RESEARCH

Culture in Crisis: the case of Casamance

The role of artists and cultural actors in regions of culture and crisis

May 2011

Anthology report for Germany’s Foreign Cultural Relations Policy group, Institut fur Auslandsbezeihungen

This report looks at how cultural initiatives can be used as a positive force during times of war and  conflict. It examines five specific arts, media and cultural projects in Casamance, in the southwestern region of Senegal, to show how these efforts promote dialogue and understanding, alleviate tension, and ultimately help  in the conflict resolution and peace-building process of what is West Africa’s longest running civil war.

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Looking Back: Using the Lens to Represent the Past

Documentary film and the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike

June 2009

This study looks at the role of art and drama in revealing notions of ‘truth and reality’ in visual documentaries. The research examines two filmic texts based on the same specific period of Northern Ireland’s Troubles, the 1981 Ireland Republic Army (IRA) hunger strike at H-blocks prison. One documentary is a conventional, made-for-television documentary. The other a form of hybrid-doc, made with highly stylized artistic and dramatic elements.

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Culture & Conflict

Power of Culture Special Report

Presentation at Plan International Conference, Den Hague, NL

June 2008

The intersection of art and culture in times of conflict, peace-building and reconciliation. A series of five case studies: music and stereotypes among the Roma community, billboards and social inequality in South Africa, cartoons and political upheaval in Lebanon, mixed media and intra-cultural collaboration in Sri Lanka, or ceramics and cultural identity among vulnerable populations in Colombia.