1st Edition
Researching Peacebuilding in Africa Reflections on Theory, Fieldwork and Context
This book examines the multifaceted nature of conflict and the importance of the socio-economic and political contexts of conflict and violence and shows how to support ongoing initiatives and programs to build sustainable peace on the African continent.
Drawing on a range of conceptual framings in the study of peace and conflict, from gender perspectives to institutionalist to decolonial perspectives, the contributors show how peacebuilding research covers a whole range of questions that go beyond concerns for post-conflict reconstruction strategies. Chapters focus on the methodological, theoretical and practical aspects of peacebuilding and provide a toolbox of perspectives for conceptualizing and doing peacebuilding research in Africa. Anchored in African-centered perspectives, the book encourages and promotes high-quality interdisciplinary research that is conflict-sensitive, historically informed, theoretically grounded and analytically sound.
This book will be of benefit to scholars, policy makers and research institutions engaged in peacebuilding in Africa.
Introduction
Part One: Concepts, Theories and Methodologies
1. Overview of Recent Trends In African Scholarly Writing On Peacebuilding
Festus Aubyn
2. When theory meets method: Feminist peace research in Africa and how to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange
Heidi Hudson
3. A Mission to Civilize: The Liberal Idea of Peacebuilding in Africa
Thomas Tieku
4., The Ethics of Research and Fieldwork-based in Conflict-affected Settings.
Ismail Rashid
5. The Application of Qualitative Research Methodology in African Contexts
Kenneth Omeje
6. Quantitative Research Methods in Field-Based Peacebuilding
Olayiwola Erinosho
Part Two: Case Studies
7. Understanding Complex New Wars in Africa: The Example of The Sahel
Amy Niang
8. Researching Women, Unpaid Care Work, and Peacebuilding in Darfur
Fatma Ibnouf
9. Research in a Conflict and Peacebuilding Context: Narrations from Fieldwork in Nigerian Violent Theatres.
Jimam Lar
10. Epistemological and Methodological Considerations in Peacebuilding Research – Experiences from the Borana of Ethiopia
Asebe Regassa Debelo
11. A critique of the conceptual documents that frame UN and AU practice of Peacebuilding
Norman Sempijja
12. Doing Research in the ‘Silicon Savannah’: Digital Media, Peacebuilding and Constructions of (In) Stability in Kenya
Duncan Omanga and Pamela Mainye
13. Postconflict Emotions at Home: Researching Zimbabwean Soldiers
Godfrey Maringira
Biography
Ismail Rashid is a Professor at Vassar College, USA
Amy Niang is an Associate Professor in International Relations, Faculty of Governance, Economics and Social Sciences, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Rabat, Morocco
