In this entry at the Virtual Encyclopaedia "Rewriting Peace and Conflict" of the Postcolonial Hierarchies in Peace and Conflict Network, ABI staff member Teresa Jopson reimagines the notion of postconflict through a decolonial lens to contribute to visibilising conflicts and envisioning new forms of peacebuilding.
The term ‘post-conflict’ is used in mainstream peace and conflict studies and international development discourses to refer to the end of civil wars or the conclusion of internationally recognised peace negotiations. However, Jopson argues that this usage hides sources of persistent conflict and violence in the neo/liberal peacebuilding that was promoted from the 1990s. Diverse local perspectives remain invisible, creating new tensions and further conflict: Using examples in Southeast Asia, she shows how societies that development and funding agencies label as post-conflict are still dealing with various forms of violence and insecurity.
Jopson proposes that being postconflict should be a process, not an event, aiming toward the goal of sustainable peace based on social justice. Drawing from decolonial perspectives on the coloniality of peace and pluriversality, she reimagines postconflict as the goal of addressing the material, epistemic and discursive violence that underpins conflicts affecting civilians across borders.
The entry is available on the website of the Virtual Encyclopaedia. It is also available for download as a PDF:
On the Virtual Encyclopaedia
The Virtual Encyclopaedia "Rewriting Peace and Conflict" is is a product of the project Postcolonial Hierarchies in Peace and Conflict Studies. It is a multimedia and open access platform about peace and conflict from postcolonial and decolonial perspectives. The encyclopedia offers an interdisciplinary collection of central theoretical and conceptual debates, empirical analyses and reflections on knowledge production. It presents a wide variety of voices; among them are academics from a variety of career levels, background and regions, as well as practitioners and activists. The ultimate goal of the platform is to promote dialogue and reflection by combining text, audio, video, and storytelling across different formats.