The Clinton International Summer School, in partnership with the INCORE Summer School at Ulster University, is
an intensive scholarship program for university students from post-conflict and developing regions. The curriculum
is designed to promote entrepreneurship, leadership and community engagement, and prepare the students to advance positive change and economic development in their home communities. The program provides the participants with a unique opportunity to experience first-hand Northern Ireland’s historical conflict and that region’s continuing road to reconciliation, peace and prosperity.
The 2015 module, taught by myself, Stephen Ryan and John Peto, describes and evaluates the impact that new technologies, in areas such as education, medicine, security and communication, have on peace strategies and conflict transformation. The programme is complemented by a 3 study visit to Belfast and various sites in Northern Ireland meeting local groups, peacebuilders and entrepreneurs. Check out the video below about the summer school.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
The Good, Bad and Ugly: What lessons can we share?
It is hard to believe that the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement was signed some 17 years ago. Despite the passage of time, many countries in conflict continue to look to Northern Ireland as a model for their contexts.
In the last ten years, the International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE) at Ulster University has been involved in more than 50 local-global exchanges aimed at learning lessons for or from Northern Ireland.
The Agreement is viewed globally as a positive model, particularly in the way it guarantees nationality and identities, regardless of the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has also demonstrated that it is possible to pursue divergent political goals in a peaceful way.
Two issues that those wanting to learn comparative lessons also consider significant are policing and funding with its allied impact on community work.
Rebuilding trust in the police following conflict is a common global problem. The extensiveness of the Patten Commission process is of constant interest, as well as the creation of shared civilian oversight mechanisms such as the Policing Board.
On the funding front, the extent of funding used to develop the peace process at the community level is a source of fascination to international visitors. Many cannot believe that over £1.5 billion has been put into community peace work since the Agreement.
They are quick to see however that funding has helped develop a skilled community sector who can share lessons on a range of peacebuilding methods as diverse as using art, sport, dialogue, and development. At the same time, international lesson- learners are also often astounded at how much still needs to be done. Seeing the ugly truth of “Peace Walls” and some murals with their violent imagery is a revelation to visitors, as they tend to believe the process has moved well beyond these types of manifestations of conflict. Explaining that only 7% of children attend integrated schools close to twenty years on from the Agreement is shocking to most visitors. Pointing out that, despite some slight improvements in residential mixing, most people reside in largely single-identity communities is also often a surprise.
Those who study and practise conflict transformation are quick to realise that many aspects of the Northern Ireland process represent a negative peace. That is a context where political violence has decreased but the underlying issues that fuel conflicts have not been addressed.
When asked why this is the case, I respond that a more vigorous policy move towards integration has not taken place because there is no commonality of vision in terms of the type of society we are ultimately working towards. Is the goal thin integration or deeper social transformation? Are we going to settle for a society where the dominant communities are going to remain separate and, hopefully, equal, co- existing in negative peace? Alternatively, are we seeking more profound change, where all aspects of life are integrated? This is not an academic question but a practical one as it touches on what is needed to sustain peace in Northern Ireland in the long run.
International lessons would suggest that minimal social change might not be enough for peace to endure, especially in a context where different cultures and political aspirations are inevitably going to rub up against one another. In this context, even outsiders can see that a deeper level of social integration is needed. Without this, peace will always remain tenuous and will mean we can only share the lessons from limited specific examples rather than the peace process as a whole.
Published in Fund Focus, International Fund for Ireland Newsletter, June 2015
In the last ten years, the International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE) at Ulster University has been involved in more than 50 local-global exchanges aimed at learning lessons for or from Northern Ireland.
The Agreement is viewed globally as a positive model, particularly in the way it guarantees nationality and identities, regardless of the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has also demonstrated that it is possible to pursue divergent political goals in a peaceful way.
Two issues that those wanting to learn comparative lessons also consider significant are policing and funding with its allied impact on community work.
Rebuilding trust in the police following conflict is a common global problem. The extensiveness of the Patten Commission process is of constant interest, as well as the creation of shared civilian oversight mechanisms such as the Policing Board.
On the funding front, the extent of funding used to develop the peace process at the community level is a source of fascination to international visitors. Many cannot believe that over £1.5 billion has been put into community peace work since the Agreement.
They are quick to see however that funding has helped develop a skilled community sector who can share lessons on a range of peacebuilding methods as diverse as using art, sport, dialogue, and development. At the same time, international lesson- learners are also often astounded at how much still needs to be done. Seeing the ugly truth of “Peace Walls” and some murals with their violent imagery is a revelation to visitors, as they tend to believe the process has moved well beyond these types of manifestations of conflict. Explaining that only 7% of children attend integrated schools close to twenty years on from the Agreement is shocking to most visitors. Pointing out that, despite some slight improvements in residential mixing, most people reside in largely single-identity communities is also often a surprise.
Those who study and practise conflict transformation are quick to realise that many aspects of the Northern Ireland process represent a negative peace. That is a context where political violence has decreased but the underlying issues that fuel conflicts have not been addressed.
When asked why this is the case, I respond that a more vigorous policy move towards integration has not taken place because there is no commonality of vision in terms of the type of society we are ultimately working towards. Is the goal thin integration or deeper social transformation? Are we going to settle for a society where the dominant communities are going to remain separate and, hopefully, equal, co- existing in negative peace? Alternatively, are we seeking more profound change, where all aspects of life are integrated? This is not an academic question but a practical one as it touches on what is needed to sustain peace in Northern Ireland in the long run.
International lessons would suggest that minimal social change might not be enough for peace to endure, especially in a context where different cultures and political aspirations are inevitably going to rub up against one another. In this context, even outsiders can see that a deeper level of social integration is needed. Without this, peace will always remain tenuous and will mean we can only share the lessons from limited specific examples rather than the peace process as a whole.
Published in Fund Focus, International Fund for Ireland Newsletter, June 2015
Friday, June 12, 2015
Conference: Peace in the Basque Country
On the 11 June 2015 I spoke at a high level conference entitled "Humanitarian Conference for Peace in the Basque Country focusing on peace in the Basque Country". The event was held in the General Assembly in Paris. I focused on lessons from South Africa and Basque Country.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Invitation: Book Launch and Discussion
Manifestations of Woundedness - Violence and Xenophobia
The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, War Trauma Foundation (Netherlands), The International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE) and the African Centre for Migration & Society cordially invite you to a book launch and public discussion coinciding with the hosting of an international conference titled ‘Healing communities, transforming society: Exploring the interconnectedness between psycho-social needs, practice and peacebuilding’.
This book - Healing and Change in the City of Gold: Case Studies of Coping and Support in Johannesburg-edited by Ingrid Palmary, Brandon Hamber and Lorena Nunez - offers radically new ways of thinking about precarious life in the city of Johannesburg particularly for migrants. Using case studies as varied as Pentecostal and Zionist churches, brothels, shelters, political movements for change in Zimbabwe, ex-soldiers groups, counselling services and art projects, this volume grapples with the way its predominantly migrant residents navigate the opportunities, challenges, moral orders and relationships in this iconic and complex city.
Given the recent xenophobic violence in South Africa, the volume has a deep resonance, as it traces through in-depth case studies how migrant residents seek support, to cope and to heal, going beyond what mental health professionals traditionally consider support mechanisms or interventions for those in distress. The book will be launched as part of a public panel discussion focused on the current context for migrants in South Africa and abroad.
SPEAKERS
Professor Brandon Hamber
Director, International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE), Ulster University, Northern Ireland
Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
University of the Free State, South Africa
Dr Ingrid Palmary
Director and Associate Professor African Centre for Migration and Society, University of the Witwatersrand
DATE: 7 May 2015
TIME: 6 for 6:30pm
VENUE: Sunnyside Park Hotel, Parktown, Johannesburg
TO RSVP please send an email to justiceandreconciliation@gmail.com
The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, War Trauma Foundation (Netherlands), The International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE) and the African Centre for Migration & Society cordially invite you to a book launch and public discussion coinciding with the hosting of an international conference titled ‘Healing communities, transforming society: Exploring the interconnectedness between psycho-social needs, practice and peacebuilding’.
Given the recent xenophobic violence in South Africa, the volume has a deep resonance, as it traces through in-depth case studies how migrant residents seek support, to cope and to heal, going beyond what mental health professionals traditionally consider support mechanisms or interventions for those in distress. The book will be launched as part of a public panel discussion focused on the current context for migrants in South Africa and abroad.
SPEAKERS
Professor Brandon Hamber
Director, International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE), Ulster University, Northern Ireland
Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
University of the Free State, South Africa
Dr Ingrid Palmary
Director and Associate Professor African Centre for Migration and Society, University of the Witwatersrand
DATE: 7 May 2015
TIME: 6 for 6:30pm
VENUE: Sunnyside Park Hotel, Parktown, Johannesburg
TO RSVP please send an email to justiceandreconciliation@gmail.com
Friday, May 1, 2015
Cartographies of Conflict: Belfast, 1969-1994
All Cartographies of Conflict project posts.
I am part of a new project called "Cartographies of Conflict: Belfast, 1969-1994". The project, funded by the AHRC and running from May 2015 for three years, assesses the impact that the Troubles had on the architecture of Belfast’s residential communities. There are many visible architectural remnants of the Troubles in Belfast, most notably the ‘peace-walls’ between a number of Protestant and Catholic communities. However, looking beyond the immediately visible we can see examples of divisive architecture within individual communities in Belfast. Housing developments, roads, landscaping and other structures completed during the period of the Troubles continue to divide and fragment communities. For example, streets that once provided pedestrian and vehicular access to services were closed off or restricted through the erection of barriers, landscaping or the placement of new housing. Many of the open terraced streets that formed the fabric of the inner city were redeveloped in the form of inward looking cul-de-sacs. These changes to the architecture of Belfast have changed the city’s appearance and have had an impact on how people move around their immediate areas.
The main aims of the project:
• Identify the relevant architecture throughout the city.
• Engage communities to attain detailed information on how people interact with this architecture.
• Use the research and engagement to inform policy discussions nationally and internationally.
Project Team: David Coyles (PI), Donovan Wylie (CI), Brandon Hamber (CI), Greg Lloyd (CI) and partners at the London School of Economics (LSE, Ann Power), as well as researchers Adrian Grant (Ulster) and Laura Lane (LSE).
See all the posts and activities about Cartographies of Conflict project.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Dealing with Painful Memories and Violent Pasts
The article reflects on the role of different approaches for dealing with painful memories and violent pasts. In it I explore how different dimensions – interpersonal and intergroup relations, memories and identities at the individual and collective level – relate to one another. I also address how one can constructively address victim identities and cultures of victimhood that may stem from painful or traumatic experiences in light of my work in South Africa and Northern Ireland, among other locales.
You can download the paper by clicking here.
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