Dealing with violence as part of social crises has been a constant feature in African, Latin American and Caribbean societies since the beginning of European expansion in the late 15th century. Violence appeared in different forms such as conquest and colonisation, the slave trade and slavery, repression in authoritarian political systems, civil wars, ethnic violence, 'feminicidios' and organized crime. In spite (or because) of these challenges, the societies of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa have again and again come up with their own strategies for managing conflicts and ending processes of violence. In this respect, efforts to settle civil wars and internal armed conflicts have generated innovative, alternative conflict resolution strategies. Social reconciliation through, e.g., the establishment of truth commissions proved to be a successful concept.
While history, anthropology and sociology primarily address the issues of continuity and change and the social, cultural, economic and political origins of both, violence and the settlement of conflicts, other disciplines like film, literature and cultural studies engage with the collective memory of violence as well as the processes of remembering and forgetting in the context of specific forms, such as trauma narratives. Literary, cinematic, and other narratives have repeatedly excelled in fathoming the social origins and consequences of different violent processes.
The symposium will address different origins, forms and outcomes of various violent processes occurring in both African as well as Latin American and Caribbean societies and discuss existing peculiarities and commonalities in terms of their forms, patterns and development. In a second step, the focus will be on strategies for the settlement of conflicts.
More information: https://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/veranstaltungen/veranstaltungskalender/herrenh%C3%A4user-symposien/dealing-with-violence-in-africa-latin-america-and-the-caribbean