At the end of our online Peace Lab experience, we were tasked with creating a project relevant to the content of the past few weeks and which raised awareness in some way. My group and I decided to explore the concept of ‘peace’ through a series of interviews with both locals in Kosovo, as well as former Peace Lab students. These were made into three podcasts. The podcasts each covered a different theme: The first started with a discussion of our own conceptualization of peace before introducing the key theoretical framework of the project, the second surrounded the theme of building bridges, and the third explored the differences and relationship between top-down and bottom-up peacebuilding.
One key aspect of the project which we looked to explore in every interview was the question of ‘how do you imagine peace?’ We asked our interviewees to describe their own personal conception of peace in a visual or symbolic sense. We received a wide variety of answers to this question, ranging from the image of different generations holding hands, to cycling on a warm summer day, to a specific song bringing people together in the Balkans through their shared love of music. These symbolic descriptions of peace served as the inspiration for a short video in which excerpts from the podcast were overlaid against images representing the varied answers we received. I thoroughly recommend listening to the podcasts in their entirety but as each is around 45 minutes in length I can understand if you do not have the time to spare. In this case, I have placed a link to the video below so you are able to get a general idea of the more abstract portion of the project.
I thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating this project and learned a lot along the way. There was a multitude of interesting insights evoked by our interviewees, two of which I will try to convey to you now. Firstly, the importance of and relationship between top-down and bottom-up peacebuilding emerged as a key aspect of visions for a path to lasting peace in Kosovo. While several of our interviewees had some valid suspicions of the potential upcoming peace deal between Belgrade and Pristina, due to questions of legitimacy of leadership, everyone we talked to saw a large-scale, top-down peace deal as necessary for the long-term future of Kosovo. However, we also repeatedly heard the argument that this top-down success on its own would not be enough and that bottom-up grassroots efforts are also essential on the road to peace.
It was explained to us that even if there were a successful agreement resulting in a peace deal, it would not necessarily change the relationship of local neighbours who had been distrustful of each other for decades. Relatively simple issues such as an inability to communicate due to a difference in language, need to be addressed before this trust can be rebuilt, as one interviewee, Onjen, explained to us. We came to the conclusion that these different approaches are essentially separate processes, but are both essential, and neither can be entirely successful without the other.
The other insight which is particularly worth noting is the shared conceptions of peace across ethnic lines. We were able to talk to individuals from both the Albanian and Serbian communities in Kosovo and it immediately became apparent that despite their differences, their goals, ambitions and dreams for Kosovo were largely the same. One key aspect of this was the desire for a prosperous Kosovo with opportunities for education and professional success. The case was made to us that this prosperity and economic development was perhaps a precursor to peace and could help reduce ethnic tensions in the country. I believe it could be beneficial for people in Kosovo to hear this fact that these goals are shared by who many consider ‘the other’, and could possibly bring people together. For anyone who is interested in these ideas, please do listen to the podcasts where these ideas are explored in more depth.
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