What Works? Creative approaches to transitional justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina

TY - JOUR

T1 - What Works?

T2 - Creative approaches to transitional justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina

AU - Fairey, Tiffany

AU - Kerr, Rachel

PY - 2020/3

Y1 - 2020/3

N2 - Scholars and practitioners of transitional justice have begun to seek alternative approaches in the arts and culture as a means to pursue core goals of peace and reconciliation. This Special Issue asks what creative approaches can do that conventional transitional justice mechanisms cannot, and invites us to reflect on the possibilities, and the potential challenges, risks and constraints. In response, this article discusses two arts-based initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one involving a national museum, the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one with a Bosnian peacebuilding organization, the Post Conflict Research Centre, that provided opportunities for plural, dialogical and localized forms of transitional justice. Analyzing the question of what worked in these two distinct initiatives, we highlight four common qualities and offer them as non-prescriptive 'good-practice principles' in strategic arts-based peacebuilding practice: iterative working over time; carving space for plural, locally driven narratives; amplifying the capacities and networks of local actors; and context-driven project design.

AB - Scholars and practitioners of transitional justice have begun to seek alternative approaches in the arts and culture as a means to pursue core goals of peace and reconciliation. This Special Issue asks what creative approaches can do that conventional transitional justice mechanisms cannot, and invites us to reflect on the possibilities, and the potential challenges, risks and constraints. In response, this article discusses two arts-based initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one involving a national museum, the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one with a Bosnian peacebuilding organization, the Post Conflict Research Centre, that provided opportunities for plural, dialogical and localized forms of transitional justice. Analyzing the question of what worked in these two distinct initiatives, we highlight four common qualities and offer them as non-prescriptive 'good-practice principles' in strategic arts-based peacebuilding practice: iterative working over time; carving space for plural, locally driven narratives; amplifying the capacities and networks of local actors; and context-driven project design.

KW - Bosnia and Herzegovina

KW - arts

KW - culture

KW - peace

KW - reconciliation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85082042949&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/ijtj/ijz031

DO - 10.1093/ijtj/ijz031

M3 - Article

SN - 1752-7716

VL - 14

SP - 142

EP - 164

JO - International Journal Of Transitional Justice

JF - International Journal Of Transitional Justice

IS - 1

ER -