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Workshop: Constructing a Framework for Research on Indigenous Conflict Transformation

Together with our sister organization, Berghof Peace Support (BPS), Berghof Conflict Research facilitated a Brainstorming Workshop on “indigenous” and “traditional” methods of conflict transformation in Southeast Asia. The workshop was held on April 19, 2010 in the premises of BCR in Berlin. It brought together a small group of distinguished scholars and practitioners in order to discuss the applicability of selected “indigenous” and “traditional” methods to the transformation of identity-based/self-determination type conflicts. Southeast Asia served as the primary empirical reference for this undertaking. As a starting point, BCR Senior Visiting Fellow Dr Kamarulzaman Askandar gave a presentation, which provided an overview on current conflicts and indigenous and traditional methods of conflict management as implemented in the region. In the following discussion the participants reflected on critical aspects of terminology, concepts, and research methodology. Key questions for further research were identified and articulated. An advisory board for working on the Framework Concept was established, with Dr Kamrulzaman Askandar (USM, Malaysia), Dr Alexander Horstmann (MPI, Göttingen), Ms. Antje Missbach (Free University), Dr Peter Kreuzer (HSFK, Frankfurt) as external members. The Workshop was sponsored by a grant from the Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies.