The poetics of peace: From aesthetic knowledge to reconciliation

Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The poetics of peace: From aesthetic knowledge to reconciliation
 
Creator Velthuizen, Andreas G. Ferguson, Kate D.
 
Subject humanities; politics and public administration; African studies; peace and conflict resolution; dispute resolution poetics; aesthetic domain; reconciliation; storytelling; ritual; San
Description This article is inspired by the need for research methods that would discover the interrelationships of reconciliation and culture, specifically analysing the behaviour of field researchers originating from different lifestyles or culture, observing and participating in the artful expressions of research subjects. The purpose of this article was to present an overview of research into poetics as a source of information that contributes to existing bodies of knowledge and the finding of practical solutions related to peace-building in African communities. The authors argued that knowledge could be discovered from various forms of poetics through sensuous participation and intellectual interpretation and could be applied to the process of reconciliation. In support of this argument, the research was conducted with the San, the First People of southern Africa, in the context of a broader research project that aims at finding and publishing theory for dispute resolution in Africa. The discussion contains a conceptual framework of philosophy and theories that elucidates the concepts of poetics, the aesthetic domain and its relevance to peace and reconciliation in Africa. The transdisciplinary research methodology borrows from ethnographic methodologies including sensuous scholarship and participant observation of ritualistic experiences. The authors conclude that the creative, ritualistic and artistic lifeworlds of communities, in or recovering from conflict situations, are deeply relevant to any real motion towards reconciliation and healing.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor National Research Foundation Unisa Community Engagement
Date 2018-06-25
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary
Format text/html application/epub+zip application/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/td.v14i1.472
 
Source The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa; Vol 14, No 1 (2018); 10 pages 2415-2005 1817-4434
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/472/749 https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/472/748 https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/472/750 https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/472/739
 
Coverage Southern Africa current San dancers and storytellers
Rights Copyright (c) 2018 Andreas G. Velthuizen, Kate D. Ferguson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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