Pluriversality, Peace and Existential Continuity in Timor-Leste

Epistemic decolonization has played a crucial role in shaping more critical research agendas in peace studies. At the heart of this process are calls for onto-epistemological reframing and meaningful engagement with diverse cosmologies, knowledge systems, and ways of being. Using the analytic of pluriversality, this article examines an often-overlooked dimension of peace in Timor-Leste, which falls outside the conventional frameworks of liberal peace. This dimension is grounded in a spiritual imperative for both existential and cultural continuity, manifested through the felt presence of the deceased, the centrality of origin groups as key social units, and the spiritual consequences of unresolved grievances for intergenerational peace and wellbeing.