Practicum: Slow but steady

This blog is supposed to be a place for me to discuss my practicum research, but I haven't talked much about my own research yet. This is because my research has been going very slowly. I knew that this would be the case because many of the people I hope to interview do their main projects over the summer. For that reason, I haven't gotten to do as many interviews as I would have liked, and I don't want to post about any interviews until I have signed consent forms back from participants. Much of my effort so far this summer has focused on identifying potential participants and contacting these people to request interviews. Some have responded and some haven't. Those who have responded have been open to participating, but arranging a mutually agreeable time has been difficult. Additionally, some of the people I will interview live in other time zones, which has complicated matters. However, I do have several interviews scheduled in the next few weeks.

As I have not been conducting many interviews this summer, I have instead taken time to consider the conflicts behind the peacebuilding work I am researching. This is reflected in my blog posts to date. I have tried to post this summer about some of the issues I feel are important when considering why peacebuilding is necessary and the best ways to approach it. There are so many ways that we humans have found to divide ourselves, from race to religion to the people we choose to associate with. I have been interested in peacebuilding since I first worked with ROM in Croatia in 2005. Over the past 8 years I have read numerous books, media articles, and blog posts, attended lectures, watched films, talked to people who have experienced conflict and those who work to prevent it or encourage reconciliation, and visited historic sites and museums. Given my past experience, I can't say that my ideas about peacebuilding have evolved a great deal over this particular summer. But this summer has given me an opportunity to consider my personal involvement in peacebuilding work, and what I hope to contribute through my research.

It is my great hope that my research will identify some best practices or things that can be changed in order to make peacebuilding work more effective and efficient, ultimately helping to prevent conflicts from happening in the first place and/or helping peace to be restored more quickly when conflict does arise.