Everyday Perspectives of Community-Based Peacebuilding : The Practices of the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding in Gainesville, Florida
Estling, Eric Emmanuel (2021)
Estling, Eric Emmanuel
2021
Master's Programme in Global Society
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2021-12-15
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202111258643
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202111258643
Tiivistelmä
As the field of peacebuilding continues to shift focus toward local manifestations of peace and conflict, community-based peacebuilding practices are receiving increased attention for their unique, contextualized approach. This research aims to utilize the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding (RPCP) in Gainesville, Florida as a case to elucidate the perspectives of community peacebuilders concerning conflicts in their community and effective strategies for cultivating peace. Utilizing interviews with five people involved with RPCP and certain observational data, this research explores the unique perspectives of community-based peacebuilders and the strategies that they employ to cultivate meaningful change within their local context. The study devotes specific consideration to RPCP’s police-youth dialogue (PYD) program which has been implemented to address the conflicts that exist between law enforcement officers and marginalized youth. The results demonstrate how the informants understand their work and role within their community. Further, the study explores how peace practices such as dialogue can be implemented into community programs to heal divisions, promote understanding, and address community conflict. These perspectives provide an illustration of how community-based organizations help to foster everyday peace through community peace practices.