An alphabetical listing by author of all working papers and creative works generated through our projects. The geographic location next to the author's name indicates the current region of their work.
Hosking, Bev & Jenny Hutt (New Zealand, Fiji, India)
Kotei Djanie, Nicholas (Burundi, Rwanda, South Africa)
Slachmuijlder, Lena (Burundi, Rwanda, South Africa)
Baer, Sarah
Peacebuilding: A Vision of Relationships by Sarah Baer
Berman, Kim (South Africa)
Kim Berman, printmaker and educator, co-founded the Artist Proof studio (APS), a community-based art center for teaching printmaking skills to disadvantaged South Africans who otherwise would not have had access to such opportunities for learning. Berman was a Brandeis International Fellow in the program Recasting Reconciliation through Culture and the Arts.
Artist Proof Studio: A Journey of Reconciliation by Kim Berman
This illustrated paper by an award-winning artist and one of the co-founders of APS intimately documents the complexity of community-based art institution's efforts to contribute to reconciliation by actively making ubuntu, or interdependence, its core value. The journey toward reconciliation is described as a relentless one, marked both by advances and regressions, requiring transformations in self-awareness, interpersonal relationships, curriculum, and institutional structures. Reflecting on the depth of the apartheid's wounds, Berman wonders "How deep can we go?" Download the PDF version here (31 pages / 7.8 MB) (See also Stompie Selibe's portfolio, "Art, Ubuntu and Reconciliation: Journeys from Members of Artist Proof Studio.")
Camte-Bahni, Rosella
Rosella is an Ibalois, one of the indigenous groups in the Cordillera Administrative Region in northern Philippines. In 1987, Rosella co-founded IGOROTA Foundation, Inc. (IFI) and became its Executive Officer in 2002. IFI is a non-government social development agency that partners with women's organizations to attain the vision of women's holistic development for self-sustaining communities through its Gender and Development, and Ancestral Domain programs. IFI implements its programs through transformative trainings, education, advocacy and organizing. Rosella is currently a graduate student in the M.A. Program in Cultural Production at Brandeis University.
Oral History as Creative Process to Social Change: An interview with Ann Brown by Rosella Camte-Bahni
This paper analyzes the approaches of the Rural Organizing and Cultural Center (ROCC) and the Community Culture and Resource Center (CCRC) to attain its goal of social change in Holmes County, Mississippi by integrating research with an interview with the organization’s founder, Ann Brown. The organizations aim to transform a legacy of racism and inequity through a dynamic oral history project because Brown believes the history and culture of the community is the backbone of our work ... because our work is grounded in who we are and where we come from. This helps us to determine where we are going and how we get there.
Paths and Vehicles to Peacebuilding by Rosella Camte-Bahni
Canter, Liz
Liz holds a B.A. in Social Change and Education from Tufts University and an Ed.M. in Learning and Teaching from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She enjoys experiencing the world from many perspectives — as a visual artist, a creative educator, and a completely smitten mother. Currently, Liz teaches 4th grade at the Eliot School in Boston.
Recording Visions: An interview with documentary filmmaker Molly Blank, by Liz Canter
Molly Blank received a Fulbright in 2005 to go to Cape Town, South Africa to make a film about education in the Townships. She arrived uncertain of the exact story she wished to tell. By becoming a teacher in a local school, she not only immersed herself in the local community, she discovered many important voices, each with a unique story.
Memory and Imagination: How Do Artists Remember the Past while Re-envisioning the Future? by Liz Canter
Chalew, Hannah
Hannah, a New Orleans resident, is an undergraduate at Brandeis University in the class of 2009. At Brandeis, she studies anthropology and fine arts and is interested in pursuing a future in the field of community art.
Bridging Past and Future: Claudia Bernardi and The School of Art and Open Studios in Perquin, by Hannah Chalew
Claudia Bernardi is an Argentinean painter. She arrived in El Salvador as part of a team conducting exhumations of mass graves. Year after year, she returned, becoming more engrossed in the community. In 2005, she founded the School of Art and Open Studios in Perquin to foster artistic growth and community development projects within this traumatized town. This is one of two perspectives of Claudia Bernardi’s story, as told by an up-and-coming muralist.
Memory and Imagination: Facing the Past to Envision a Better Future by Hannah Chalew
Fox, Jonathan (United States)
Jonathan Fox is the founder of Playback Theatre, a form of personal improvisational theatre that values story, ritual and community. Fox was also the co-director of the Recasting Reconciliation through Culture and the Arts Fellowship Program.
Drumming and Playback Theatre: Partners for Peace by Jonathan Fox
In this brief paper, he draws on two of the Recasting Reconciliation working papers by Schlachmuijlder and by Hosking and Hutt, as well as reflections on a drumming and playback workshop he co-led. His paper suggests an interesting line of inquiry: How might different artistic modalities be combined to address communities' needs both for engagement with painful and contested history and for soothing reaffirmation of common humanity? - Download the PDF here (4 pages / 78 KB)
Gold, Daniella
Daniella received her B.A. from Brandeis University in Art History, International and Global Studies, and Peace, Conflict, and Co-existence studies. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in museum education, focusing on the role that the arts can play in conflict resolution and community engagement. The Arts of Building Peace was one of her favorite classes at Brandeis and solidified her interest in this field.
In Search of Dialogue: An Interview with Barbara Schaffer-Bacon, by Daniella Gold
Animating Democracy, founded and directed by Barbara Schaffer-Bacon, is an organization that promotes civic dialogue as a means to strengthen democracy. Animating Democracy uses the arts to create spaces for public discourse, invite participation and open up difficult conversations to address conflicts or societal issues.
Understanding the Gender Dimension: The Importance of Gender Equality and Female Empowerment in Peacebuilding by Daniella Gold
Grabiner Keinan, Adi
Originally from Israel, Adi graduated from Tel Aviv University with a B.A. in History. Adi is currently pursuing her M.A. in Cultural Production at Brandeis University. Her research deals with Israeli school memorial ceremonies for fallen IDF soldiers and how they can be used as an educational tool. As part of her graduate studies she pursued an internship with the American Friends of Parents' Circle-Families Forum, a grassroots organization of bereaved Palestinians and Israelis that promotes reconciliation.
Vision and Practice: An interview with Mohammed Sawalha, by Adi Grabiner Keinan
Mohammed Sawalha is the founder and director of the Palestinian House of Friendship (PHF), an organization that strives for peace and democracy in the community by addressing social, cultural and educational needs. Among many projects, the PHF coordinates volunteers to monitor elections, runs a summer camp for Palestinian youth, and is working to create a radio station by and for the community.
Haas-Hooven, Molly
Molly is an undergraduate at Brandeis University in the class of 2009. She is majoring in Theater Arts with a concentration in acting. She is also pursuing studies in peace-building and social justice.
Sun in Skies, Birds in Trees: The Story of a Cultural Worker, by Molly Haas-Hooven
Claudia Lefko is a preschool teacher and founder of the Iraqi Children’s Art Exchange Project. Since 2001, she has organized a cross-cultural exchange of drawings between Iraqi and American children. She hopes the children’s personal images will offset the violent ones in mainstream media.
Finding Common Humanity: Focusing on One Aspect of Reconciliation by Molly Haas-Hooven
Hosking, Bev & Jenny Hutt (New Zealand, Fiji, India)
Bev Hosking, international PBT (Playback Theatre) Trainer, and Jenny Hutt, workplace educator, diversity trainer, and writer and editor, have collaborated together to explore the use of Playback Theatre, a form of improvisational theatre performed in 25 countries around the world, in creating "the space for deep community dialogue involving telling and receiving of difficult-to-tell and cannot-be-told stories." Both Hosking and Hutt were Brandeis International Fellows in the program Recasting Reconciliation through Culture and the Arts.
Playback Theatre: A Creative Resource for Reconciliation by Bev Hosking and Jenny Hutt
Playback Theatre is a form of non-scripted theatre in which ensembles of actors and musicians, usually non-professionals, immediately re-enact stories told by members of audiences. Hosking is one of its most experienced teachers. This paper is a richly documented analysis of how Playback both enhances capacities required for reconciliation and contributes directly to conciliatory processes. It draws on Hosking's experiences working with teenagers in the aftermath of violence in Fiji, on social development projects with 'dalits' (sometimes referred to as 'untouchable' people) and bonded laborers in India, and with people in refugee camps in Angola. - Download the PDF here (42 pages / 2.8 MB)
Kotei Djanie, Nicholas (Burundi, Rwanda, South Africa)
Nicholas Kotei Djanie is a master drummer from Ghana who has worked as a performer, choreographer and workshop leader in Rwanda, Burundi, South Africa and the United States. He is currently performing in Drumstuck in New York City. Djanie was a Brandeis International Fellow in the program Recasting Reconciliation through Culture and the Arts.
The Touch of the Drums by Nicholas Kotei Djanie
Djanie's portfolio includes a photo montage based on his experiences as a master drummer working in Rwanda, Burundi, Johannesburg and New York City; an auto-biographical sketch; and a diagram that offers a theoretical framework that explains the conciliatory power of drumming in terms of African cosmologies. It also includes a brief video-clip of a drumming performance at the Brandeis symposium "Re-imagining Self and Other: Art and the Ethical Imagination in the Aftermath of Conflict." (See also "Rhythm of Reconciliation: A Reflection on Drumming as a Contribution to Reconciliation," by Lena Schlachmuijlder.)
Ly Daravuth (Cambodia)
Ly Daravuth, visual artist, art historian, and curator, co-founded Reyum, the Institute of Arts and Culture in downtown Phnom Penh in late 1998 with fellow artist Ingrid Muan. The storefront space of the Institute offers images and texts that intend to initiate a public forum about coexistence, if not reconciliation, in Cambodia. Reyum also sponsors an Art School for disadvantaged children, who are encouraged to use art to deal with their past. For example, the exhibition, "The Legacy of Absence," revealed how artists could begin to "talk" about the Khmer Rouge Period. The exhibition "stimulated those who came to see it to talk, remember and then talk further." Ly Darayuth was a Brandeis International Fellow in the program Recasting Reconciliation through Culture and the Arts.
Where is Reconciliation? by Ly Daravuth
Ly Daravuth's portfolio is an artistic inquiry into issues of violence, justice, and reconciliation in contemporary Phnom Penh. (See also "Notes on the Pchum Ben," by Ly Daravuth, and "The Goodness of Lives," by Ingrid Muan.)
Notes on Pchum Ben by Ly Daravuth
This photo essay describes a traditional Khmer Buddhist ritual of reconciliation with the dead, with many symbolic references to the gathering together of seemingly separate elements into larger wholes. Daravuth, a co-founder of the Reyum Institute for Art and Culture in Phnom Penh, suggests that within the ritual can be found resources for processes that would allow citizens of Cambodia to grapple not only with the recent genocide, but with the legacies of violence and domination that have plagued the region for centuries. This paper includes striking photographic images of the Pchum Ben ritual. Download the PDF here (4 pages / 84 KB) (See also Daravuth's portfolio "Where is Reconciliation?" and "The Goodness of Lives," the working paper by Ingrid Muan.)
Muan, Ingrid (Cambodia)
Ingrid Muan was a visual artist, art historian, curator, and co-founded Reyum, the Institute of Arts and Culture in downtown Phnom Penh in late 1998 with fellow artist Ly Daravuth. The storefront space of the Institute offers images and texts that intend to initiate a public forum about coexistence, if not reconciliation, in Cambodia. Reyum also sponsors an Art School for disadvantaged children, who are encouraged to use art to deal with their past. For example, the exhibition, "The Legacy of Absence," revealed how artists could begin to "talk" about the Khmer Rouge Period. The exhibition "stimulated those who came to see it to talk, remember and then talk further." Muan, who passed away in 2005, was a Brandeis International Fellow in the program Recasting Reconciliation through Culture and the Arts.
The Goodness of Lives (partial draft) by Ingrid Muan
In this working paper, Muan takes an unsettling event at the Reyum School of Art in Phnom Penh as a starting point for a reflection on the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to reconciliation in Cambodia. Muan's paper begins to document a project in which young art students were invited to reflect on traditional Khmer Buddhist stories illustrating the qualities essential for living a good life: generosity, honesty, equanimity, compassion, self-determination, and diligence. Muan's tragic and sudden death in January 2004 cut short a life filled with promise. It also prevented her from completing this working paper. "The Goodness of Lives" appears here as she sent it to us in December 2003, with her original concept paper and description of the Reyum Art School attached. We made only minor changes, such as completing footnotes and correcting the spelling of a few names. Download the PDF here (8 page / 1.1 MB) (See also the working paper "Notes on Pchum Ben" and the portfolio "Where is Reconciliation?", both by Ly Daravuth.)
Senatori, Fernanda
Originally from Brazil, Fernanda has a Bachelor's degree in Social Communication and specialization in Radio and TV. At Brandeis, Fernanda is a graduate student in the M.A. program in Cultural Production. She is interested in the study of globalization and the effects of mass media on local cultures. She intends to examine the importance of promoting cultural diversity while maintaining cultural identity.
The School of the Arts and Open Studios of Perquin: An interview with muralist Claudia Bernardi, by Fernanda Senatori
Claudia Bernardi is an Argentinean painter. She began working in El Salvador with Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (AFAT) to exhume mass graves and uncover human rights violations. She explained that When you start an exhumation, you start to exhume yourself. Her experiences with the AFAT helped form her visions as an artist and community worker. She founded the School of the Arts and Open Studios in Perquin to encourage community healing through the arts. This is one of two perspectives of Claudia Bernardi’s story, as told by a fellow South American.
True Reconciliation in Seven Acts: A Journey through Memory and Imagination by Fernanda Senatori
Slachmuijlder, Lena (Burundi, Rwanda, South Africa)
Lena Slachmuijlder, musician, cultural facilitator and an experienced radio and print journalist, currently directs Search For Common Ground's project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While Brandeis International Fellow in 2003-2004, she directed "Studio Ijambo" a radio station affiliated with Search for Common Ground in Burundi. Slachmuijlder engaged in original research to address the questions of how participation in drumming, music, dance experiences and performances affect relationships, the development of trust, and personal and communal healing. Slachmuijlder was a Brandeis International Fellow in the program Recasting Reconciliation through Culture and the Arts.
The Rhythm of Reconciliation by Lena Slachmuijlder
Even during the most violent years in Burundi, many Hutu and Tutsi drummers risked their lives to save each other from ethnically-motivated violence. While director of Search for Common Ground's radio station, Studio Ijamdo, Lena Schlachmuijlder gathered testimony from dozens of drummers about the power of drumming to create feelings of equanimity (even in the aftermath of loss) and to sustain relationships across ethnic divisions. The paper ends with a vision for reconciliation ritual for Burundi in which drumming would play a central role. Download the PDF version here (27 pages / 2.0 MB) (See also Touch of the Drums, by Nicholas Djanie.)
Selibe, Stompie (South Africa)
Stompie Selibe, artist, musician, and teacher, works in collaboration with Kim Berman at the Artist Proof Studio. He speaks seven African languages and has led workshops with people from all walks of life in South Africa. Seliebe was a Brandeis International Fellow in the program Recasting Reconciliation through Culture and the Arts.
Art, Ubuntu, and Reconciliation by Stompie Selibe
Selibe's portfolio includes collages, linocuts, sketches, and journal entries produced by art students in Johannesburg, South Africa, who interviewed their family members about the meaning of ubuntu, or interdependence. Selibe uses photographs, artwork and words to tell the story of Artist Proof Studio's rebirth after a devastating fire, and its transformation according to the principle of ubuntu. (See also Kim Berman's working paper, "Artist Proof Studio: A Journey of Reconciliation.")
Crystal M. Trulove
Crystal received her B.A. and M.A. from Brandeis University. She is part Cherokee Indian and felt a particular interest in Polly Walker, who is also part Cherokee. Crystal feels that being an artist has to do with the way one sees the world around her, and puts her unique vision into whatever she creates. She finds inspiration and humbleness in the presence of her daughter and looks forward to many years of growing together with her family. She hopes to find employment that uses her newly developed conflict resolution skills.
Artist and Peacebuilder: An interview with Polly Walker, by Crystal M. Trulove
Dr. Polly Walker is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. She works in mediation and in conflict transformation with both indigenous and non-indigenous people of the northwestern U.S. and in Australia. She works with groups to create storytelling rituals and ceremonies as a way to solve conflict and understand the interconnected world.