The National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) is a research center for ethnology and cultural anthropology.

The Potential of Anthropological Approaches in the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence

Joint Research Coordinator　ODA Hiroshi

Reserch Theme List

Objectives

The objectives of this joint research are to elucidate the possibilities and significance of an anthropological approach to peace and build what might be termed a field of peace anthropology. Peace in this sense would include a broad range of related themes such as conflict, war, violence, colonial rule, as well as dispute resolution and prevention, resistance, conciliation, peace-building, friendship and altruism. Peace is undoubtedly an extremely important contemporary issue, and discourse concerning peace has become a motive factor in various ways throughout global society. Despite its importance, up until now there has been no systematic anthropological treatment of peace. This is true in Japan and in many other countries, where peace anthropology remains at the undeveloped stage. Alternatively, we joint researchers from our experience in various research efforts have confirmed that the latent potential of the theme of peace for anthropology is extremely large. This research group hopes through repeated discussions to elucidate this latent potential and strive for a systematic anthropology of peace. At that time we do not propose to settle for mere theory or critical discussions, but to seek actual on-site activities related to peace that can be put into practice and yield constructive results.