News

John Brewer is  interviewed by The Irish Catholic Newspaper.

Artlcle is on page 8

PDF Copy click on link below

September 12 Final

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Compromise after Conflict is proud and happy to endorse the following website.

http://www.hopeandhistory.com/

Hope and History

Building Peace in N.Ireland

As Richard Haass arrives to help to see us through our current impasse we, as members of different church traditions, want to encourage our leaders and our community as a whole to seek the common good at this most opportune of times.

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Professor John Brewer, along with other members of the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice at Queen's, will be attending a workshop at the University of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur on 5-6 September, on comparisons between Malaysia and Northern Ireland with respect to religion, ethnicity, conflict and peace. Other members of the Institute attending are the Director, Professor Hastings Donnan, and Senior Fellow, Professor Pete Shirlow. Colleagues in Malaysia will be making a return visit to Belfast later in the year. John Brewer's talk will outline the nature of religious divisions in Northern Ireland, their impact on conflict, and the role of religious peace building in Northern Ireland.

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Sandra Rios

I was recently selected among 69 applications worldwide and awarded a bursary for the global competition for participation in the 12th International Sociological Association International Laboratory for PhD Students, Towards a Global Sociology, organised jointly with the University of Sydney’s School of Social & Political Sciences from 15 to 20 July 2013. 

Sydney Rios1 Word Document

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Are there other politicians and civil society activists prepared to show the courage to talk in an non-adversarial way about hope, vision, calling for the future? Can you? Compromise after Conflict blog wants people of every and all political positions to outline their vision for the future. Please contact Professor John Brewer j.brewer@qub.ac.uk or Dr Francis Teeney f.teeney@qub.ac.uk  for details of how to contribute to the Blog.

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“John Brewer will be giving a talk at St Oliver Plunkett’s Church Hall on Thursday 8^th August at 7pm as part of this year’s  Feile an Phobail.   He will give his thoughts on the role of religion and the institutional churches during the conflict and the peace process and also on the significance of religion for many ex-combatants”.

http://www.feilebelfast.com/religion-conflict-and-peace-in-the-north-of-ireland/

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'Duncan Scott has article published in the Journal of Youth Studies on  youth violence in South Africa'.

http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/nIWeeRZAbHsCSTg72px5/full

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"All at the Compromise after Conflict team would like to extend warm congratulations to Dr Laura Fowler Graham on the occasion of her recent graduation. Laura spent a very productive 3 years based in Northern Ireland researching victim, victims groups and their leaders. A very challenging area which she navigated very professionally indeed. We all wish her every success for the future"

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Professor John Brewer and his wife Catriona spent ‌a lovely day when they attended the Irish President's Garden Party at Aras an Uachtarain on 12^th July. It was also an honour to meet the President’s wife. An added pleasure was that the President is a sociologist – needless to say it was a great day that will live long in the memory

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The Peace Bell at Aras an Uachtarain ,was inaugurated under the presidency of Mary McAleese, to mark 10 years of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

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Professor John Brewer will give the 2013 Annual Academy of Social Science Lecture in London on Thursday 4 July on the topic of the public value of the social sciences.

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Kilcooley Women's Centre are pleased to announce a year of acaadenic succcess that they will celebrate on Friday 21st June. Two members of Compromise after Conflict team (Professor John Brewer and Dr Dave Magee) have played a part in helping them acheive their academic objectives. Professor Brewer recently gave a talk to the women and Dr Magee is a regular visitor and tutor. The entire Compromise after Conflict team is happy to be associated with this venture and wish to encourage the women to aim even higher in their academic endeavours.

Throughout the world women have made a valuable contribution in post conflict areas; empowerment of women; have been to the forefront on issues of women's rights and help to create conditions were women can partake in educational courses that will further these objectives. Well done the women of Kilcooley 

Killcooley Women PDF

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Last month (May 7th) Professor Brewer delivered a lecture
at Kilcooley Women's Centre.  The lecture was delivered to a group of
women involved in exploring grassroots peacebuilding at the Centre.  The
lecture focused on the case study of Sri Lanka, where Professor Brewer has been
involved in assisting local peacebuilding initiatives, in particular the role
of women in pioneering contact between Tamil and Sinhalese groups post-conflict. 
Since the lecture some of the women who attended have been involved in
discussions as to how they can fund-raise to support women's groups in Sri
Lanka, and hope to begin this soon.           

Kilcooley
Women's Centre is based in the heart of the predominantly loyalist estate of
Kilcooley, in Bangor, Co. Down.  Established in 1995, it works with a wide
range of women, on broad issues ranging from education, training and
employability to health and wellbeing and affordable childcare.  The organisation
plays a pivotal role in the local community in developing and delivering peace
and reconciliation thematics, through training initiatives, cross and intra
community programmes and the promotion of women from the community into public
life roles.

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Jeffrey Alexander

Jeffrey Alexander participates in Leverhulme workshop programme

The Leverhulme research programme workshop held in Queen’s University 3-5 June this year, had the great pleasure and privilege to hear a presentation by Jeffrey Alexander as part of its programme. The event was held under the auspices of the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice and also formed part of its series of launch events. The event was co-sponsored by the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work at Queen’s and our own research programme, which is located in the Institute. Jeffrey Alexander is Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology at Yale University, and he spoke on the theme of social or collective trauma and focused on the cultural processes involved in constructing senses of trauma in societies and groups, using the Holocaust and Nanjing as examples. Professor Alexander is one of the world’s leading sociologists (a measure of which can be seen at http://www.yale.edu/sociology/faculty/pages/alexander/), and it was a great pleasure and privilege to have him visit Queen’s, the Institute and to meet the Leverhulme research team. It is a measure of how personable and warm Jeffrey is that he subsequently wrote to John Brewer thanking him for the invitation, saying: “It was a real pleasure to meet you and your impressive colleagues -- Bernie and I had a great talk over beer later that evening -- and to see the large scope of the Institute and your own projects on issues so close to my heart. I hope we have an opportunity to carry those forward.”

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Viva success for Dave Magee

We are pleased to announce that one of our PhD students,
Dave Magee, has successfully defended his thesis subject to very minor
corrections. Dave’s thesis, ‘The Deconstruction of Violent Masculinities among
Ulster Loyalists’ was supervised by Professor John Brewer, his external
examiner was Professor Jim McNally and internal examiner Professor Bernie
Hayes.  We are delighted at Dave’s success in what was a very sensitive
area to work in. In order to gain access to such hard to reach groups he
immersed himself in the Loyalist community and has been to the forefront of
trying to instil education as a vehicle of positivity. Dave’s level of access
and his expertise of Loyalism will stand to him in the future and we are
confident he will be a leading commentator and academic on this subject. We
also wish to thank Dave for his contribution to the Compromise after Conflict
programme. Our warmest congratulations go out to him and we wish him all the
best for his future. We are all very proud of his achievement.

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Victims are moral beacons in Northern Ireland

In two pieces of research
undertaken as part of the Leverhulme programme, John Brewer and Bernie
Hayes report results that show that victims in Northern Ireland can be moral
beacons pointing toward a progressive and shared future. The first
has yet to be published but forms part of the working paper recently loaded to
the Publications Section of the website and is reported in the Blog. It
conclusively shows that victims are less punitive toward ex-combatants than
non-victims with respect to four popularly canvassed policies. The second piece
of research has just appeared in the current issue of the journal Political
Studies  (volume 61, issue 2, 2013: 442-61), and uses data from the
2010 Northern Ireland Election Survey, which Bernie Hayes was involved with
separately, and shows that individual victims - those who had directly and
indirectly experienced violent incidences and perceived themselves as victims -
were significantly more supportive of power sharing arrangements under the Good
Friday Agreement than non-victims. This held true regardless of whether
Protestants or Catholic victims are considered. Again this confirms the
suggestion that it is possible to honour victims in such a way that their past
can be used as a route into inheriting the future.

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ISCTSJ Latest Newsletter

 ISCTSJ Latest Newsletter PDF

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Belfast workshop 3-5 June 2013

The next workshop funded under the
project is to be held in the Board Room in the School of Psychology at Queen's
University. Workshops take place twice a year to bring the Aberdeen and Belfast
based members of the team together. The last was in November 2012 in Aberdeen.
The next is taking place 3-5 June and will incorporate into the programme two
events that are part of the launch of the new Institute for the Study of
Conflict Transformation and Social Justice, a lecture by Michael Ignatieff
on Politics as a Vocation and a seminar by Jeffrey Alexander on cultural
trauma.

 Leverhulme workshop June 2013 Word Document

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Compromise
after Conflict moves to a new home.

The Compromise after Conflict research project
sponsored by Leverhulme has moved to Queen’s University Belfast. In an exciting
development we have become part of the Institute for the Study of  Conflict Transformation and Social Justice
(ISCTSJ) http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/isctsj/

We are looking forward to widening our base of
expertise in the field of peaceful transitional arrangements; the plight of
victims in post conflict societies and how we deal with the past in my post
conflict areas of the world. Joining forces with Queen’s University and
especially the dedicated staff and researchers across many disciplines will
bring added dimensions to a field of research and post conflict grievances
demanding to be addressed. Please revisit our News section in the coming weeks
for further updates, developments  and
announcements on these matters.

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Compromise
after Conflict Twitter Following breaks through 6000 followers

In an almost incredible achievement the Twitter
following of Compromise after Conflict broke through the 6000 followers mark.
Only a few short weeks ago we were celebrating the 5000 follower barrier and
believed we could not go much higher especially as our field of research would
not be of rock star popularity. Yet in less than a month we now stand at 6330 –
and climbing every single day. The quality of our followers can sometimes leave
us a bit star struck as we attract all the major media organisations from
across the world; International Governments, NATO, United Nations, European
Union as well as world leaders including President Obama and Nelson Mandela.
Our Tweets have been picked up and published or Re-Tweeted by many influential
organisations and politicians. Perhaps 7000 followers is not an unrealistic
goal after all.  Please follow us
@Compromisestudy

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Compromise after Conflict social media presence joins with Institute for the Study of  Conflict Transformation and Social Justice (ISCTSJ)

Following our move to the Institute for the Study of
Conflict Transformation and Social Justice (ISCTSJ) at Queen’s University
Belfast http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/isctsj/
we are happy to announce that our successful social media presence of Twitter
and Facebook will now also be the official accounts for our new partners in the
Institute. In an exciting move our social media 
followers and friends  will be
able to receive a constant feed of material and news covering the fields of
research that encompass the dynamic range of subjects covered by to the
Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice (ISCTSJ)
at Queen’s University Belfast. You can follow them and us @Compromisestudy.
Also our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Compromise-After-Conflict/397300973637278  will also be the official vehicle of our new
partners. Please keep checking in for regular news and views. We look forward
to receiving your comments and we know that you will enjoy joining in the
social media experience with all those connected with Institute for the Study
of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice (ISCTSJ) at Queen’s University
Belfast.

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Sandra Rios has won a place, against fierce international competition, on the prestigious ISA summer school in Sydney 2013.

Sandra Rios has been selected to participate in the 12th International Sociological Association International Laboratory for PhD Students that will be organised jointly with the University of Sydney's School of Social & Political Sciences, July 15-20, 2013. The ISA has granted Sandra a scholarship to attend the workshop and give a presentation on her dissertation project. The ISA selected 12 applicants and received 69 applications. The theme of this year's ISA Laboratory is Towards a Global Sociology. It is becoming increasingly difficult to contain sociological research within the boundaries of the nation-state, sociological analysis does not stop at border control. This raises a number of methodological and conceptual problems and issues with which all current research in sociology needs to engage. Towards a Global Sociology will be the focus of a series of lectures during the laboratory week, and these lectures will be delivered by leading sociologists from Australia and internationally. The core of the programme will remain, however, the presentations by the students of their own work and subsequent discussion by the group of participants.

The International Sociological Association (ISA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to scientific purposes in the field of sociology and social sciences. It is an international sociological body, gathering both individuals and national sociological organizations. The ISA was founded in 1949 under UNESCO and it has about 4,500 individual and 45 collective members, hailing from 167 countries.

25 March 2013

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Project on music and social capital amongst Northern Irish youth

 On 5 March 2013, Laura Graham presented at the Music & Diplomacy conference at Tufts University and Harvard University in Massachusetts, a new project proposal to help build bridging forms of social capital amongst Protestant and Catholic youths in Belfast through the use of creative open-source technology.  The open-source music workshop, which is the brainchild of Laura Graham and her husband Dr. Richard Graham, will employ a unique approach to cross-community relationship building amongst adolescents aged 15-19 who come from disadvantaged neighborhoods at the interface in Belfast.  The workshop aims to engage these youths in team building exercises and leadership development while learning ICT, music production and performance skill sets to improve educational and employment opportunities for workshop participants.  The project stems from Laura Graham's doctoral research as part of the Compromise After Conflict study and Dr. Richard Graham's doctoral research at The University of Ulster.  Laura Graham recently progressed successfully through her viva at the University of Aberdeen and is now a Lecturer in Peace and Justice Studies at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts

Link to Power Point: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3zbehbirz51td71/Music%20and%20Diplomacy%20Presentation.pptx 

John Brewer

08 March 2013

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Presentation highlights challenges of researching culturally sensitive topics in South Africa

Duncan presented at the 14^th Annual 'Researching Africa Day' workshop for graduate students at St. Antony's College Oxford, on Saturday 23 February. Duncan, whose talk was entitled 'Action-Researchers as Gatekeepers in a Participatory Research Project', discussed strategies to negotiate social barriers to accessing and acquiring sensitive research data in under-resourced South African schools. Prior to coming to Aberdeen, Duncan worked at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa, South Africa's equivalent to the ESRC, which collaborated with the Centre for Commonwealth Education at Cambridge University to develop participatory HIV/AIDS and sexuality education curriculums for 12-year-olds in schools across six African countries. He is associated with the Leverhulme team at Aberdeen, although funded by a prestigious Commonwealth International Studentship, and his PhD is on faith-based NGOs in Cape Town and their contribution to transitional justice in post-apartheid South Africa.

John Brewer

28 February 2013

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Laura's viva took place on Thursday 14 February, St Valentine's Day, and it proved a very happy occasion for Laura, with the award of the PhD subject to very minor amendments. Laura is teaching a semester course at Tufts University in Boston and immediately went from the viva to her class; and this after a long commute from New Jersey to Boston. Nonetheless, she performed very well in the viva and believes that the changes will take no more than a few days to make. Congratulations on behalf of the whole Leverhulme team are owed to Laura as the first of the Leverhulme-funded students to defend her thesis.

John Brewer

18 February 2013

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The 3rd Annual Report, outlining progress on the programme and key highlights for 2011-12, is now published and can be accessed in the Publications Section of the website. It contains the assessment of progress made by the International Advisory Board to whom the Report is submitted for external review. The International Advisory oard end their assessment as follows: 'The project, like all large-scale social science projects, has encountered some setbacks, but the team have dealt with them in a pragmatic, sensible fashion which has not compromised the intellectual integrity of the work. The members of the International Advisory Board congratulate the group on their work and wish them well for the coming year.'

John Brewer

15 January 2013

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Natascha Mueller-Hirth have birth at 2.00pm on 22 November 2012 to a healthy baby boy named Finn, weighing 4kg. Congratulations to Natascha and her family from the whole Leverhulme team.

John Brewer

22 November 2012

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Ex-Combatants, Religion and Peace in Northern Ireland: The Role of Religion in Transitional Justice

The first book under the imprint of the new series Palgrave Studies in Compromise after Conflict is shortly to appear (January 2013). Written by John Brewer (University of Aberdeen), Dave Mitchell (University of Ulster) and Gerard Leavey (University of Ulster), and based on a project funded by the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health in 2010-11, it explores the role of religion in the lives of ex-combatants in Northern Ireland, both Republican and Loyalist. It looks at their use of religion as a material and spiritual resource in the decision to engage in the military struggle, to cope with the strains of the military campaign itself, and in the decision to desist from violence and to engage in the peace process. Entitled Ex-Combatants, Religion and Peace in Northern Ireland: The Role of Religion in Transitional Justice, it uses this case study as a means to theorise the role of religion in transitional justice, developing a model that helps understand the opportunities and constraints operating on religious actors when intervening in transitional justice. It makes a case for religion in transitional justice but warns that this is highly constrained by the type of intervention and the context.

The link to the series and the book on the publisher's website is:

http://www.palgrave.com/products/SearchResults.aspx?s=PSCAC&fid=96276&sort=or_0

16 October 2012

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Palgrave Studies in Compromise after Conflict

This series aims to bring together in one series scholars from around the world who are researching the dynamics of post-conflict transformation in societies emerging from communal conflict and collective violence.  The series welcomes studies of particular transitional societies emerging from conflict, comparative work that is cross-national, and theoretical and conceptual contributions that focus on some of the key processes in post-conflict transformation. The series is purposely interdisciplinary and addresses the range of issues involved in compromise, reconciliation and societal healing.  It focuses on interpersonal and institutional questions, and the connections between them.

Series editor is John D Brewer (Aberdeen University), Principal Investigator of the Leverhulme programme.

International Advisory Board: John Braithwaite (Australian National University), Hastings Donnan (Queen's University Belfast), Brandon Hamber (University of Ulster), Ian McAlister (Australian National University), William Mishler (University of Arizona), Barbara Misztal (University of Leicester), Orla Muldoon (University of Limerick), and Clifford Shearing (University of Cape Town).

 The series welcome proposals on a range of topics, including:

·         What peace means in terms of restoration, reconciliation and relationship re-building in post-conflict societies.

·         Emotion work after communal conflict, and the meaning and place of forgiveness, anger, rage, compromise, hope, resentment, empathy and the like.

·         The link between peacebuilding and cultural processes like art, ritual, religion, gender, media and so on.

·         The forms of social, cultural and institutional change needed to assist interpersonal compromise and transformation

·          The link between compromise and new forms of memory work and memorialisation, new forms of ritual or symbolic behaviour, new social networks, kin groups and the like.

·         The needs and policy requirements of victims and perpetrators

·         Transitional justice and conflict transformation, forms of truth recovery work and the links between truth recovery, justice and compromise

·         The role of education, gender empowerment, transitional justice, religion, memory and the like in post-conflict recovery

·         Case studies of particular post-conflict societies, or cross-national comparisons, employing qualitative, quantitative or mixed method data

The first book published under the series will appear in January 2013 by John D Brewer, Dave Mitchell and Gerard Leavey, entitled Ex-Combatants, Religion and Peace in Northern Ireland: The Role of Religion in Transitional Justice. It is a study of the contribution made by ex-combatants in Northern Ireland to the peace process and the mediating role of religion in their decision to shift from a military to a political strategy.

Books arising from the Leverhulme-funded programme 'Compromise after Conflict' are due to appear over the next few years. The series is also intended to publish the PhD theses of students funded under the programme, where appropriate, work written by the PDFs that is published separately, as well as works submitted by other authors to the series. 

Here is a copy of Palgrave's flyer for the series:

Palgrave Studies in Compromise flyer.pdf

The link to the series on the publisher's website is:

http://www.palgrave.com/products/SearchResults.aspx?s=PSCAC&fid=96276&sort=or_0

John Brewer

16 October 2012

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