RECOVER RESTORE AND DECOLONISE

Decolonising Peace

Share:

300_442-1. Photograph taken from a large sepia picture by Woodthorpe (all portraits taken from actual sitters). These include Captain Badgley, Lt. Ridgeway, Captain J. Butler, Dr R. Brown, R.G. Woodthorpe (standing second from right) and 11 named Nagas. Suivly Camp, Lak Nuti, Rengma Naga Village, season 73-74, c. 1874 © RAI

The underlying need to decolonise peacebuilding is gaining ground as the emerging discourse and praxis of decolonisation expands around the world. We are already witnessing how the language of decolonisation is impacting museums, history, anthropology, humanitarian aid, development, journalism, curriculum, learning and many other facets of life. The praxis of decolonisation is aimed to create an emancipated and humanizing culture. Fortunately, its reach goes beyond exposing, engaging, and dismantling colonial institutions, worldviews, institutions and knowledge systems.

The irony is not lost on the concept of decolonizing peace because peacebuilding movements initially expanded as an interdisciplinary approach for justice during the decolonisation era. Yet, today, the decolonizing peacebuilding is imperative because it has moved away from its foundational premise of building a justpeace. 

Because of its inherent potential, the field of peacebuilding has attracted many. Lisa Schirch, a peace studies scholar and practitioner, points out that, “By the 1980s, Western interest in peacebuilding initiatives was increasing.” She puts this into context by pointing out that, “The Hewlett Foundation invested over $160 million in building conflict resolution programmes, particularly at academic institutions in the 1980s and 1990s.” Likewise, peace studies mushroomed in North American and Europeans universities where Western concepts, ideas and models of peace were crystalized. Eventually, they were exported to the global south where they were received without much critical examination. Western peacebuilding became extensions of government foreign policies which were aimed to pacify the voices calling out for justice and freedom, thereby predicating the violence of peace. 

This was the beginning of institutionalizing peace, and peace no longer was justpeace. The institutionalization of peace meant that the Western paradigm of peace became the standard model of peace, situating it as the dominant knowledge keeper and idea giver of peace. Naturally, the concepts, ideas and models of peace emerging out of Western institutions were embedded with its cognitive biases and prejudices. They were founded on Western culture, knowledge systems, methodologies, values and designs. 

In many ways the existing peace education and practices represent the interests of the Westphalian World Order and State. Tragically, the dominant peacebuilding approaches define the problems in the same way as State and Corporate structures do that conveniently skirt the root causes. This form of peacebuilding contributes towards stabilizing the status quo and enhances State-building. Some call this negative peace where peace agreements are signed without the State acknowledging the people’s rights or giving them proportionate concessions, and justice.

Indigenous and non-Western peacebuilding have been pushed to the margins. This also implies that Western peacebuilding models and mechanisms are incapable of genuinely addressing the Indigenous Peoples aspirations for self-determination, justice and peace. Again, the irony is not lost. Hamdesa Tuso and Maureen P. Flaherty in Creating the Third Force: Indigenous Processes of Peacemaking remind us that peacebuilding processes like dialogue, mediation and restorative justice, which are extensively used in Western Peacebuilding, were methods that are inherent to Indigenous peacebuilding and ways of living. Indigenous Peacebuilding addresses issues of power and rights that are aimed towards shifting power, power-sharing, and building social, economic, political, cultural and religious structures that will uphold and sustain the values of a shared humanity. In essence, recovering and upholding the true humanistic values of self-determination.

The need to decolonise peace is crucial to the process of developing a shared language of peace. At the International Conference on Conflict Resolution, Peace Building, Sustainable Development, and Indigenous Peoples (December 2000), the Indigenous Peoples stated: “It is an imperative … that indigenous peoples define their own research agenda and undertake studies which they can use to strengthen their initiatives to bring about peace, resolve and transform conflicts, and bring about sustainable development.” 

Universal Peace is expressed as a commonly shared objective of all peoples, yet it is defined very differently. Ultimately, it is a common and shared vision of humanity in a world where people live harmoniously with dignity. Let’s start by decolonising peace, creating anew. Perhaps this can begin when Peace educators, scholars, practitioners and activists from Western, Indigenous and non-Western peoples and nations come together to explore, examine and create a shared language of peacebuilding that is not exclusive, but inclusive of all cultures. After all, a decolonized peace will liberate both the oppressor and the oppressed.

First published in The Morung Express October 09 2022 
Link: https://www.morungexpress.com/decolonising-peace

About the Author

  • RRaD Nagaland

    RRaD (Recover, Restore and Decolonise) was formed in 2021 to facilitate and engage with issues around the repatriation of Naga ancestral human remains to the Naga homeland. In 2020, the Pitt Rivers Museum (PRM) in Oxford, UK, reached out to the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) to help facilitate community dialogue regarding the “future care and return” of Naga ancestral human remains.

    View all posts

Share:

About the Author

  • RRaD Nagaland

    RRaD (Recover, Restore and Decolonise) was formed in 2021 to facilitate and engage with issues around the repatriation of Naga ancestral human remains to the Naga homeland. In 2020, the Pitt Rivers Museum (PRM) in Oxford, UK, reached out to the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) to help facilitate community dialogue regarding the “future care and return” of Naga ancestral human remains.

    View all posts

Related Posts

Categories

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recover, Restore and Decolonise

Imprint

The Recover, Restore and Decolonise (RRaD) contains information and resources relating to the history and effects of the removal and repatriation of Naga Ancestral Remains. RRaD is a website that is constantly being developed and added to. Whilst we aim to only present information on this website that is appropriate for a public space, accurate and up to date, we would like to acknowledge that there are many gaps in the information shared which comes from both the historic record and our own knowledge. Please get in touch at [email protected] or any of our social media handles in our contact page, if you would like to share any thoughts or questions with us regarding repatriation, and/or if you have any comments, queries or suggestions on how we can make this website as useful and usable as possible.

While the Recover, Restore and Decolonise (RRaD) team (including all partner organisations) have used all reasonable endeavours to ensure the information on this site is as accurate as possible, it gives no warranty or guarantee that the material, information or publication made accessible is accurate, complete, current, or fit for any use whatsoever. No reliance should be made by a user of the material, information or publication accessed via this site.

The RRaD team (including all partner organisations) accepts no liability or responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever suffered as a result of direct or indirect use or application of any material, publication or information made accessible via the website or any of our social media handles.

The RRaD Website provides links to companies/organisations and information external to the RRaD Website. In providing such links, the RRaD team and all partner organisations do not accept responsibility for, or endorse the content or condition of, any linked site. The RRaD team (including all partner organisations) reserves the right to vary the material, information or publication on this web site without notice.

©RRaD

Images used in the website have been used with permission from the creators.

Responsible Use

The purpose of this website is to create widespread awareness about the process of repatriation and the profound impact of colonization on Naga people. Please be warned that some of the information shared here may be distressing as they reference a problematic part of history when our ancestors were referred to as ‘savages’ and ‘inferior.’ There will also be stories of our ancestors who have passed away and their remains which were taken, researched on and displayed without consent by colonizers. We request that you take the information shared here with the gravity it deserves, and we believe that you will honour our guidelines of responsible use. 

  • Please treat the information with care and sensitivity.
  • Share and reflect on the stories to assist healing and reconciliation.
  • Support and engage in the process of repatriation of our ancestral remains.
  • Respect the knowledge shared by community members and their wishes on how it should be shared.