Ethnographic Peace Research / Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies (PDF)

Roger Mac Ginty, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Manchester, UK

 'This is an important book that elaborates an approach to studying conflict that puts those who experience conflict at the centre. Ethnographic peace research is based on the premise that we can only understand conflict or peace through the lived experience of those who are there. This book is a timely antidote to approaches that remove the study of actual people from research, whilstdeveloping a convincing argument that mixed approaches incorporating ethnography can provide a sufficiently accurate understanding of violence and how it can be overcome.'

Paul Jackson, Professor of African Politics, University of Birmingham, UK

 This volume calls for an empirical extension of the "local turn" within peace research. Building on insights from conflict transformation, gender studies, critical International Relations and Anthropology, the contributions critique existing peace research methods as affirming unequal power, marginalizing local communities, and stripping the peace kept of substantive agency and voice. By incorporating scholars from these various fields the volume pushes for more locally grounded, ethnographic and potentially participatory approaches. While recognizing that any Ethnographic Peace Research (EPR) agenda must incorporate a variety of methodologies, the volume nonetheless paves a clear path for the much needed empirical turn withinthe local turn literature.

Gearoid Millar is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) of Sociology at the Institute for Conflict, Transition, and Peace Research (ICTPR), University of Aberdeen.