The Network focuses on three research questions:

• What role do historically generated postcolonial hierarchies play in contemporary conflict dynamics?
• How do postcolonial hierarchies persist in contemporary concepts and practices of reducing violence, of peacebuilding and of conflict management? How can these be overcome with the aim of achieving sustainable peace?
• How do postcolonial hierarchies manifest themselves in epistemologies and knowledge production in peace and conflict studies? How can peace and conflict research contribute to a transformation of such hierarchies?

These questions will be explored along three main research foci, namely (a) the dynamics of violence, (b) security governance and peacebuilding, and (c) transformative justice.

Although the members of the Network work on a broad range of geographical areas, utilizing different methodological and theoretical perspectives, there are underlying themes that unite them. To allow for exchange within common thematic areas of expertise, the members of the Network research within WorkPackages with corresponding Sub-Packages. These are: (1) WorkPackage on Violence, with Sub-Packages: Asymmetries in Epistemic Violence; Urban/Rural Hierarchies for Protest; Gender Violence; (2) WorkPackage on Security, with Sub-Packages: Dominant and Alternative Conceptualisations of Security; Historically Rooted Colonial Hierarchies; Domestic Hierarchies in Postcolonial States; Hierarchies in Developmental and Humanitarian Projects; and (3) WorkPackage on Justice, with Sub-Packages: Gendered Justice; Global Justice; Dominant and Alternative Forms of Justice.

Every WorkPackage has members of different institutions, as well as a balanced representation of researchers at different stages of their careers (both senior and early-career researchers) which allows for synergies, cooperation, and knowledge exchange. The Network’s members discuss their ongoing research within WorkPackages when they meet for ThinkLab, as well as online throughout the year. To learn more about individual projects of the Network’s members, please visit our People page. 

The Network organizes exchange between the participating institutions through various formats.

Conceptual questions on postcolonial perspectives in peace and conflict research are addressed and discussed in the Think Lab. The goal is to harness and develop postcolonial debates from related academic fields such as sociology, cultural and literary studies, and history, but also from relevant interdisciplinary research fields such as subaltern studies and decolonial theory for peace and conflict studies.

A research colloquium is held every two months to enable an ongoing discussion of the shared topics of the research program and to inform other members of the Network how the projects are progressing. The Virtual Graduate School serves the purpose of networking, especially of those project participants or affiliated researchers at the four participating institutions who are in the qualification phase. Facilitating networking in this space serves to establish sustainable cooperation in the form of an interconnected research context between PhDs and postdocs which is intended to outlast the overall project.

An important part of the network of competence is international networking, especially with guest researchers from the Global South. For this, the Network can further rely on associated and internationally oriented networks that already exist at the participating institutions, such as the Cluster of Excellence „Africa Multiple“ and the Sibylla Merian Centers in Tunis, Accra and Delhi.

The Network’s research will not only be presented at workshops and conferences, but will also be discussed with important partners in politics, peace-related development cooperation and civil society. To this end, importance is also given to effectively communicating research results.

An integral part of the network of competence is a Virtual Encyclopedia, which will present key research results, developments of methodology and theoretical innovations from the network and in particular from partners in the Global South in a format that is freely accessible worldwide. The Encyclopedia will be a mixture of texts and video and audio contributions.

• Our ThinkLab series provides a collective introduction to the network’s discussions and working formats.
• Our In Dialogue Interview series addresses issues of knowledge production from post- and decolonial perspectives.

Our policy paper series (PPS) is a space for addressing the practical challenges of peace and conflict (studies) from decolonial and postcolonial perspectives. Conceived as a multidisciplinary forum, the series features research that has special relevance to practice. In particular, it speaks to collective efforts that seek to transform the ways in which distinct colonial trajectories shape contemporary ideas and practices of peace and conflict. Please note that the first call for contributions has closed and a new round will be launched in Autumn 2024.

You can find the first call for papers under this link.