Grasping the Context

Abstract

Nothing happens in isolation and there is always history and spatiality that mediate the present state of affairs. Social conflicts are historical and geographical in nature, and in order to explore them and transform them, it is necessary to have a method. This chapter offers such a method. Drawing from ethnographic approaches from anthropology, and from practical methods such as Theory U and dynamical systems theory (DST), this chapter offers a dedicated study of a conflict area (Medellin, Colombia), and of how peace knowledge emerges from it. By peace knowledge the authors refer to contextual knowledge of specific peacebuilding and peacekeeping strategies that are rooted and specific to particular cultures and societies. This chapter discusses the method that they have developed to engage with social contexts to both identify the ways communities respond peacefully to conflicts, and to elicit culturally sensitive practices that have the potential to transform violent conflicts.