How Rituals, Rites and Ceremonies Can Help with Social Healing After Violence

Residents work together on a drainage ditch in Mbyo, one of seven "reconciliation villages” where perpetrators and victims of the genocide in Rwanda live side by side, in April 2017. (Megan Specia/The New York Times)
October 26, 2022
9:00 am - 10:30 am
Online Event

Date Range
2022-10-26 09:00:00 2022-10-26 10:30:00 How Rituals, Rites and Ceremonies Can Help with Social Healing After Violence Register Here In conflicted-affected contexts, formal justice mechanisms are often limited and difficult to access. Perhaps for this reason, transformation-oriented processes such as rituals, rites of passage and ceremonies have featured prominently among communities recovering from extreme violence or hardship. These processes offer a symbolic and shared experience than can be either formal or informal, sacred or secular, as well as deeply rooted or spontaneous. As such, they wield the power to generate solidarity and may present a more expedient, effective and meaningful alternative for communities attempting to move away from violence. Join Mershon Center for International Security Studies, the United States Institute of Peace, and the RESOLVE Network for a conversation on the role of rituals, traditions, and transformational processes in the wake of violence and their ability to transform societal relationships in significant ways. This discussion is part of the seventh annual RESOLVE Global Forum Series. Convened virtually, the Global Forum Series brings together leading experts and researchers for thought-provoking fireside conversations on evolving trends and dynamics in the violent extremist landscape. For more on the RESOLVE Global Forum Series, follow us on Twitter at @resolvenet, and join the conversation with #RESOLVEForum. Speakers Chris Bosley, welcoming remarks Interim Director, Program on Violent Extremism, U.S. Institute of Peace John Caulker Executive Director, Fambul Tok Oliver Kaplan Associate Professor in International Relations and Human Rights  Associate Director of Human Trafficking Center Josef Korbel School of International Students, University of Denver  Pedro Valenzuela Director, Departamento de Ciencias Políticas Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia Lisa Schirch, moderator Richard G. Starmann Sr. Professor of the Practice of Peace Studies, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame Dorothy Noyes, closing remarks Director, Mershon Center for International Security Studies at The Ohio State University Online Event America/New_York public

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In conflicted-affected contexts, formal justice mechanisms are often limited and difficult to access. Perhaps for this reason, transformation-oriented processes such as rituals, rites of passage and ceremonies have featured prominently among communities recovering from extreme violence or hardship. These processes offer a symbolic and shared experience than can be either formal or informal, sacred or secular, as well as deeply rooted or spontaneous. As such, they wield the power to generate solidarity and may present a more expedient, effective and meaningful alternative for communities attempting to move away from violence.

Join Mershon Center for International Security Studies, the United States Institute of Peace, and the RESOLVE Network for a conversation on the role of rituals, traditions, and transformational processes in the wake of violence and their ability to transform societal relationships in significant ways. This discussion is part of the seventh annual RESOLVE Global Forum Series.

Convened virtually, the Global Forum Series brings together leading experts and researchers for thought-provoking fireside conversations on evolving trends and dynamics in the violent extremist landscape. For more on the RESOLVE Global Forum Series, follow us on Twitter at @resolvenet, and join the conversation with #RESOLVEForum.

Speakers

Chris Bosley, welcoming remarks
Interim Director, Program on Violent Extremism, U.S. Institute of Peace

John Caulker
Executive Director, Fambul Tok

Oliver Kaplan
Associate Professor in International Relations and Human Rights 
Associate Director of Human Trafficking Center
Josef Korbel School of International Students, University of Denver 

Pedro Valenzuela
Director, Departamento de Ciencias Políticas
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia

Lisa Schirch, moderator
Richard G. Starmann Sr. Professor of the Practice of Peace Studies, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame

Dorothy Noyes, closing remarks
Director, Mershon Center for International Security Studies at The Ohio State University

Logos of Northern Ireland Executive, corrymeela, and Ulster University

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