2021/22

JNL61004 Communication in Peacebuilding

Weekly sessions and readings

Week 1
1 October 2021
Topic:
Introduction to the module: what is the role of communication in civil society?

Compulsory reading:
 Forstenzer, J. (2016) A Democratic Ideal for Troubled Times: John Dewey, Civic
Action, and Peaceful Conflict Resolution. Journal of Human Rights and Peace
Studies 2(2): 1-34. Read pp. 8-13!
 Frazier, P. J. and Gaziano, C. (1979) Robert Ezra Park: His Theory of News, Public
Opinion and Social Control, Journalism & Mass Communication Monographs,
November. Please read: Communication and society on p. 18 (please use page
numbers indicated at the bottom of the pages).
 Shils, E. (2003[1997) The Virtue of Civil Society. In: Hodgkinson, V. and Foley, M.
(eds.) The Civil Society Reader. London: Tufts University, pp. 292-305.

Week 2
8 October 2021
Topic:
What is peace within civil societies?

Compulsory reading:
 Mac Ginty, R. (2014) Everyday peace: Bottom-up and local agency in conflict-
affected societies. Security Dialogue, 45(6): 548-64.

Week 3
15 October 2021
Topic:
The corruption of language in civil society – polarisation, tribalism and
dehumanisation

Compulsory reading:
 Savage, R. (2013) Modern genocidal dehumanization: a new model. Patterns of
Prejudice 47(2): 139-161.

Suggested reading/prep:
 Sunstein, C. (2009) Going to extremes. How like minds unite and divid. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. Ch 1 (available online in the library)
 Podcast: https://www.thevoicesofwar.com/e/david-livingstone-smith-on-
dehumanisation/

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Week 4
22 October 2021
Topic:
What are civil wars?

Compulsory reading:
 Armitage, D. (2018) Civil Wars. A History in Ideas. Yale: Yale University Press.
Introduction: Confronting Civil War, pp. 3-27.
 Alternatively you can also watch the following session with David Armitage on
‘What Makes A War “Civil”’ at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=OTgZHvXMqgQ&ab_channel=ForeignPolicyResearchInstitute
 Mouffe, C. (2005) On the Political. London: Routledge. Chapter 2 but only pp. 8-21.
Week 5
29 October 2021
Topic:
Post-civil war settings and their challenges

Compulsory reading:
 McMullin, J. (2013) Integration or separation? The stigmatisation of ex-
combatants after war. Review of International Studies, 39(2): 385-414.

Week 6
5 November 2021
Topic:
Communicative peacebuilding: discursive civility, safe discursive spaces and
integrative communicative acts

Compulsory reading:
 White (2006) An Ambivalent Civility. The Canadian Journal of Sociology,
Volume 31, Number 4, Fall 2006, pp. 445-460.

Week 7
12 November 2021

There is no formal session but instead you will decide about your project to analyse and
develop your personal reading list. You will receive feedback on your chosen topic. More
details on this in week 6!

Week 8
19 November 2021
Topic: Student-led presentations of the different projects

More details to follow in week 6!

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Week 9
26 November 2021

Topic:
The factual and fictional mass media in peacebuilding

Compulsory reading:
 Frère, M.S. (2009) After the hate media: regulation in the DRC, Burundi and
Rwanda. Global Media and Communication. Volume 5(3): 327–352.
 I will also share an unpublished paper on the topic with you in week 8.

Week 10
3 December 2021
Topic:
The visual arts in peacebuilding

Compulsory reading:
 Baumeister, H. (2019) Drawing on genocide. Law and Humanities 13(1): 3-28.
 Kappler, S. and McKane, A/ (2019): “Post-conflict Curating”: The Arts and Politics
of Belfast’s Peace Walls, de arte, 1-18.

Week 11
10 December 2021
Topic: Performative arts in peacebuilding

Compulsory reading:
 Breed, A. (2013) Performing the Nation: Theatre in Post-Genocide Rwanda. The
Drama Review, 52(1): 32-50.
 Pruitt, L. and Jeffrey, E. (2020) Dancing through the dissonance: Creative
movement and peacebuilding. Manchester: MUP, Ch 1 (this will be made available
to you in advance).

Week 12
17 December 2021
Topic: What I am planning is ‘Depolarisation training’ run by an external NGO but
this is still to be confirmed!