Journal of Global Peace and Conflict

Peace and Conflict Studies: Tangible Learning Towards Local-Level Peacebuilding
Lynda-Ann Blanchard, Antero Benedito da Silva, Li Li Chen, Eugenia Urania da Costa Correia, Jose Caetano Guterres, Elsa Joaquina Araujo Pinto, Julio Ximenes Xavier

Abstract
As Timor-Leste celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the “Restoration of Independence” on May 20th 2022, UNTL Institute for Peace and Conflict Social Studies (IPACSS) celebrated the restoration of their graduate studies program. The timing of this launch and reclaiming peace and conflict studies at the national university in Timor-Leste, is a fitting tribute to recognition of the political history—of a nation’s courage and solidarity in striving for human rights, justice and peace. Peace education and research are significant in fragile contexts like Timor-Leste. This paper discusses how the field of peace and conflict studies can make tangible contributions to local-level peace building (historically through community action and more recently via innovative research on peace through tourism and sustainable ecological practices). The subject is values explicit. It is interdisciplinary at its core and therefore resists being allocated any specific faculty: that is, the field has no discipline. It is also a pedagogy of praxis. That discussion, which is of interest to both practitioners and scholars, informs the formulation of the research question of this paper. In what ways do peace and conflict studies enact social change? The journey to re-establish the graduate program at UNTL underscores these key components of this academic field. That story begins with the insightful vision and tireless leadership of the inaugural IPACSS director and a band of committed IPACSS students who continued to lobby the university administration for almost a decade to have their program reinstated in order to complete their masters’ degree studies. Their impressive research projects form the empirical section of this article. They demonstrate the key characteristics as testament to tangible learning towards local-level peacebuilding.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jgpc.v11a4