Reconciliation and Building a Sustainable Peace: Competing Worldviews in South Africa and Beyond

Description

This book explores how competing worldviews impact on intergroup relations and building a sustainable peace in culturally diverse societies. It raises the question of what happens in a culturally diverse society when competing values and ways of interpreting reality collide and what this means for peace-building and the goal of reconciliation. Moreover, it provides a valuable and needed contribution to how peace-building interventions can become more sustainable if tied into local values and embedded in a society’s system of meaning-making. The book engages with questions relating to the extent transitional policies speak to universal values and individualist societies and the implications this might have for how they are implemented in collective societies with different values and forms of social organisation. It raises the question of cultural equality and transformation and whether or not this is something that needs to be addressed within peace-building theory. It argues that inculcating worldview into peace-building theory and practice is a vital part of restoring dignity and promoting healing among victims and formerly oppressed groups. This book, therefore, makes an important contribution to what is at best a partially researched topic by providing a deeper understanding of how identity and culture intersect with peace-building when seeking to build a sustainable peace. Front Matter ....Pages i-xx Introduction: The Significance of Cultural Diversity on Peace-Building in Divided Societies (Cathy Bollaert)....Pages 1-19 The Rainbow Nation: Identity, Intergroup Relations and Worldviews in South Africa (Cathy Bollaert)....Pages 21-45 Anchoring Concepts: Sustainable Peace, Identity, Culture and Worldview (Cathy Bollaert)....Pages 47-81 Worldview Diversity Within South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Cathy Bollaert)....Pages 83-98 Exploring the Diversity of Worldviews in South Africa (Cathy Bollaert)....Pages 99-121 Through the Eyes of the ‘Other’: Interpreting Peace and What Is Required for Building a Sustainable Peace (Cathy Bollaert)....Pages 123-162 Transitional Policies, Group Identity and Intergroup Relations (Cathy Bollaert)....Pages 163-183 Contributions and Recommendations: A Worldview Perspective for Peace-Building and Reconciliation in South Africa and Beyond (Cathy Bollaert)....Pages 185-199 Back Matter ....Pages 201-209