Competing economies of worth in a multiagency music and reconciliation partnership: The Sri Lanka Norway Music Cooperation (2009-2018)
Author(s):
Solveig Korum
Gillian Howell
Publication Year:
2021
Type:
journal article
Journal/Book Title
International Journal of Cultural Policy
Publisher
Editor(s):
Pages:
830-844
Volume:
27
Issue:
6
Abstract:
The Sri Lanka Norway Music Cooperation (2009–2018) was launched to ‘stimulate the performing arts in Sri Lanka, thus contributing to the peace and reconciliation process’ in the aftermath of almost three decades of civil war between the Tamil minority and Sinhala majority populations of the island. Funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the project had many local and international stakeholders, from artists and civil society organisations, to government institutions, to a general public eager for enrichment through arts and culture. But despite high engage ment and financial investment, the achievements of the SLNMC were generally unremarkable and short-term. This article argues that competi tion and incompatibility between stakeholders within the SLNMC were major reasons for the project´s equivocal legacies. We analyse stakeholder investments in the SLNMC through the lens of Boltanski and Thevenot’s theory of justification and their conceptualization of worlds of legitima tion (‘Economies of Worth’). Our findings indicate that while artistic prac tices have promising compatibility and complementarity with social goals like reconciliation, the accommodation of political interests, donor agen das, and domestic pressures can undermine the possibility of artisticsocial projects reaching a higher common good.
Citation (Chicago Author-Date):
Korum, Solveig, and Gillian Howell. 2021. “Competing Economies of Worth in a Multiagency Music and Reconciliation Partnership: The Sri Lanka Norway Music Cooperation (2009-2018).” International Journal of Cultural Policy 27 (6): 830–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2020.1838491.