"Peace in the Middle East" is today much more than the chief message of prayers in churches, mosques and synagogues around the globe or the main motto of world leaders and nobel laureates. It is mainly a widespread institutionalized discourse with distinct historical roots, specific practices and constructed meanings. However, despite –or maybe because of - the popularity of the discourse, it is rarely the object of social-scientific research.

This research project addresses this gap, by presenting ethnographic accounts of three diverse institutions that act in the name of peace-making/keeping in Lebanon (UN, NGO, Diplomacy). It analyzes the ways in which experts produce knowledge, undertake advocacy, secure legitimacy, and address problems and constituencies. It advocates a new perception to the question of peace in the Middle East that regards peacemaking not through the lens of moral imperatives, but primarily as a field of power and intervention.

Project duration: Jan 2009-March 2010
Fieldwork was conducted in Lebanon and Switzerland
Research was funded by the "Jeunes Chercheurs" Program of KFPE (Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, SDC)

Presentation of the Research Group
Programme de bourses “Jeunes Chercheurs“ – Peacemaking in Lebanon

Nikola Kosmatopoulos, URPP Asia and Europe/Department of Anthropology, Zurich
Lyna Comaty, Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement, Genève
Susann Kassem, Freie Universität Berlin/American University Beirut
Zina Sawaf, Issam Fares Institute for International Affairs, Beirut

Juliane Schiel

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