Networks: Peace and Conflict Studies in Anthropology Network
Read more about Upcoming Events: notices, workshop abstracts, etc
Read workshop pages and reports of Previous Events.
Upcoming Events
PACSA workshops at EASA2010
W057 Vanguardism among Muslims
W078 Anthropology of categories in peace and conflict
W086 Ethics in conflict: doing research in conflict areas and the ethical dilemmas that arise
W100 The anthropology of international organizations
W110 Observing the 'bad guys': ethnographic approaches to non-state armed groupsDGV-Conference 2009: call for papers for Panel 29
Conflict and the (Re-)Appropriation of Normality / Konflikt und (Wieder-)Aneignung von Normalität
For a workshop description (in German) and contact details of the organisers please see / Die Beschreibung des Workshops und die Kontaktdaten der Organisatoren finden Sie unter www.tagung2009.dgv-net.de/workshop_29.html
Previous Events
Second Bi-Annual PACSA meeting, 9th- 11th October 2009
'Continuities and ruptures between conflict, post-conflict and peace'
Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR), Peace Center, Burg Schlaining, Austria
The 2nd Bi-Annual PACSA Meeting brought together young scholars and some senior scholars in a highly successful and inspiring meeting in Stadtschlaining, Burgenland. The enchanting atmosphere was mostly due to the effective organization of Michael Lidauer at the ASPR and the support of all PACSA-officials: Erella Grassiani (Amsterdam), Nerina Weiss (Oslo) and Alexander Horstmann (Göttingen).
PACSA is a European network of social anthropologists who are interested in studying peace and conflict by putting people in the forefront of their analysis. Anthropologists organized in EASA felt that peace studies in Europe are by and large dominated by political sciences and international relations, favouring an institutional approach. Anthropologists are keen to emphasize the agency of people who are confronted by conflict and war with their theoretical approach, fieldwork and qualitative methodology. PACSA thus contributes greatly to make this critical and reflexive approach to peace and conflict more visible through networks, meetings and publications.
The papers presented during the meeting reflect this innovative approach to peace and conflict studies. The organizers were happy to win well-known anthropologist Carolyn Nordstrom (University of Notre Dame, USA) as key-note speaker. In a very stimulating, post-modern talk, Carolyn tied the life of a young boy and victim of war in Mozambique to the underground economy that is nourishing the war and which is nurtured by the war, e.g. drugs trade, trade in pharmaceutics, trade in small arms and fire-weapons. Carolyn noted the gigantic importance of this illegal market and the dramatic consequences for the perpetuation of violence and war. She also pointed to the difficult and risky business of doing fieldwork in war zones as well as on the underground economy. She made the interesting observation that the young boy was keenly aware of this business and wanted Carolyn to report on it. Carolyn’s research is characterized by empathy and taking sides with the young boy who represented the unheard voices or as Carolyn puts it, all what cannot be said in the academia.
The second key-note was delivered by Maria Six-Hohenbalken (Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences) who gave us insight into the multi-cultural arena of the Burgenland. The Burgenland has a long history of coexistence of Austrians, Croatians, Hungarians and Roma. Maria pointed out that this multi-cultural character is largely suppressed in favour of the image of a homogenous Austrian countryside. More serious, discrimination of minorities and foreigners prevails in the area and these groups were persecuted in the Nazi era. Civil society organizations are minuscule and not able to counter conservative forces. Yet, also today minorities come out in the public sphere and aim to ascertain their rights. Maria’s paper not only gave the participants an excellent introduction to the Burgenland, but also illustrated the resistance of powerful rural élites to acknowledge the multi-cultural character of the region and the rights of minorities that are associated with it. The key-note also illustrates how the co-existence of different groups has changed drastically through the violence of the Nazi regime.
Many papers presented and discussed in the panels followed this creative and reflexive approach to peace and conflict studies. Instead of referring to every individual paper, I identify clusters and overlaps of common themes.
PACSA workshop at EASA06
PACSA held an inaugural panel session at the 9th EASA ConferenceFirst bi-annual PACSA meeting
Halle, Germany, 5 October 2007. Read the report.
PACSA workshops at EASA08
At the 10th Biennial Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), held from 26 to 30 August in Ljubljana, Slovenia, PACSA members, as well as other colleagues working in the field of PACSA, organized a number of panels and workshops, ranging from discussions of how ethnic identities are turned into either-or categories in times of conflict (Workshop 053) to explorations of narratives of violence (W039), the processing of trauma in post-conflict societies (W032) and how peace and conflict zones are connected with one another (IW06). Here is a list of PACSA-related workshops:Inivited Workshop 06: Connecting peace and violence: Zones, transgressions and causes
Workshop 019: The anthropology of the United Nations
Workshop 026: Imagining and constructing "terrorism" and "war on terror"
Workshop 032: Processing trauma in (post-)conflict societies
Workshop 039: Violence expressed
Workshop 050: Studying anthropologists in war and conflict zones: Spies and freedom fighters, scholars and advocates
Workshop 053: Fragile transitions: From coexistence to the emergence of hatred
Workshop 096: Memory and material culture in post-conflict societies
