Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice

Transcription

1 EqUIP EU-India Platform for Social Sciences and Humanities Reflection Paper (D.3.2) on the EqUIP Symposium on Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice October 2016 Sohna, Haryana, India Report prepared by the Research Council of Norway (RCN) with Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) This project has received funding from the European Union s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no

2 Contents Executive Summary... 4 Background... 5 What is EqUIP?... 5 EqUIP Symposium Series... 5 Scope of Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice... 6 Aims and Formats of the Symposium... 7 Symposium Participants... 8 Topical Sessions Social Justice, Power and Identity (Topic 1) Challenge I: Staying relevant and close to social reality Challenge II: Addressing institutional barriers Challenge III: Overcoming conceptual and cultural biases Opportunity I: Exploring difference, diversity and (de)democratization Opportunity II: Research for/on cross-cultural enrichment Opportunity III: Critically rethinking globalization and justice Gender and Conflict (Topic 2) Challenge I: Thinking of gender in singular terms Chellenge II: Categorization, womanhood and data construction Challenge III: Marginalization of gender research Opportunity I: Redefining gender and conflict Opportunity II: Intercultural exchange for new knowledge Opportunity III: New attention to patriarchy and masculinity Peace and Conflict Resolution (Topic 3) Challenge I: Back to the basics? Challenge II: Rethinking taken-for-granted categories and templates Challenge III: Grounding peace and conflict resolution Opportunity I: Enriching the palette of conflict resolution Opportunity II: Discovering the pluralities of peace Opportunity III: Bringing together peace research and political economy

3 Crosscutting Sessions Formulating Research Priorities Choosing the Top Priorities Research Priorities Concluding Remarks Annexes Annex A: Symposium Programme Annex B: Moderators Guide Annex C: Symposium Participants

4 Executive Summary This is a report on the EqUIP symposium on Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice, which took place at The Gateway Resort in Sohna, Haryana, India, on October The objective of this symposium the fifth in the EqUIP symposium series was to identify key priorities for future collaborative research between European and Indian researchers in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). Another important aim of the symposium series was to facilitate networking among European and Indian SSH researchers. Participants were invited to this symposium based mainly on suggestions from EqUIP member organisations. The symposium had a total of fifty registered participants, representing thirty-nine different organisations from all over India and Europe, of which 46% were from India, and 44% were women. Among the six keynote speakers who presented at the symposium, there was an equal share of speakers from India and Europe, and an equal number of women and men. Moderators of group discussions were staff of EqUIP member organisations and the convener, the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). The symposium was chaired by Dr. Åshild Kolås, Research Professor (PRIO). Results of group discussions (World Cafés) on Day One of the symposium were written up, distributed and presented in the morning of Day Two, in the format of World Café Proceedings. These are presented in this report, under the heading Topical Sessions. We also present a synthesis of the results of the formulation of key priorities, under the heading Crosscutting Sessions. The symposium identified five key research priorities for future Indo-European SSH research collaboration within the topics of this symposium. The priorities are: 1. Reinventing the Community: Politics and Belonging in India and Europe 2. Rethinking Statehood, Citizenship and the Social Contract in India and Europe 3. Social Justice, New Movements and Political Alternatives 4. Global Challenges and Local Scenarios: Contesting the "Traditional" 5. Gender Intersectionality: The Changing Nature of Gender Relations in India and Europe Another five thematic priority areas were also formulated in the symposium, but received less support than the five priority areas listed above. These are: 1. Understanding Youth Radicalization in Europe and India 2. Power and Democracy: Knowledge Production, the University and the Public Sphere 3. Democratic Politics, Development Agendas and the Political Economy of Peace 4. Pluralities of Peace: Peace Discourses in India and Europe 5. The Role of Cultural Resistance in Transnational Networks 4

5 Background This is a report on the EqUIP Symposium on Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice, held at The Gateway Resort in Sohna, India on October What is EqUIP? The EU India Platform for the Social Sciences and Humanities (EqUIP) brings together researchers and research funding agencies to discuss research and support for research organizations from Europe and India, in order to develop a stronger strategic partnership for multilateral research collaboration in the Social Sciences and Humanities. 1 Key objectives of the EqUIP Platform are: to provide a more coherent overview of the current scope of collaborative research activity between Europe and India in the Social Sciences and Humanities, to provide foundations for enhanced inter agency cooperation between research funding agencies in India and Europe in the Social Sciences and Humanities, to develop best practice approaches and identify challenges for research cooperation between Europe and India in the Social Sciences and Humanities, to identify opportunities and priorities for future research collaboration between Europe and India in the Social Sciences and Humanities, and to establish networks of pan European and Indian researchers in the Social Sciences and Humanities conducting excellent research addressing cutting edge questions. The EqUIP platform supports Social Sciences and Humanities research funding agencies across Europe and India to build a stronger strategic partnership, increase opportunities for networking and dialogue amongst researchers, and explore ways of working together to enable future joint research programming. In particular, EqUIP aims to identify barriers and challenges to effective research co-operation and search for opportunities and priorities for future research collaboration by organizing a series of symposia. With the assistance of academic experts, a total of 38 research priorities and strategic areas that were identified and described by EqUIP partner organisations have been organised into five themes, and one EqUIP symposium has been organized on each of the five themes. This constitutes the EqUIP Symposium Series. EqUIP Symposium Series The EqUIP project has organised altogether six academic symposia: one for each of five selected themes, and a final symposium, which will compile and discuss the results from the other five symposia. The themes of the EqUIP symposia (listed in Table 1 below) were defined in the EqUIP Scoping Report. 1 For more information about EqUIP, see: 5

6 Table 1. Overview of the EqUIP Symposium Series EqUIP Symposium Inequalities, Growth and Place/Space Digital Archives and Databases as a Source of Mutual Knowledge Sustainable Prosperity, Well-being and Innovation Social Transformations, Cultural Expressions, Cross-Cultural Connections and Dialogue Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice Final Symposium Time and place October 2015, India 5-6 May 2016, Italy 9-10 June 2016, Finland June 2016, India October 2016, India October 2016, Slovenia The aim of the EqUIP Symposium Series was to facilitate expert discussions to gain a full and nuanced view within the broad themes that were identified, and develop expert recommendations to the EqUIP partners on priority areas for future research collaboration. The symposia were also meant to create opportunities for networking between experts in the Social Sciences and Humanities from across Europe and India. Experts from relevant disciplines, from both Europe and India, nominated by EqUIP partners, were invited to each event to discuss the opportunities and challenges in each thematic area, exploring the potential added value in addressing societal challenges through a distinctly Indo-European research agenda, and thereby identifying needs and priorities for future research collaboration. The EqUIP Symposium Series has provided opportunities to: stimulate the networking of existing collaborative projects working in areas of mutual interest, create new networks to identify and explore the state of the art research needs of a thematic area, strengthen the production, use and communication of existing research findings to policy makers and practitioners, share experiences of the challenges of undertaking collaborative research between Europe and India, and how these challenges can be overcome, and most importantly, identify broad research priorities for possible future collaborative initiatives among research funders. Scope of Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice The EqUIP Scoping Report defines the theme of the symposium on Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice as follows: 2 Workshop D. Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice Summary This theme is concerned with enabling and understanding conflict resolution and social justice. It will be organised around the topics of social diversity and structures, gender and conflict, with the latter including issues relating to peace and therefore linking to the Sustainable prosperity and well-being (Theme A) and Inequalities, growth and place/space (Theme B) groups. As described by the Scoping Report, the core areas of this theme are: Social and power structures and justice Gender issues particularly related to women Conflict and conflict resolution, including peace Inequalities in this context focuses more on understanding social and cultural diversity and 2 See the Scoping Report online here: Report-on-Existing-Collaboration-and-Future-Interests-and-Opportunities.pdf 6

7 should be fundamentally embedded across all core areas of this theme. The Scoping Report further notes that: The complexity of this theme may lead to tension between those scholars that study the reform of the existing structure by studying State processes (such as international law studies) and those who study bottom-up changes (such as activism). Experts suggest that calls should be formulated in a way that accommodates both approaches. Whilst some of the considerations in this theme are specific to India e.g. caste system, it was emphasised that this should not just be an India theme. Peace and conflict was highlighted as a particular area of equal relevance and for example Indian researchers and the Indian traditions, such as the Gandhian one, could contribute to the study of conflict in Europe and European thinking about peace. As core partner priorities relevant to this theme, the Scoping Report lists the following: Inequality, Social Diversity and Differences Public Protests, Identity Politics, Social Justice Democratisation Human Security Peace and Conflict Resolution Gender Violence and its Social Roots Social Structure, Caste System, Gender Aims and Formats of the Symposium The overarching objective of the symposium on Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice was to identify areas of potential collaboration between European and Indian research institutions, and researchers of India and Europe. This was based on the idea that Indo-European research collaboration should involve cross cultural communication and facilitate in depth collaborative studies of localized understandings. Research collaboration between India and Europe should also include a multiplicity of perspectives, drawing on both the Social Sciences and Humanities. The symposium used tools and methods designed to collect information and ideas on: - challenges and obstacles to collaborative research between Europe and India, - emerging and new research opportunities within the topics of this symposium, and - priority research areas of mutual interest for collaborative SSH initiatives between India and Europe. The symposium on Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice also sought to encourage scholars to rethink how academic research can contribute to peace and social justice. The symposium was organized around the three topics: 1. Social Justice, Power and Identity 2. Gender and Conflict 3. Peace and Conflict Resolution The symposium utilised inter-active formats designed to encourage a bottom up agenda setting process. On Day One, three topical sessions were each introduced by two 15-minute keynote presentations given by selected participants, of which one was from Europe and the other from India. The keynotes set the stage 7

8 for World Café discussions on each topic. 3 One moderator was seated at each of six World Café tables. The moderators were staff of EqUIP member organisations and the convener, the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). In each of the three World Cafés, participants joined two consecutive tables to discuss for minutes at each table. At the beginning of each session, a chairperson was elected from among the participants at each table. At the end, participants were asked to write up (on a post-it note) their thoughts on key challenges and opportunities for research within the topic under discussion. Participants were asked to add their name to the note, to enable the convener to identify the author of each note. The moderators then requested participants to move to a different table in order to engage in a new discussion. At the end of the session, participants had the opportunity to add to, or modify their note. The moderators then collected all the notes and forwarded them to the convener. The same procedure was repeated in the subsequent topical sessions: listening to keynote presentations (1/2 hour), discussing at two different tables, and writing up a note on challenges and opportunities related to the topic of discussion (1 hour). The compilation of notes was subsequently transcribed and collated by the convener into a document of World Café Proceedings. Day Two started with a presentation of the results of the topical discussions (World Café Proceedings) by the convener. This was followed by two crosscutting Open Space sessions, in which participants were again seated around six moderated tables. In the first Open Space session, participants were invited to discuss and write down (on a post it note) one key priority for research collaboration. Participants were again asked to add their name to the note, in order to enable identification. At the end of the session everyone was asked to post their note on a large poster board at the back of the conference hall. In the refreshment break, the convener sorted the notes with an eye to areas of convergence. Drawing on the most concisely formulated notes, the convener identified nine key priorities. Nine priorities were thus formulated by the convener, written up and posted at the top of the large poster boards. In the second Open Space session, participants were invited back into the conference hall to study the formulations on the poster boards. They were then asked to retrieve their own note and engage in a sorting exercise by placing their note under one of the key formulations. In case someone felt that their ideas were not captured by any of the nine formulations, participants were invited to add a new formulation onto the board. In the final phase of the last Open Space session, participants voted for five research priorities among ten candidate formulations. Using these methods, we finally arrived at the five key research priorities described in the Research Priorities section of this report. For a detailed programme and moderators guide, see Annexes A (Annex A: Symposium Programme) and B (Annex B: Moderators Guide). Symposium Participants Participants were invited to this symposium based mainly on suggestions from EqUIP member organisations. A strong effort was made to secure representation from all EqUIP member countries and associate member organisations, to ensure that the participants represented both the Humanities and Social Sciences and the entire spectrum of research topics covered by the symposium, also taking into account gender balance as well as the balance between Indian and European researchers. Unfortunately, 3 For a description of the World Café method, see: 8

9 we were unable to achieve participation from all EqUIP countries, as none of the invitees from the Netherlands were available. The symposium had a total of 50 registered participants. The participants represented 39 different organisations from all over India and Europe. About half of the participants were from India (46%) and Europe (54%). As regards to gender balance, the symposium had 22 female participants (44%) and 28 male participants (56%). Among the six keynote speakers who presented at the symposium, there was an equal share of speakers from India and Europe, and an equal number of women and men (three of each). The moderators of the group discussions were staff of EqUIP member organisations and the convener, the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). For a complete list of participants, see Annex C (Annex C: Symposium Participants). 9

10 Thematical Sessions The symposium had three thematical sessions, one for each of the topics under discussion. Two keynote speakers introduced each session one from Europe and one from India. This was followed by a World Café for each topic, as a tool for productive group discussions. In the World Café, participants were asked to write down one key obstacle or challenge, and one opportunity for future research on the topic in question in that particular session. The participants were then asked to move to a different table, to encourage participation in several discussions and wider engagement among participants. Towards the end of each session, participants were again asked to write down one key challenge and opportunity for future research. Syntheses of challenges and opportunities from each of the World Café sessions are presented below. Social Justice, Power and Identity (Topic 1) India and Europe are both among the most culturally, ethnically, and religiously diverse regions in the world. At the same time, both Europe and India are home to an extraordinary number of movements for social justice. While much of the academic theory-building has been focused on Europe, India known as the world's largest democracy is also a cradle of secular and revolutionary thinking, and a launching pad for many local, regional and international reformist and activist movements. In recent years, we have seen new forms of non violent resistance and new movements for social justice and peace, emerging especially among marginalized people. Social injustice has often been explained by inherent differences between social groups, in other words identity based inequality. While issues of identity are important, social conflict is also about the absence of institutional mechanisms to regulate power and contestations between groups, or about rapid social changes that pose a challenge to the mechanisms already in place. This can be observed in Europe as well as India. The discussions in this symposium suggest that Indo-European collaboration on the study of social justice, power and identity can enrich this field by illuminating the different ways in which people in India and Europe value, respond to and act on inequality and injustice. In so doing there is also a potential to bridge disciplines such as law, with its focus on the state, and social movement studies, with its focus on non-state organizations, through cross-disciplinary as well as transcontinental academic exchange. These were the results of the World Café discussions on the topic of Social Justice, Power and Identity (Topic 1): Synthesis of Challenges Challenge I: Staying relevant and close to social reality Constructing a perspective that is less academic and closer to the world that we seek to explain Developing a conceptual language to engage with empirical reality, whether in India or Europe Learning from living and being open-minded Making the realities of India (in terms of culture, history, society) more evident in research projects and calls Remaining relevant to society 10

11 Closing the gap between theoretical research and the impact that such research should have on the ground Combining academic interest with policy recommendations Making a contribution towards a real political conversation Navigating the politics of research collaboration Challenge II: Addressing institutional barriers Rethinking the insistence on standardization of research format Challenging biases against peripheral areas and ignorance of the margins Improving the coordination of research topics Becoming aware of the dominance of Western/European frames Supporting decentralization to avoid concentration of research in a few institutions Creating inclusive funding calls that provide room for new findings and approaches Rethinking the supposed gap between applied and basic research Addressing monopolization and gatekeeping of research by universities Overcoming biases against action-based research as risky Deconstructing the parameters of what is defined as good and fundable research, which is often defined narrowly and in homogenous ways De-centralization of research to enable multifaceted ways of building knowledge Addressing institutional barriers to funding Reviewing the marketization of higher education, technocratic and neo-liberal pressures on research Prioritizing smaller, more manageable collaborations to avoid oversized monster projects where collaboration suffers due to discontinuities of scale Making better use of new information technology enables more real-time academic collaboration Challenge III: Overcoming conceptual and cultural biases Assumptions that there is one Europe and one India, and disregard for discontinuities Lack of a common vocabulary Conceptual confusion India appears more as examined object than partner A need for decolonization of minds and academic practices Addressing the persistence of Orientalism, and the essentialization of Europe among Indian scholars Challenging persistent Eurocentrism in theory-building and conceptual work Paying attention to plurality and diversity, whether in India or Europe Putting internal colonization in Europe on the agenda Rethinking the way we manage cultural specificities in comparative research Addressing the challenges of comparison in comparative studies Building conceptual agreement Listening to marginalized and minority voices Synthesis of Opportunities Opportunity I: Exploring difference, diversity and (de)democratization Studying different historical routes to democracy, and loss or recession of democracy Exploring the governance of difference in a longue durée perspective 11

12 Working on the theme of power and democracy in the university, and the emergence of the university as a public sphere Researching affirmative action in both India and Europe Studying minorities and legal practice Researching minorities in the media, in production of news and views/opinions Studying political voices and activism of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and sexual identity movements in India and Europe Developing new theories based on research in both Indian and European diversity, and new narratives and solutions to social problems in both regions Studying the construction of concepts such as majority and minority in both Europe and India, highlighting elements of distinctiveness as enriching Opportunity II: Research for/on cross-cultural enrichment Introducing new concepts of Indian ethics such as ahimsa 4 into European epistemological frameworks Enabling Indian research on European societies to allow Indian critiques of Europe Engaging with vernacular forms of knowledge to deconstruct existing forms of knowledge hierarchies Building new concepts and common ground from cultural specificities Using a deep knowledge of Indian society to question and investigate social sciences and humanities concepts in order to enrich these disciplines Opportunity III: Critically rethinking globalization and justice Contextualising global challenges in local scenarios Studying how global connectivity facilitates global and intercultural criticality Looking at rapid social change as opportunity for engagement, learning and sharing Exploring web-based knowledge production and globalization Offering critique of the approaches of international organizations Studying how conflict, justice and gender are negotiated locally Researching access to water and natural resources in a rights perspective Qualitative research on migration, displacement and refugees in Europe and India Action research as a way of reaching out to marginal communities and spaces Researching the relationship between science and society in localized case studies Gender and Conflict (Topic 2) Much of the literature on gender and conflict maintains a focus on militarism, insecurity, women's victimhood and violence against women. Another body of research highlights women's agency and the new opportunities for women arising during and after conflict (in post-conflict reconstruction). Conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes are hence understood as windows of opportunity for addressing gender inequality, women's equal rights and political participation, as also reflected in UNSC Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security. Conflict resolution could be understood as a potential site 4 Several streams of Indian religion and thinking (Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) have mentioned ahimsa essentially as a comprehensive negation of violence at all levels. Derived from the Sanskrit word (hiṃsā ), which means violence, a-hiṃsā connotes its negation or opposite. Best articulated by Mahatma Gandhi in recent times, it refers to non-violence against all living beings on the planet as well as its ecology. It also entails non-violence in thought, speech and action towards one and all, as well as an avowed commitment to peaceful means. 12

13 where women can contribute to a just and inclusive peace. While Indian as well as European scholars have contributed to reorienting the study of women and conflict towards a greater attention to women's agency, studies of gender and conflict in India have often been side-lined by the international debates, due partly to the framing of India's internal conflicts as matters of law and order, and partly to conflict resolution practices in which negotiations are held without civil society consultation. Nevertheless, Indian cases can offer important insights into the study of women's participation in peacebuilding in cases of conflict resolution without international intervention. Drawing on the discussions in this symposium, it is clear that Indo-European collaboration on the study of gender and conflict provides opportunities for critique of the assumptions and templates of contemporary liberal peacebuilding. Such collaboration also has the potential to enrich and redefine the study of gender and conflict, and even to move it into the very core of peace and conflict studies, by interrogating how conflict is defined and what security means, and by reengaging with theoretical frames and concepts such as structural and cultural violence. These were the results of the World Café discussions on the topic of Gender and Conflict (Topic 2): Synthesis of Challenges Challenge I: Thinking of gender in singular terms Lack of attention to the diversity of the gender category, and how the meanings and implications of gender vary across class, community and region Tendency to focus primarily or exclusively on women in conflict in the study of gender and conflict, limiting the potential of gender studies to inform conflict studies Side-lining of gender studies, especially in light of the strong gender relevance of key areas of SSH research such as migration, development, social movements and popular culture Limited attention to class and other important social divides in the study of gender and conflict Academic discourse on gender equality as an institutional norm, drawing attention away from the study of gender roles and practices to the extent that these may require new forms of rethinking Challenge II: Categorization, womanhood and data construction Underlying patriarchal norms still dominate both the academic discursive environment and the collection and organization of primary statistical data Conceptualizing gender remains problematic, bringing up questions about what (or who) is included and what (or who) is excluded in gender categories, which categories to use, and how to label or name them Challenges in terms of data collection, data reliability and data translatability, especially due to limited attention to the difficulties of comparing gender categories across class, region, country, etc. Life histories of individuals (women as well as men) tend to be filtered out of multidisciplinary research or undervalued as compared with large-n studies Accessing the field of conflict studies remains difficult, especially in terms of security challenges related to gender Continued naturalization and de-politicization of womanhood, and limited understanding of the category of woman as socio-culturally constructed identity rather than biological or natural Challenge III: Marginalization of gender research Tendency to conflate gender research with women s studies or feminism 13

14 Persistent gender imbalances in European and Indian academia Isolation and/or marginalization of gender research, as gender research is relegated to separate departments and programmes Misconstruction of gender studies as the study of women s issues Compartmentalizing women s issues under the rubrics of development, social inclusion and poverty reduction Equating women with gender, and ignoring masculinity studies as well as the study of nonbinary identities and experiences Confusing the methods of the academy with the teleology of activist engagement Synthesis of Opportunities Opportunity I: Redefining gender and conflict Exploring the linkages between the struggles and activism of women s movements and those of LGBT movements for equality and recognition of rights Including micro-histories in studies to create a more nuanced and multifaceted picture of ground realities and experiences Comparing gender in Europe and India to allow for a broader thematic approach, beyond feminist theory and narrowly defined women s issues Studying the relationship between conflict resolution and European post-war imperialist projects through a gender lens Reflecting on the social impact of feminist and LGBT studies in Europe and India Bringing the notion of intersectionality into the mainstream of peace and conflict research Cross-cultural collaboration to address patriarchal biases in the definition of conflict Redefining conflict with a focus on structural violence, everyday resistance and violence against women, thereby shifting gender closer to the center of peace and conflict studies Challenging the implicit liberal peace assumptions at the core of multilateral gender mainstreaming attempts through cross-country and/or cross-regional case studies Opportunity II: Intercultural exchange for new knowledge Deconstructing the category of gender in and across the Indian and European contexts, with attention to how gender and other forms of identity is fragmented along class, caste, religion, and regional divides Drawing on the work of Indian feminists on Islamophobia and the politics of women s rights to inspire research at the nexus between gender studies and political studies Researching tribal societies in India for alternative narratives to better understand gender relations and conflict Investigating Islamic feminism and feminism in European peace movements in a comparative perspective Studying similarities and differences between forms of oppression faced by Indian and European working women Drawing on both Indian and European experiences of caste and ethnicity, cultural, normative and socio-economic relations to broaden the scope of gender studies Opportunity III: New attention to patriarchy and masculinity Contributing comparative studies of masculinity in India and Europe Creating opportunities for cross-cultural research on the relationship between masculinity and patriarchy 14

15 Exploring the configuration of patriarchal power through multi-sited case studies, especially in relation to migration, power structures and inequality Applying a gender perspective to the study of British intellectual colonialism, masculinity and power as interlinked political weapons in the Indian context Expanding gender research to the study of masculinity across multifaceted social divides, contributing a gender approach to global studies Peace and Conflict Resolution (Topic 3) The post Cold War explosion of international peacebuilding operations has been criticized for advancing "Western" political agendas, ideas and norms at the expense of "the local". Moreover, critics have viewed the heavy involvement of multilateral and international organizations in shaping post conflict peacebuilding agendas as a form of top down social engineering. In response to such critiques, policymakers, practitioners and scholars have turned to the idea of supporting "local actors and structures" with a growing number of peacebuilding organizations promoting bottom up conflict transformation. This supposedly anchors peace in local ownership and participation. However, "grassroots peacebuilding" discourse reinforces the view that root causes of conflict are to be found in the cultural, social, and even psychological environments of what are often described as "conflict prone" societies or "failed states". With conflict conveniently "localized" to the periphery and the "under developed", an urgent task in the current rethinking of peace and conflict studies is to keep the focus on the "local" or "indigenous" without simultaneously "localizing" the roots of conflict. As discussed in this symposium, India is on the one hand among the most conflict prone countries in the world, and on the other hand it is rich with traditions of non violence made famous by Mahatma Gandhi, and the birthplace of several religions propagating the virtues of peace, like Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Addressing this conundrum necessitates a reinvestigation of Indian as well as European thinking about peace, and as importantly, collaborative studies of peace movements and activism across both continents. This would open up new avenues for the study of peace and justice, and the political economy of peace, to encourage a rethinking of contemporary peacebuilding and conflict resolution templates in Europe as well as India. Synthesis of Challenges Challenge I: Back to the basics? Critically reviewing exclusionary outcomes, monopolies of power and interests behind customary law Reassessing how democracy and its institutional modalities actually work Understanding conflict as rooted in struggles for control over natural resources Revisiting the idea of the nation state as the peacekeeper Reviewing the relationship between local and universal values Investigating the power of definition of conflict Questioning the need to resolve all conflicts, and problematizing the end goal of conflict resolution Critical thinking about conflict resolution as a barrier to peace, as a mechanism for perpetuating unequal power relations and/or injustice Deconstruction of normative approaches in peace and conflict studies to allow less prejudiced understandings of conflict, beyond good vs. bad, perpetrators vs. victims Challenge II: Rethinking taken-for-granted categories and templates Reconnecting the notion of peace with justice, and revisiting the meaning of justice 15

16 Exploring multiple meanings of peace and conflict, resisting textbook clichés Re-evaluating the relationship between traditional institutions and state mechanisms for conflict resolution Understanding through empirical study the local meanings of general categories like traditional and non-traditional Retrieving the voices and practices of those who defy or cut across ethnic lines Investigating multi-sovereign settings as challenges to our conceptions of the state Understanding the contradictions between peace and sustained inequality, and justice and reconciliation Resisting the technocratic use of conflict resolution templates, which are often promoted as readily transferable across cases, despite vital socio-cultural differences Challenge III: Grounding peace and conflict resolution Situating conflict within local contexts and histories Appreciating the subtleties of social change and its conflict potential Prioritizing situated, local knowledge about conflict and peace processes Attention to the interconnectedness of multiple conflicts and complexities of conflict Addressing the risk of moving conflict from one area to another, or redistributing resources from one group to another, in the process of allegedly resolving conflict Deconstructing culturalist approaches to identity, while appreciating diverse views Dealing with contestations over victimhood and emotional narratives of suffering Resisting the tendency to generalize, copy or model from other countries or contexts Raising awareness of differences in Indian and European understandings of key concepts such as peace, conflict, reconciliation, justice, conflict resolution Critically assessing the durability and appropriateness of non-indigenous or externally imposed conflict resolution templates Questioning the comparability of Europe as a continent and India as a country Synthesis of Opportunities Opportunity I: Enriching the palette of conflict resolution Studying conflict and its resolution at the grassroots level enriches our understanding of conflict resolution Critically assessing the notion of conflict as a celebration of diversity, asking not only how, but when conflict needs to be resolved Assessing the role of soft power in tackling conflicts and building cohesive societies Researching traditional methods of conflict resolution with a focus on whether and/or how they are applicable in new settings Studying successful cases with a variety of interventions including state interventions, local networks and non-conventional interventions to deepen our understanding of what works and how Exploring non-violence as a political ideology and its use I conflict resolution, in Indian and European contexts Opportunity II: Discovering the pluralities of peace Deepening our understanding of Indian political philosophies and their differences, especially the ideas of Ambedkar (Ambedkarism) as opposed to Gandhian thinking Revisiting access to justice as a prerequisite to peace Addressing peace and justice as both universals and locally specific, contingent and contextually embedded, across multiple sites in Europe and India 16

17 Exploring a variety of narratives, with attention to emotions Studying education about conflict and peace, looking at curricula as narratives Investigating histories about conflict and comparative works about conflict as objects of study, across European and Indian cases Interrogating the difference between pacification and peace Exploring social media discourse, and applying media studies to unpack the plurality of perspectives and discourses on peace, across India and Europe Opportunity III: Bringing together peace research and political economy Bringing political economy more squarely into peace research Revisiting the relationship between social change and conflict in a political economy perspective Bringing issues of resource control back into the peace and conflict research agenda Exploring more deeply the political economy of conflict as an untapped area of research Contextualising conflict research in relation to historical self-consciousness and with regard to macro-economic structures Exploring in-depth the political networks and stakeholders who construct peace movements and engage in peace activism Critically review democratic politics and development agendas to revisit their contributions to conflict, and assess how the cost of large-scale development schemes can be minimized 17

18 Crosscutting Sessions Day Two of the symposium started with a summary of the results of the topical discussions (as presented in the section above). This was followed by two crosscutting Open Space sessions, designed to identify and formulate key research priorities in the topics of the symposium of mutual interest for future collaborative research initiatives between India and Europe in the Social Sciences and Humanities. The final goal of the exercise was to select five top research priorities among a number of formulations proposed by the symposium participants. Formulating Research Priorities As a result of the first Open Space session of the symposium (described in detail in the section on Aims and Formats of the Symposium) the convener drew a total of nine formulations of potential research priorities from the notes of the symposium participants. One participant availed herself of the opportunity to add another formulation to the list (the tenth formulation listed below). The total number of formulations of key research priorities thus reached ten. These were the ten formulations: 1. Democratic Politics, Development Agendas and the Political Economy of Peace 2. Pluralities of Peace: Peace Discourses in India and Europe 3. Social Justice, New Movements and Political Alternatives 4. Rethinking Statehood, Citizenship and the Social Contract in India and Europe 5. Global Challenges and Local Scenarios: Contesting the "Traditional" 6. Power and Democracy: Knowledge Production, the University and the Public Sphere 7. Reinventing the Community: Politics and Belonging in India and Europe 8. Understanding Youth Radicalization in Europe and India 9. Gender Intersectionality: The Changing Nature of Gender Relations in India and Europe 10. The Role of Cultural Resistance in Transnational Networks Choosing the Top Priorities In the second and final Open Space session, participants were asked to vote for a maximum of five research priorities among the ten candidate formulations. 18

19 These are the research priorities along with the number of votes received by each of the candidates (in parentheses), with the top five formulations in bold: 1. Democratic Politics, Development Agendas and the Political Economy of Peace (15) 2. Pluralities of Peace: Peace Discourses in India and Europe (11) 3. Social Justice, New Movements and Political Alternatives (21) 4. Rethinking Statehood, Citizenship and the Social Contract in India and Europe (22) 5. Global Challenges and Local Scenarios: Contesting the "Traditional" (20) 6. Power and Democracy: Knowledge Production, the University and the Public Sphere (16) 7. Reinventing the Community: Politics and Belonging in India and Europe (30) 8. Understanding Youth Radicalization in Europe and India (16) 9. Gender Intersectionality: The Changing Nature of Gender Relations in India and Europe (18) 10. The Role of Cultural Resistance in Transnational Networks (7) Here are the ten research priorities sorted by number of votes each of them received from the participants: Reinventing the Community: Politics and Belonging in India and Europe (30) Rethinking Statehood, Citizenship and the Social Contract in India and Europe (22) Social Justice, New Movements and Political Alternatives (21) Global Challenges and Local Scenarios: Contesting the "Traditional" (20) Gender Intersectionality: The Changing Nature of Gender Relations in India and Europe (18) Understanding Youth Radicalization in Europe and India (16) Power and Democracy: Knowledge Production, the University and the Public Sphere (16) Democratic Politics, Development Agendas and the Political Economy of Peace (15) Pluralities of Peace: Peace Discourses in India and Europe (11) The Role of Cultural Resistance in Transnational Networks (7) From the plenary debate at the end of the symposium, we draw the conclusion that most, if not all, key concepts of relevance to contemporary SSH research can and should be questioned. A number of participants pointed to the lack of common meanings of key concepts, and voiced concerns about the usefulness of these concepts in terms of comparison or translation across continents and contexts. We reached an agreement to disagree, or a common understanding of the near impossibility of finding any unambiguous, non-contingent, universally homogenous concepts. However, we would see this as a source of strength, rather than a weakness. The potential of multi-sited and comparative research lies precisely in the ability it gives the researcher to shed new light on taken-for-granted theoretical underpinnings, to interrogate hegemonic understandings, and question assumptions about the universality or common nature of socio-culturally contingent meanings and conceptual frames. 19

20 Research Priorities These are the top five priorities for Indo-European collaborative research on Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice within the Social Sciences and Humanities, as identified by the symposium: 1. Reinventing the Community: Politics and Belonging in India and Europe 2. Rethinking Statehood, Citizenship and the Social Contract in India and Europe 3. Social Justice, New Movements and Political Alternatives 4. Global Challenges and Local Scenarios: Contesting the "Traditional" 5. Gender Intersectionality: The Changing Nature of Gender Relations in India and Europe The discussions in this symposium suggest that Indo-European collaboration on the study of social justice, power and identity can enrich the field by illuminating the different ways in which people in India and Europe value, respond to and act on inequality and injustice. In so doing, there is also a potential to bridge disciplines such as law, with its focus on the state, and social movement studies, with its focus on non-state organizations, through cross-disciplinary as well as transcontinental academic exchange. As regards the study of gender and conflict, symposium participants were alert to the opportunities of intersectional approaches to gender, while some called for a stronger focus on masculinity, patriarchy and LGBT studies. Both of these turns can benefit from cross-cultural insights combined with multidisciplinary perspectives. Indo-European collaboration on the study of gender and conflict can also provide opportunities for a critique of the assumptions and templates of contemporary liberal peacebuilding. By interrogating how conflict is defined and what security means, and by reengaging with theoretical frames and concepts such as structural and cultural violence, we can see opportunities for enriching and redefining the study of gender and conflict, and moving it into the very core of peace and conflict studies. India is on the one hand among the most conflict prone countries in the world, and on the other hand it is rich with traditions of non violence made famous by Mahatma Gandhi, and the birthplace of several religions propagating peace (e.g. Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism). Addressing this conundrum necessitates a reinvestigation of Indian as well as European thinking about peace, and as importantly, collaborative studies of peace movements and activism across both continents. This would open up new avenues for the study of peace and justice, and the political economy of peace, to encourage a rethinking of contemporary peacebuilding and conflict resolution templates in Europe as well as India. Peace and conflict studies can thus be directly informed by Indo-European research collaboration, as it has been in the past. Among the many possible outcomes, we envisage a reorientation towards the study of cultural and structural violence, and a heightened attention to contradictions between peace and social justice. 20

21 Concluding Remarks The organisers would like to thank all the participants for their valuable contributions to this symposium. EqUIP will use the results of this and other EqUIP symposia when designing a possible research agenda for future research collaboration and other activities, and we hope participants will keep in touch with the EqUIP project. 5 Symposium participants called for a balanced approach from the EqUIP project, to allow for the study of Europe as well as India. To avoid what might critically be construed as neo-orientalism, and take full advantage of the potential of mutual exchange, we recommend conceptualizing future calls for proposals in terms of multi-sited and trans-continental mutual research collaboration, to encompass research on Europe as well as India. Conflict resolution and struggles over social justice, power and identity are as important in Europe as they are in India. By exploring these vital issues across contexts and in meaningful cooperation, Indo-European research collaboration can no doubt inspire new insights. 5 Information on EqUIP activities can be found on the EqUIP website: 21

22 Annexes Annex A: Symposium Programme EqUIP Symposium on Power Structures, Conflict Resolution and Social Justice October 2016 in Sohna, Haryana, India Wednesday 12 October Time Content Duration Welcome dinner Arrival of participants Thursday 13 October Time Content Duration Registration and tea/coffee 30 min Inaugural session Welcome on behalf of the organisers Merethe Sandberg Moe, Senior Advisor, Research Council of Norway (RCN) Welcome on behalf of EqUIP Dr. Jacqui Karn, EqUIP coordinator, Senior European Policy Manager, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), United Kingdom Welcome on behalf of the Indian partners Professor Sukhadeo Thorat, Chair, Indian Council on Social Science Research (ICSSR) Inaugural by Ambassador of Norway to India Ambassador Nils Ragnar Kamsvåg, Royal Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi