Abstract
This article is inspired by the need for research methods that would discover the interrelationships of reconciliation and culture, specifically analysing the behaviour of field researchers originating from different lifestyles or culture, observing and participating in the artful expressions of research subjects. The purpose of this article was to present an overview of research into poetics as a source of information that contributes to existing bodies of knowledge and the finding of practical solutions related to peace-building in African communities. The authors argued that knowledge could be discovered from various forms of poetics through sensuous participation and intellectual interpretation and could be applied to the process of reconciliation. In support of this argument, the research was conducted with the San, the First People of southern Africa, in the context of a broader research project that aims at finding and publishing theory for dispute resolution in Africa. The discussion contains a conceptual framework of philosophy and theories that elucidates the concepts of poetics, the aesthetic domain and its relevance to peace and reconciliation in Africa. The transdisciplinary research methodology borrows from ethnographic methodologies including sensuous scholarship and participant observation of ritualistic experiences. The authors conclude that the creative, ritualistic and artistic lifeworlds of communities, in or recovering from conflict situations, are deeply relevant to any real motion towards reconciliation and healing.
Highlights
This article is inspired by the need to discover knowledge in the aesthetic domain of the African episteme
This article departed from the aim to evaluate poetics as a source of information to find practical solutions for reconciliation and peace-building in a community
The argument is forwarded that if access to the poetic forms of relatively peaceful communities is discovered, interpreted and understood, it will reveal how relationships are reconciled. This argument is supported by offering a conceptual framework on reconciliation, the aesthetic knowledge domain and poetics, making it relevant to peace and reconciliation
Summary
This article is inspired by the need to discover knowledge in the aesthetic domain of the African episteme. Some African communities are in the process of achieving peaceful reconciliation after being exposed to slavery, colonisation, socio-economic neglect, political marginalisation and violent conflicts. In a world dominated by Western knowledge systems, people in Africa require the capacity to access customary knowledge to understand disputes around them and find solutions to reconciliation. Such customary knowledge can mostly be found in poetic expressions in their own languages. People from communities seldom use the same language they use in their communities to express themselves outside the community
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