Cultural dimensions of the UN's “Responsibility to Protect” norm
Start Date
12-1-2012 3:30 PM
End Date
12-1-2012 5:00 PM
Description
Does the global community have a responsibility to intervene when human rights—civil, political, social, or economic—are violated? “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) is a recent security and human rights norm formulated to address the international community’s failure to intervene during extreme human rights crises. Unanimously endorsed at the UN’s 2005 World Summit, this norm also stresses responsibilities to prevent, and to rebuild. R2P carefully balances ethical responsibility to intervene against the principle of state sovereignty. When R2P entails military force, this balance results in exceedingly narrow conditions justifying intervention. In this talk I explore gentler, more broadly applicable, cultural interventions through arts and education, aimed at sustainable peace, security, and global awareness. I outline “cultural R2P” in theory and practice, and by reference to an ongoing participatory action research project, “Giving Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees,” centered on popular music produced by refugees from Liberia’s civil wars (1989-2003). Recognizing the central role of popular musicians in distilling, articulating, and resolving individual and social stresses through mass-mediation of expressive culture, we aim to promote sustainable peacebuilding through music-making, documentation and global dissemination: by empowering musicians, fostering musical communication, and raising consciousness—local and international—about the Liberian conflict.
Cultural dimensions of the UN's “Responsibility to Protect” norm
Does the global community have a responsibility to intervene when human rights—civil, political, social, or economic—are violated? “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) is a recent security and human rights norm formulated to address the international community’s failure to intervene during extreme human rights crises. Unanimously endorsed at the UN’s 2005 World Summit, this norm also stresses responsibilities to prevent, and to rebuild. R2P carefully balances ethical responsibility to intervene against the principle of state sovereignty. When R2P entails military force, this balance results in exceedingly narrow conditions justifying intervention. In this talk I explore gentler, more broadly applicable, cultural interventions through arts and education, aimed at sustainable peace, security, and global awareness. I outline “cultural R2P” in theory and practice, and by reference to an ongoing participatory action research project, “Giving Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees,” centered on popular music produced by refugees from Liberia’s civil wars (1989-2003). Recognizing the central role of popular musicians in distilling, articulating, and resolving individual and social stresses through mass-mediation of expressive culture, we aim to promote sustainable peacebuilding through music-making, documentation and global dissemination: by empowering musicians, fostering musical communication, and raising consciousness—local and international—about the Liberian conflict.