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Healing Divided Societies
Can art help build peace? Can the visual and performing arts be used to help bring about the processes of change and social development necessary for conflict management? The experiences of many people from around the world suggests that the answer should be a resounding `yes’. Apart from using works of art to support the creation of a just society, many of those working with the victims of conflict have discovered the value of techniques derived from the process of artistic creation © By Kees Epskamp
‘Successful tolerance education’, says Haim Roet of The Center for Tolerance Education at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem, ‘requires continuous active participation by people of different cultures and backgrounds at meetings and encounters in a natural, pleasant atmosphere. The more frequent the meetings, and the more people who participate in them, the more chances there are for success.’
Musical groups of all sorts, like choirs, dance troupes and orchestras, meet these requirements very well, feels Haim Roet, ‘particularly as music touches almost every one, especially youngsters. Furthermore, through music, one can easily introduce those youngsters to different cultures in a natural atmosphere.’
The use of musical groups in tolerance education, requires relatively small financial resources, is mostly non-controversial and is usually attractive to sponsors. Consequently, a group of individuals from different backgrounds decided to set up the Tolerance Education through Music organisation in Israel. The main purpose of this NGO is to promote awareness of the potential of music as a tool in tolerance education. ‘We will also bring together musicians and educators of different cultures and ethnic backgrounds’, says Haim Roet, ‘to prepare the necessary curriculum for youngsters of different ages, that are going to formal (schools) or informal institutes of learning (community centers).’
Tolerance Education through Music is just one out of many initiatives aimed at using the arts to address violent conflict. These include projects based on the performing arts (drama, music, dance), visual arts (posters, murals, comic books, pamphlets) and electronic media (radio, video, Internet). One of the options of such a culturally directed arts strategy is to address situations with a potential for violent conflict. In this context one might think of the ‘early warning systems’ developed by various agencies.
Cultural workers may, for instance, develop a dramatic performance with which they then tour a potentially volatile region. Another possibility for developing conflict-specific works of art is to be found in work with exiles and refugees. Still another option is to enter into a postconflict situation and join forces with local cultural workers to develop strategies of reconciliation. Such a strategy might include helping former combatants produce a video or comic book, with the proceeds going to restitutive actions.
During the 1990s, the arts played an important role in conflict resolution in many different countries, including South Africa, Namibia, Eritrea, El Salvador, Guatemala, Romania, Palestine, Cambodia, and among many indigenous people around the world.
In describing the role of the arts in processes of reconciliation after a period of violent struggle it is necessary to make some distinctions. Factors which need to be taken into consideration include an evaluation of the strength of the arts at community level with special attention being paid to opportunities for participation, or lack thereof, as in Central America; any national or international arts policies which have been designed to address pressing artistic capacity shortages (e.g. Cambodia). The assumptions on which such policies are based also need to be assessed. Also relevant are the approaches and instruments in training and education programmes that have been developed to operationalise the (inter)national policies concerning the arts and the administrative procedures to implement them.
In using the arts for purposes of reconciliation and rehabilitation, a distinction has to be made between using art as an end in itself and using art as a means to achieve an additional goal. Using art as an end in itself means that the artistic production, whether it be a piece of music, a wall painting or a sculpture, is meant to contribute symbolically to processes of reconciliation and rehabilitation. In this way, the work of art can bring together a culturally disparate audience and provide them with a means of celebrating their achievements in creating a new society.
When art is deployed as means to an end, it is more the ‘process of making art’ than the final result or end product which is important. In this case ‘making art’ is used as an educational or therapeutic instrument. Dramatic techniques are, for example, frequently used as supportive tools in assisting traumatised children in former war zones. Visual arts, such as wall painting and cloth weaving, are also known to be useful for these purposes. Within training sessions the dramatic arts are frequently used for purposes of simulation and role-playing. During these training sessions people can prepare themselves for problemsolving situations. Within the regular system of basic education, ‘arts education’ is often combined with themes related to violence, peacekeeping, prejudices, ethnic stereotyping, ethnocentrism and tolerance. Within the context of adult education these dramatic techniques and games are often used for developing conflict-management, leadership and community-building skills.
In 1994 two very talented theatre directors living and working
in Palestine decided to join forces in order to stage a production
of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The vendetta between the two
opposing families the Montagues and the Capulets fed by hatred
and passed from one generation to the next, was transposed to
the situation in West Jerusalem. In the version staged by the
Israeli director, Eran Baniel, and his Palestinian colleague,
Fouad Awad Nimer, the Montagues become the Palestinians, and the
Capulets the Israelis. The result is a fascinating adaption of
Shakespeare’s plot to the real historical situation of the Middle
East. It was necessary to find sponsorship from abroad. Fortunately,
the Lille Festival had chosen the theme of the ‘New Middle East:
Israel and Palestine’ for its September 1994 edition and was consequently
able to guarantee the financial support for this production. After
its international debut the piece was taken on tour in and around
Jerusalem.
Romeo & Juliet on the West Bank
In most societies, drama, dance and music (the performing arts) are viewed as more sociable art forms than the paintings and sculptures and other typical products of the visual and plastic arts. The performing arts invite people to work together - to create collectively, to a much greater degree than the visual arts. Techniques related to the performing arts are regularly used to support people in their future development by means of training or education. Works of visual art, on the other hand, are more frequently used to commemorate and remind people of the efforts made to create a civil society and to fight for justice.
Figure 1: The principal methods by which the arts can help build
a just society
Figure 1 shows some of the primary uses of the visual and performing arts in (potential) situations of conflict. Examples referring to all four quadrants read as follows:
• the role of the visual arts in a processoriented approach is exemplified by the communitybuilding of the ghetto children in Washington who made a mural protesting against hand gun violence;
• the role of the performing arts in a productoriented approach can be illustrated by the performance of the South African anthem or the performance of Romeo and Juliet on the West Bank (see Box 1);
• the role of the performing arts in a processoriented approach is illustrated by the use of music education as part of the therapy of wartraumatised children in Cambodia (see Box 2);
• finally, an example of the visual arts’ role in a product approach is the erection of memorials and commemorative works of art.
The Music School Kampot forms part of the Khmer Cultural Development
Institute, a Cambodian non-governmental organisation. It was created
5 years ago at the instigation of English ballet dancer, Catherine
Geach. The school is unique in Cambodia and aims to promote the
preservation and re-establishment of the traditional culture of
the Khmer, the group in the Cambodian population. Much of their
traditional music threatened to disappear as a result of the ongoing
violence and long-running civil war. During the Pol Pot regime,
the teaching and performance of traditional dance and music were
forbidden. Today, only a few of the old artists are left in Cambodia.
Most of them were killed by Pol Pot’s regime.
Cambodia: Music training for traumatised war children
The school provides an opportunity for children to be trained
once more in these age-old cultural expressions. The school aims
to reach children with a war trauma, abused children, orphans
and handicapped children. Alongside the children who have been
severely wounded and mutilated by some of the millions of land
mines still hidden in the fields, there are many children who
have been deformed for life by untreated illnesses such as polio.
Music and dance may help these traumatised children to cope with
their past.
In using stage performances to improve the mutual understanding between ethnic groups, a further specification of the relation between a product-oriented approach and the performing arts can be made, by distinguishing four forms of intercultural performing arts.
• Representatives of minority groups -immigrants- tell their personal stories about the adjustments they have made to their new cultural context. For the audience, this kind of account provides an introduction to a different culture.
• Co-operation between artists from various cultural backgrounds; on stage a dialogue evolves between different cultures. The audience is confronted with different perceptions or even opinions from different cultural perspectives and introduced to distinct cultural differences. The stories and languages of different cultures become interwoven, cultural boundaries are traversed. Interculturalism becomes transcultural. Slowly a stage performance evolves which does not even touch upon the issue of cultural differences.
• Artists from different cultures perform together (are juxtaposed with each other) in a self-evident and self-explanatory way. The underlying cultural differences do not form the main theme of the performance. The artists and their cultural background are clearly recognisable; they keep their language and their accent. Sometimes this implies that the audience is not capable of following every syllable; this form changes fundamentally the means of conceptualising and making art. Performer and theatre director Eugenio Barba has experimented with this form.
Self-determination is central to any progress towards reconciliation. However, in any region that has been dominated by fear and suppression, self-determination is hard to achieve. One of the first problems confronting newly-formed governments in post-conflict situations is to replace the climate of fear and distrust among the population with a sense of cultural cohesion. In general this is done by articulating and working towards the goals of establishing equal rights and social justice for every citizen. Arts may play an important role during this process in terms of conflict prevention and intervention.
During the conflict
Post-conflict
society
• experiment with alternative visions of a future society;
• develop alternative and playful visions which outline the future
nation and its organisation;
• support the planning for alternative strategies to build up
the nation as envisaged;
• mediate between parties involved, especially beyond the medium
of the spoken dialogue;
• encourage the various (conflicting) parties involved not to
close the door to an ongoing dialogue;
• train people (by means of simulation) to gain control over their
participation in political and socioeconomic systems.
• stimulate processes of democratisation and rehabilitation (e.g.
drama performances to stimulate voters’ behaviour);
• increase understanding and appreciation of divergent world views;
• articulate and work towards achieving equal rights and social
justice (gender and ethnic specific items);
• integrate art education into the national curriculum as a means
of reconciliation and peace education in order to educate the
next generation;
• facilitate continuing dialogues at important moments, intercession
and mediation.
community
• inspire new visions based on trust and faith;
• reach a working consensus within the community on fundamental
issues;
• create a sound organisational basis at local level;
• develop strategies for ‘future’ community leaders.
• contribute to community development and community organisation;
• improve community interaction and socialisation;
• support in dismantling a climate of fear and distrust;
• contribute to the creation of cultural cohesion;
• use the arts to educate and train the adult population (collaborators,
former freedom fighters, refugees in exile and community dwellers);
• make people aware of their rights and also of their responsibilities.
individual
• prepare the people for the post-conflict situation;
• contribute to identity building;
• take away ethnic stereotyping.
• contribute to conflict resolution;
• empower ethnic groups;
• address cognitive, affective and social needs;
• strive for reconciliation through negotiating peace;
• teach mutual respect and understanding;
• support personal security and individual rights;
• support therapeutic treatment of postwar traumatised adults
and children.
Table 1: Using the arts: lessons learned during conflict and post-conflict
situations
In table 1 an attempt has been made to systematise the role played by the arts, showing their principal opportunities to support the struggle for a better society before and after the fighting, and the implications for the individual, the community and society at large. It is striking here that the support offered by using the arts is quite congruent with more general principles of conflict management.
Within this process it is important to encourage use of the arts as a means of helping a community to take control over its own development or prepare for good governance. In this context, artists acting as mediators shuttling between the opposing sides, particularly addressing the leaders of the conflict, are using their art as the vocalising point for ending the violence and seeking justice.
In general, the performing arts are the most sociable form of
arts, Photo Linda Graham
• Never focus on images and stories or narrative sequences which emphasise disruption and conflict.
• Focus on a narrative or social context in which adults and children of both parties involved have an opportunity to intermingle.
• Focus on what the members of the targeted audience/communities share: family, love, emotions, games, their desire for peace, life, food, sleep, happiness and playfulness, and education.
• Avoid generalisations about ethnic differences.
• Include any details which help transform human beings into dramatic characters rather than stereotypes who can be used during games and dramatic play to show the full variety of persons living within the community.
• Do not forget to involve the subgroups living within each cultural group - for example, the country-dwellers who often have family living in town and vice versa; or people who have relatives living in exile or in refugee camps; be sure to include socioeconomic differences, education systems and differences in languages.
Most of these lessons are so obvious that their importance tends to be forgotten. Much reference has been made in this brief introduction to the performing arts. More elaborate case studies will be presented in the following pages. Helen Gould presents a case study on the use of drama in Northern Ireland, while John Ungerleider provides more insight into the use of music and poetry to build a bicommunal peace culture in Cyprus. A rather different example is provided by the controversial use of the arts by Italian fashion company Benetton whose campaigns centre on images intended to promote peace, tolerance, multiculturalism and to challenge stereotypes.
Selected Bibliography
Aboriginal voices - Amerindian, Inuit and Sami Theater, P. Brask and W. Morgan (eds.). Baltimore, The John Hopkins University. 1992
Our Creative Diversity. Report of the World Comm. on Culture and Development. 1997
Popular music and redemocratization in Santiago, Chile 19731989, M. Mattern. Studies in Latin American popular culture, 16: 101113. 1997
Pedagogy of violence - Cardinal solutions to global survival through peace education, B.B. Oderinde. UnescoAfrica (Biannual of Unesco regional office, Dakar), 10/11 (September): 2745. 1995
Voice to the voiceless - The power of people’s theatre. J. Scrampickal. New Delhi, Manohar Publishers. 1994
Palestinian theatre as a junction of cultures- The case of Samih alQasim’s Qaraqash. R. Snir. Journal of Theatre and Drama (JTD; the University of Haifa), vol. 2: 101120. 1996
In writing this article, Kees Epskamp represents the foundation for Comparative Studies in Arts and Art Education in Global Perspective (CompArt).
Feedback please to
j.verhoeven@euconflict.org