colombians and Peruvians to identify marginalized voices, and to incorporate their stories into post-conflict societies.
Planned Impact
Beyond the specific histories and transitions of Colombia and Peru, the project will be of great interest to a wider audience. At the international level, many countries are undergoing their own struggles over truth regarding their wars and transitions. Latin America's truth and reconciliation projects, and its attempts at transitional justice, are often used as a model for states just entering post-conflict scenarios. The lessons from this project will contribute with methodological reflections and know-how to facilitate the empowerment of marginalized groups by providing a platform for the emergence of diverse stories and inclusive narratives for critical peacebuilding.
With the purpose of fostering an inclusive transition, we acknowledge how essential it is to amplify the voices from such local initiatives working with marginalized populations (indigenous, women, youth, rural). While these initiatives are important they have in most cases remained isolated from one another, impeding the exchange of know-how and knowledge. As a result, their chances of having an impact in the struggles over the narratives of the war in order to achieve reconciliation and peacebuilding are very limited.
The project will impact four broad groups: .
1. Innovative social and cultural groups working for peace in Colombia and Peru. We will bring together unconnected practitioners from across Colombia and Peru, and to expose them to each other's innovative creative methodologies, in order to energize their efforts and produce new and unexpected collaborations. . By providing resources and the opportunity for networking and collaborative learning, the project will strengthen this strand of the peace processes in both countries.
2. Politicians and peace negotiators in Colombia. Through its dissemination plans and media coverage the project will give a boost to the peace processes in Colombia, by drawing national and international attention to amazing projects that tend to receive little press attention.
3. Politicians and civil society in Peru. Colombia is on the verge of ending its fifty-year civil war, but Peru is still teetering on the brink as it moves away from its own armed conflict. This project will take advantage of the Colombian situation to provide a boost to beleaguered Peruvian producers, and use this moment of hope and experimentation in Colombia to inform the actions of Peruvians still dealing with the legacies of their own peace.
4. Library and archive groups in Colombia. Through the collaboration with the National Library of Colombia, the project will promote the capacity building of the participatory initiatives in terms of methodological knowledge, narrative emergence and strategies for the preservation of these new memories that emphasise the need to narrate the conflict from the traditional excluded sectors. This will strengthen the institutions that work with history and memory, through the leadership of the National Library.
With the purpose of fostering an inclusive transition, we acknowledge how essential it is to amplify the voices from such local initiatives working with marginalized populations (indigenous, women, youth, rural). While these initiatives are important they have in most cases remained isolated from one another, impeding the exchange of know-how and knowledge. As a result, their chances of having an impact in the struggles over the narratives of the war in order to achieve reconciliation and peacebuilding are very limited.
The project will impact four broad groups: .
1. Innovative social and cultural groups working for peace in Colombia and Peru. We will bring together unconnected practitioners from across Colombia and Peru, and to expose them to each other's innovative creative methodologies, in order to energize their efforts and produce new and unexpected collaborations. . By providing resources and the opportunity for networking and collaborative learning, the project will strengthen this strand of the peace processes in both countries.
2. Politicians and peace negotiators in Colombia. Through its dissemination plans and media coverage the project will give a boost to the peace processes in Colombia, by drawing national and international attention to amazing projects that tend to receive little press attention.
3. Politicians and civil society in Peru. Colombia is on the verge of ending its fifty-year civil war, but Peru is still teetering on the brink as it moves away from its own armed conflict. This project will take advantage of the Colombian situation to provide a boost to beleaguered Peruvian producers, and use this moment of hope and experimentation in Colombia to inform the actions of Peruvians still dealing with the legacies of their own peace.
4. Library and archive groups in Colombia. Through the collaboration with the National Library of Colombia, the project will promote the capacity building of the participatory initiatives in terms of methodological knowledge, narrative emergence and strategies for the preservation of these new memories that emphasise the need to narrate the conflict from the traditional excluded sectors. This will strengthen the institutions that work with history and memory, through the leadership of the National Library.
People |
ORCID iD |
Matthew Brown (Principal Investigator) | |
Karen Tucker (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Brown, MD
Peace Festival: Using Creative Methodologies for Unearthing Hidden War Stories
in Emotions, Space and Society
MEMPAZ
(2023)
MEMPAZ website
Wilson G
(2020)
Non-verbal communication, emotions, and tensions in co-production: Reflections on researching memory and social change in Peru and Colombia
in Emotion, Space and Society
Title | Artworks created at the Cartagena festival |
Description | Collages, posters, poems |
Type Of Art | Artwork |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Impact | They feature in the film, and were developed upon in 2019 for exhibition in Bristol in 2020. |
Title | Peace Festival Film |
Description | It is a film about the project. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Impact | It disseminated the research findings, and encouraged participation in the follow-on project. |
URL | https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2018/april/peace-festival.html |
Title | Website for digital exhibition of Peace Festival events |
Description | We created The Peace Festivals website as an alternative public exhibition due to the pandemic. We shifted from an in-person public exhibition to a website hosting a digital exhibition. The website contains two festivals, one in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (2017) and the other in Ayacucho, Peru (2019), the festival experiences and the short films produced in each, as well as images of the artefacts created in each festival by participants. It also showcases the work of the participants' organisations in their communities and their forged relationships. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Impact | Knowledge exchange and knowledge sharing. The website provides glimpses of the methodology as well as the participant's views on their work and their collective learnings. Other organisations and practitioners can be inspired and learn from the resources on the website. There was no event in the UK to share the outcomes of the festival, nor a launch event for the website which contains the two Peace Festival carried in Cartagena (2017) and Ayacucho (2019). The website has the potential to improve participants' outreach by showing their work and also other organisations working on memory and peace by learning from the participants and the festivals methodologies in themselves. There is also potential for the website to strengthen the connections between participants' organisations and other actors working on historical memory and peace. This has not happened yet due first to covid-19 restrictions and other urgent arising problems that participants have had to deal with as a consequence of the pandemic and the unfolding crises in their countries. |
URL | https://peace-festival.org/en/home/ |
Description | The project has made key breakthroughs in understanding how history is told and remembered in Peru and Colombia. It has revealed the importance of art, creativity, emotions and physical contact in finding ways to tell hidden and/or comfortable histories. Our research findings have been submitted to a major peer-reviewed journal and are currently under review. We successfully applied for two grants to continue this work: Bringing Memories in from the Margins (PI Brown) and Creativity for Peace Festival (PI Wilson). These grants will enable us to put these findings into action, particularly during the current crucial phase of the collection of testimonies of armed conflict by the Truth Commission in Colombia. |
Exploitation Route | We think that this way of working will provide a model for groups elsewhere in the world looking to engage with difficult histories. In April 2018 we launched a film made about the project, which is available online. We will highlight the dissemination activities of Creativity for Peace Festival, and Bringing Memories in from the Margins, arguing forcefully for the inclusion of marginalized voices within reconciliation processes in both Colombia and Peru, and elsewhere. This project is ongoing, and including the PI's collaboration with the Truth Commission in Colombia. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
URL | https://migration.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/research-projects/control-conflict-resistance/peace-festival/ |
Description | In assessing the research findings and impact of the project with our partners, we decided that there was much more to be done. Partners in the project (Ruta Pacifica and the Biblioteca Nacional) joined the PI in the application to the Newton Fund / Colciencias, which was awarded in 2018 as Bringing Memories in from the Margins. Participants from Peru have used their experience at the Peace Festival organized their own national meeting in 2018. Further discussion with partners resulted in an application for AHRC Follow-On Funding, 'Creativity for Peace Festival', which will begin in April 2019, drawing on a wider collection of participants and enabling the identification of key proposals for the support of creative memory work in countries merging from periods of armed conflict. The impact of that work will be listed in the submission for the Follow-On project. It has continued to be felt in the PI's collaboration with the Truth Commission in Colombia, funded by the AHRC through Bringing Memories in from the Margins and through a new Follow-On award Truth from the Margins (which started February 2021). |
First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
Sector | Government, Democracy and Justice |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal Policy & public services |
Description | Capacity for peace and memory work |
Geographic Reach | South America |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | Participation in the Peace Festival was recognized by participants as providing them with renewed energy, new networks and more effective strategies for their work in the fields of memory and peace in Colombia and Per. |
Description | Ongoing support of the Truth Commission and memory initiatives in Colombia |
Geographic Reach | South America |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Impact | Evidence of impact is still at a preliminary stage but we know from our partners' feedback that our research is having a significant effect in supporting key stakeholders in the peace and reconciliation process. One example of this is through our collaboration with the Ruta Pacifica and the Truth Commission in Colombia, as evidenced in a international event livestreamed on 8 March 2021, available on the link below. The Truth Commission will produce its final report in November 2021, and we are looking to support them in the final stages of research analysis and dissemination over the next couple of years. |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WWLuSoI2T0 |
Description | PRAXIS Report Transforming Conflict and Displacement through Arts and Humanities |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or Improved professional practice |
Impact | These are all detailed in the PRAXIS report. |
URL | https://changingthestory.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/110/2021/12/University-of-Leeds-PRAXIS... |
Description | Creativity for Peace Festival: Creative Methodologies for Unearthing Hidden War Stories |
Amount | £86,590 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AH/S005900/1 |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2019 |
End | 11/2020 |
Description | Faculty of Arts, University of Bristol, Impact Acceleration Account |
Amount | £4,850 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Bristol |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2017 |
End | 07/2018 |
Description | Global Challenges Research Fund Pump-Priming Call |
Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Bristol |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2018 |
End | 07/2018 |
Title | Video Guide on Co-Production Methods |
Description | With Quipu we developed new ways of working across our team globally. We produced a Video Guide, at the request of the AHRC, to explain how we did this and what lessons might be adopted by other teams contemplating similar research questions. |
Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Just published in spring 2020. |
URL | https://youtu.be/PfSIVsB0qo4 |
Description | Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia |
Organisation | National Library of Colombia |
Country | Colombia |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | We worked together to co-design the Peace Festival and its dissemination activities. In 2017/18 we worked together to design the Bringing Memories in from the Margins. Since then we have been working together on the project. |
Collaborator Contribution | We worked together to co-design the Peace Festival and its dissemination activities. The Biblioteca Nacional organized, as part of this project, a workshop in the Montes de Maria region of Colombia discussing the role of libraries in bringing peace. In 2018/19 the BNC is working to deliver one strand of the MEMPAZ project, in the Sierra Nevada region. |
Impact | Montes de Maria workshop, involving history and social science. Full details elsewhere on form. Preliminary outputs from the MEMPAZ project were collected at a meeting in Colombia in October 2019, and we are in the process of research data analysis at the time of writing. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Ruta Pacifica |
Organisation | Peaceful Women's Route |
Country | Colombia |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Ruta were the partners on the Peace Festival. We have worked to disseminate their work on the Truth Commission in Colombia. We have worked together to design the MEMPAZ project. We are working with Ruta to coordinate work with the Truth Commission (2019). |
Collaborator Contribution | Their presence and networks enabled the participation of a great diversity of organizations in the event. Their director and two colleagues attended the Peace Festival, running workshop sessions and providing valuable experience. In April 2018 Alejandra Miller Restrepo, from Ruta, visited Bristol as part of a GCRF event. She is now one of Colombia's Truth Commissioners, and has been central to the coordination of MEMPAZ with the Truth Commission, and to enabling the closer integration of MEMPAZ activities with AHRC-funded commissioned research with the Truth Commission on Gender, Truth and the Making of History. |
Impact | The Truth Commission began its operations in coordination with our team in February 2019, so are beginning to take place. Full reporting will be listed for the next round of Researchfish. We will be meeting in Colombia in June 2019 to assess progress so far. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Memories from the Margins week of public events in Bristol 20-24 March 2023 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This was a big week of events to engage the general public in Bristol and the south-west region with the findings of the Bringing Memories in from the Margins and the Truth on the Margins project. It included 6 events - 1. a gig of Colombian-Bristollian music at the Old Assembly venue, with 200 participants from the Bristol music and Latin American scenes dancing until 1.30am 2. a theatre performance from victims of gender violence in Antioquia, Colombia, coordinated by Ruta Pacifica, attended by 60 people at the Bristol Improv theatre and bringing most of them to tears; 3. a gala celebration at the Station venue, attended by a 100 people, beginning with a ritual dance and song led by our Arhuaco partners and ending with a lots of hugs, presentations and smiling; 4. a film screening at the Watershed cinema of the interactive MEMPAZ documentary produced by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia; 5. a cookery workshop at the Station led by our partners MUMIDAVI, cooking traditional Colombian dishes which brought memories of forced internal displacement; 6. a photographic exhibition of the Arhuaco photobook, held at the headquarters of Bristol City Council, attended by 200 people over 2 days. Participants informed us that the impact of these events was substantial in changing people's understanding of the impact of armed conflict in Colombia and around the world. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOC62tjIS-E&t=3s |
Description | Peace Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | The Peace Festival was held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, in August 2017. It is hard to categorise - I have entered it as an Engagement event because it was, but it was also a creative output, a research experiment, knowledge exchange and training event. The Peace Festival was attended by 34 participants, half from Peru, half from Colombia, all of whom were experienced in using creative methodologies for peace. The event and how it worked, and what impacts it had, are described in our forthcoming article in detail. More detail will therefore be reported on next year. As a result of the event, there have been many impacts, including: organizations in Peru that are now working more closely together and using each others' methods; greater transnational collaboration between Peru and Colombia in this area; dissemination of research findings from NGOs including the National Network of Centres of Historical Memory. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Peace Festival Film |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | The film about the Peace Festival has been released in English on YouTube, and we are currently working on the Spanish translation, to be published in May 2019. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2018/april/peace-festival.html |