Overview

With the collaboration and support of Prof. Jeannie B. Lum, editor of the Journal of Peace Education (JPE), MOMRI Research Fellows completed the publication of the very first issue of this journal dedicated to music.

With this special issue, titled Music and Peace Education, MOMRI has achieved the following results as we continue progressing towards our goals:

• Start a dialogue with Prof. John Paul Lederach, the prominent researcher and practitioner of conflict resolution, author of numerous works including The Moral Imagination. We are deeply grateful for his Foreword, which frames this issue in the context of music as vibration, and for sharing with us his vast and deep experience on the topic.
• Publish a summary and analysis of close to 100 articles in the field of music in peacebuilding, a “Critical Literature Review” (CLR) of what other scholars have written about the same topic. We found more articles dealing with violence than articles on peacebuilding, and this confirms the ambivalence of music, the fact that it can be used for constructive and for destructive purposes alike. Elaine Sandoval has organized this CLR in a way that allows for the emergence of new insights, by placing the two types of articles next to each other.
• Publish a “Statement of Values” that allows to start a dialogue regarding the complexity of introducing ethical propositions in our research on music in peacebuilding. The four values chosen by Olivier Urbain in this article are a synthesis between the theories of Johan Galtung, the Norwegian founder of peace studies, and the peace philosophy of Daisaku Ikeda, the Japanese founder of Min-On. They range from personal, inner peace to ways to ensure prevention at the local and global levels.
• Having each research fellow publish one article centered on the essence of their personal research, covering cosmopolitan education (Elaine Sandoval), musical ethnography (Craig Robertson) and the linkage between musicking, ecology and peacebuilding (Michael Golden).

Now that these four outcomes have been achieved, we are taking the next steps in the development of our research. For those who want to engage more deeply with this special issue of the JPE, I will now present the table of contents with a link to the abstracts and to the full articles. We look forward to receiving your questions and comments directly at this address: o.urbain@min-on.org

Link to the special issue

Table of Contents of JPE Vol. 13, Issue 3, 2016: Music and Peace Education

"Introduction" Olivier Urbain, 2016.
"Foreword" John Paul Lederach, 2016.
"Music in peacebuilding: a critical literature review" Elaine Sandoval, 2016.
"A statement of values for our research on music in peacebuilding: a synthesis of Galtung and Ikeda’s peace theories " Olivier Urbain, 2016.
"Potential contributions of music education to peacebuilding: curricular concerns" Elaine Sandoval, 2016.
"Musicological ethnography and peacebuilding" Craig Robertson, 2016.
"Musicking as education for social and ecological peace: a new synthesis" Michael Golden, 2016.


Link to the special issue