Everyday peace: rethinking typologies of social practice and local agency

Abstract

ABSTRACT ‘Everyday peace’ entered the literature over the past two decades, referring to ordinary people navigating everyday life in deeply divided societies, in ways that minimise conflict. Most cited is Mac Ginty’s ‘conceptual scoping’ paper, which culminates in a typology of social practices he argues constitutes everyday peace. Drawing on additional, detailed ethnographic studies, this paper proposes a re-think, presenting a total of eight everyday peace social practices:avoidance, reading, ambiguity, shielding, civility, reciprocity, solidarity and renunciation. This new typology applies across a wider spectrum of situations, better constitutes the full breadth of social practices, and more accurately reflects the diverse agency of actors seeking non-violent local coexistence. While noting its potential for wider peace formation /peacebuilding, this paper cautions about its potential to perpetuate injustice and highlights its vulnerability to manipulation.