News
Retrospect – Inception workshop of Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions
21-23 June 2023, University of Bayreuth
The workshop tackled different approaches to the study of peace and conflict in transition
processes focusing on how societies, politics, the parameters of knowledge, and peace itself are changing. Generalizations about change are difficult to make, yet systematically tackling aspects of changing practices of peace and worldviews of conflict is relevant for both academia and societies. Therefore, the workshop focused in on how actors lobby for, contest, negotiate, and try to debunk views, thereby shaping transition processes. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, we used a variety of lenses and examined contestations and change in key areas of interest such as modes of violence and war, the question of justice, norms and values of conflict, knowledge and epistemologies, and the very definition of peace.
Thereby, the workshop sought to further the study of conflicts that spark occur within, and
follow from transition processes and to elaborate on the consequences for peace. Moreover, the
workshop aimed to launch the research network Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions and to bring
together researchers whose overlapping intellectual interests promise to facilitate productive
exchange.
