Doctoral Dissertation Research: Understanding the Long-Term Drivers of Community Reconciliation in Post-Conflict Societies

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project examines how communities adapt to new lives in post-conflict conditions. The investigators specifically study the different impacts that international and local policy commissions and social and community-based efforts have on peace and reconciliation after conflict. In addition to providing scientific training for a graduate student in anthropology, the research findings will be made available to policy and legal agencies that address the needs of families and communities in post-conflict societies. The researchers will also produce visual materials and films that will enhance public knowledge of the most effective strategies for post-conflict rebuilding and healing. In order to test several social, economic, and legal drivers of post-conflict rebuilding and adaptation, the researchers will conduct qualitative, ethnographic research that includes semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and visual and online ethnography. The broader research findings will contribute to global studies of transitional justice, legal anthropology, post-conflict peacebuilding and reconciliation, and the anthropology of human rights. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.