Art as a tool in peacebuilding
Building peace, one brushstroke at a time – Art as a tool in peacebuilding
As a politics student, the term “peacebuilding” might instantly take your mind to complex academic theories and fancy diplomatic conferences. The concept was first coined in 1975 by sociologist Johan Galtung, and popularized by former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s 1992 report An Agenda for Peace, in which he defined it as "an action to identify and support structures which will tend to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict." This differentiates “peacebuilding” from other methods as a more holistic approach to constructing sustainable and peaceful post-conflict societies.
For the sake of holism, we should begin from the very foundation of persistent obstacles for peace, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has elaborated as “long standing grievances, inequalities, mistrust and social divisions”. Many of these are rooted in personal experiences and feelings, and thus creative and empathetic methods are needed in peacebuilding. The arts, personal and socially influential at the same time, have been used as a tool to address these factors that multilateral diplomacy has often failed to reach.
Persistent interpersonal and intercommunal post-conflict disagreements, differences, and resentment often prevent effective peacebuilding from taking place. Artistic expression can potentially help overcome these sentiments by bringing together people across societal divisions, and allowing communication in the universal language of art. For instance, the fragmentation and instability experienced in Northern Uganda, largely related to the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), was addressed by the local NGO Justice and Reconciliation Project: The community of Abia experienced a massacre by the LRA in 2004, and the NGO initiated a community theater project lasting several months in 2011, in which students of a local school got to prepare an interactive play for their community. This promoted intergenerational dialogue, as well as understanding and adoption of international human rights concepts in contextually relevant ways.
Internal and personal inhibitions to peacebuilding can also relate to grievances and trauma caused by conflict. Art can promote catharsis and allow expression of sentiments difficult to communicate in oral or written form. For example, refugees who had to flee due to the civil war in El Salvador during the 1980’s initiated different art projects in UNHCR refugee camps. Notably, many women became leaders in these communities, organizing embroidery workshops. This practice served as a healing and restorative exercise that allowed the women to remedy mental wounds left by the violence of the armed conflict. Their works are displayed in many museums as artifacts of their experiences of repression, conflict, and displacement.
The vulnerable times of peacebuilding risk many voices being left unheard. Through art, marginalized communities can amplify their voices and raise awareness by telling their stories. For example, the aftermath of the 2020 Beirut explosion saw a large number of protests, among which there were also art initiatives. ‘Art Therapy’ was one of these, and it was a two-month long project to empower women through community art installations. Art is thus a method for expression that allows the portrayal of the specific experiences and sentiments of different groups, potentially evoking the empathy and understanding of the audience.
It should be noted that due to the applicability of the arts being limited to a smaller, often intrastate, scale and to context-specific ways, the arts are of less use in structural processes, such as institution building. It is also worth recognizing that art, a powerful tool with emotional appeal, is a double-edged sword. While it can bring people closer to each other, it can also be used to exacerbate divisions, as done for example by the Hutu nationalists by radio broadcasting popular music that promoted ethnic violence during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Thus, the influence of art is not absolute nor automatically positive.
Art and creative expression evidently can contribute to peacebuilding through facilitating dialogue, healing, and empowering marginalized voices. Together with other methods of peace processes, such as diplomacy and institution building, peacebuilding can be holistic and inclusive. The examples from Uganda, El Salvador and Lebanon highlight the need for grassroot level and context-specific efforts as a part of peace processes, and demonstrate the versatility of the uses of the arts in peacebuilding by local organizations and community leaders. Societies fragmented at their roots can slowly be rebuilt by facilitating understanding through expression.
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