Peacebuilding and the Politics of Difference
This Workshop seeks to explore and critically engage with the way difference is being used in the theory and practice of peacebuilding. In particular, we invite papers that address one or several of the following themes:
• How is identity-difference created during peacebuilding interventions? What practices lead to the assumption of peacebuilding as an encounter between ‘different’ groups?
• Through what mechanisms do peacebuilding practitioners and scholars assume identities and differences, and with what
consequences?
• How do peacebuilding recipients manipulate and influence the perceptions of difference? How do they negotiate, resist or confirm
the categories of peacebuilding practitioners and scholars?
• How can we study ‘difference’ in peacebuilding without essentialising it? Is it possible to recognise and respect ‘difference’
without reproducing the Self-Other binary?
• Can and should ‘difference’ be incorporated in peacebuilding interventions? Can ‘difference’ retain its emancipatory appeal
without being normalised as another peacebuilding variable?
Deadline for abstract: 26 April 2017. Please email your abstract (200–300 words) to Xavier Mathieu (mathieu@gcr21.uni-due.de) and Pol BarguésPedreny (bargues@gcr21.uni-due.de).