As part of the NORHED II project Partnership for Peace: Better Higher Education for Resilient Societies, PRIO and the PRIO Centre on Culture, Conflict and Coexistence hosted a PhD-level course on Culture, Conflict and Politics: Introduction to interpretive theory and methodology, October 27 to 30.
The course explored the importance of language, history, memory, beliefs and creative expressions for political dynamics and contestations. Culture, Conflict and Politics: Introduction to interpretive theory and methodology explored both the application and the theoretical foundations of interpretive research, the science of understanding, non-essentialist approaches to culture, and cocreational research practices. The course was organized partly as an interactive seminar and partly as a research design workshop. Topics included the use of culture in politics and violent conflict; religion, beliefs, and political contestations, as well as cultural and geopolitical aspects of soft power politics. The course also included a social dinner and a visit to the peace exhibition at the Nobel Peace Centre.
The course was led by Senior Researcher Marte Nilsen, Research Professor Cindy Horst, and Research Professor Øystein H. Rolandsen.
The NORHED II project allowed PRIO to host students from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), Makerere University (Uganda), Birzeit University (Palestine), and Mekelle University (Ethiopia), alongside students from other international universities.
