Throughout the globe, there are numerous individuals, groups and organizations using community arts-based processes to support peacebuilding efforts in severely conflicted societies. Community based arts processes such as theater and music, can be an especially effective means to bring together identity groups who are in conflict, by sharing common cultural experiences and engaging in cooperative creative projects. The power of various arts processes to impact individuals emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually via the creative process can help foster change within individuals and between conflicted groups.
It is only recently that arts-based processes have begun to be more widely used in peacebuilding work. However to date, the research on the intersection o f arts and conflict resolution is minimal, which is a significant gap in the conflict resolution field. In this exploratory research project, based primarily on fourteen months of field research conducted in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2000- 2001, the author investigates how artists and conflict resolution practitioners used arts-based processes during the Bosnian war and in the post conflict period and their connection to Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. peacebuilding. Through interviewing 64 practitioners and scholars in the field, and gathering relevant reports and documents, the author documents the specific contributions that arts-based processes made to peacebuilding in the country.
In the dissertation, the author situates arts-based processes within an interdisciplinary framework through a review o f relevant literature in the arts, conflict resolution, and social psychology. Moreover, he provides an analysis o f the role o f the arts in peacebuilding in Bosnia-Herzegovina and offers several conceptual models exploring the nexus between arts and peacebuilding. The author concludes by providing several concrete policy recommendations and suggests areas of future research. The dissertation is intended to be a resource for professionals in both the conflict resolution and arts communities.