People, Communities and Cities in Peacebuilding: An Inclusive and Intersectional Approach to Peace Studies Erasmus Project

Project Title

People, Communities and Cities in Peacebuilding: An Inclusive and Intersectional Approach to Peace Studies

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Gender equality / equal opportunities; Post-conflict/post-disaster rehabilitation; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Sub- and non-state actors are increasingly relevant internationally, exemplified by sanctuary cities in the US, social movements like #metoo, various insurgencies in Afghanistan, IS in Iraq/Syria, or maoist movements in India. This phenomenon emerges simultaneously with increased nationalism and extremism, where populist parties and politicians have gained in global prominence. Many of these actors represent “grassroot” movements, reflecting the political interests of people who have otherwise not felt represented by the state. In response, renewed approaches in peace and conflict studies are needed, focusing on peacebuilding “from below”, acknowledging gender and other categories, understanding “the local” in peace processes, and sub/non-state actor roles as either spoilers or supporters of peace. This project designs an innovative approach in peace and conflict studies, building on unconventional and critical approaches to peace processes. It draws on femininities, masculinities and intersectionality, allowing for improved understanding of conflicts in the current state of affairs.

The InPeace project creates an innovative network of higher education institutions from different corners of Europe, strengthening the position of European universities in peace research and education. InPeace develops new teaching material through three intensive courses, in Tromsø, Tampere, and Reykjavík, which will also serve as a basis for developing a Massive Open Online Course in peace and conflict studies for the highly acclaimed edX platform.

The overall objective of the project is to create and disseminate innovative teaching material and methods in peace and conflict studies. The partnership will focus on unconventional approaches to gender and peace where intersectionality and masculinities will be of as much focus as femininities in relations to war and peaceful resolutions. The partnership will furthermore shed a light on the important role of sub-state actors and “the local” in peace processes and look specifically into the interplay between different kinds of discrimination, thus utilizing intersectionality as a base of studying.

The consortium will make use of innovative teaching methods, building on visual and interactive material, including simulations, to break away from the conventional lecture and discussion mode. An innovative approach will also be utilized for the dissemination of the teaching material. Upon completion of this project the partnership will have developed a ‘Massive Open Online Course’ in peace and conflict studies that will be hosted on the edX online-course platform. Using this platform for the MOOC will maximize the outreach of the project and secure its continuing effect after the project’s lifetime. EdX is not only a highly acclaimed platform for online courses but also open access, thus securing wide access for the final output of this project. EdX was founded by Harvard University and MIT in 2012 and has more than 130 global partners with many of the world’s leading universities taking part in the project. It is an open-source platform so the course created by this partnership will be open access, freely available.

The project’s aim is thus to enhance the course offerings in peace and conflict studies at the partner institutions and beyond, and in turn addressing the need for better access to open educational material in the field. In addition, the project will create a network of students in the field of peace and conflict studies, and disseminate new teaching material beyond the walls of the five participating institutions, offering other students, young professionals, activists, politicians and other interested individuals access to high-quality academic education.

Renewed approaches in peace and conflict studies call for transnational cooperation. Local manifestations of growing discontent, increased activity of grassroot movements and discrimination are all part of a larger international trend and need to be analysed as such. The project’s transnational nature is thus pivotal in order to fully comprehend, and also to adequately disseminate the knowledge created by the consortium.

The project is coordinated by Höfði Reykjavík Peace Centre, in collaboration with the Centre for Peace Studies (CPS) at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tampere Peace Research Institute at the University of Tampere (TAPRI), the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS) of the University of Sarajevo and the Hegoa Institute and research group on Human Security, Local Human Development and International Cooperation at the University of the Basque Country.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 260019 Eur

Project Coordinator

HASKOLI ISLANDS & Country: IS

Project Partners

• UNIVERZITET U SARAJEVU
• UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAIS VASCO/ EUSKAL HERRIKO UNIBERTSITATEA
• UNIVERSITETET I TROMSOE – NORGES ARKTISKE UNIVERSITET
• TAMPEREEN KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR