The Arts of Inclusion RSE-net: Examining the role of Performing Arts for Peace Education in Conflict. A Scottish-Latin American Countries Network
This Network draws together academics and activists to build expertise to critically assess the role of performing arts practices for peace education and inclusion in conflict settings; and to set the foundation for sustained research that will address key issues of pressing concern in the field. This Royal Society of Edinburgh award extended the activities in Scotland of the AHRC GCRF The Arts of Inclusion (2019-2022, Odena PI). Two key areas of concern have already been identified around arts content and arts research in conflict settings: the uniting but also potentially dividing role of the arts in such settings; and the use of ethnographic study vs short-term consultancy based research. The Network examined and continues to examine the contribution that arts research can make to peace education in countries affected by conflict, including Colombia and Mexico, making a positive contribution internationally. The Network generates synergies between Scottish and Latin American leading voices on social arts programmes, facilitating the development and dissemination of expertise beyond its initial membership. Post-award the Network operates as a self-sustaining hub with 25 members with interdisciplinary expertise based across nine countries including: Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Spain and the UK.
PI and Co-Is
PI - Professor Oscar Odena, School of Education and School Social & Environmental Sustainability, University of Glasgow
The Network facilitates collaboration between HEIs and leading NGOs, social enterprises and networks in Scotland and beyond, including the Social Impact of Making Music (SIMM). The initial eight members were: the PI and Co-Applicants with expertise in performing arts and peace education in Scotland, Mexico and Colombia (Odena, González-Moreno, Zapata-Restrepo); the other five initial members include, by expertise: comparative and development studies (Valiente, Glasgow), arts education policies in Brazil (Figueiredo, Santa Catarina State University, Brazil), conflict prevention and interventions in war-affected contexts (Pinto, CEO Prolongar, Colombia), arts-for-reconciliation practices (Rodríguez-Sánchez, Corporación Universitaria del Caribe, Colombia), and protracted violence in Central America (Hume, Glasgow). Others joined the Network post-award and contributed seminars/publications, in alphabetical order:
Dr A. Cabedo-Mas, University Jaume I, Castelló, Spain.
Dr A. Green, King’s College London, UK.
Prof. D. Mateos-Moreno, University of Málaga, Spain.
Dr D. Yerichuk, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.
Prof. G. Baker, Royal Holloway, University of London, and Director of Research at music charity Agrigento.
Dr G. Howell, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Dr H. Vázquez, Mexican ECR with a PhD from University of Victoria, Canada.
Dr J. Scharf, retired teacher and officer, Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment in Northern Ireland.
Dr L. O’Hara, ECR with a PhD from Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Dr L. O’Hare, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Prof. L. Pairon, Ghent University, Belgium. SIMM Founder. Active in Palestine and DR Congo with the philanthropic organisation Music Fund.
Dr R. Carrillo, ECR with a PhD from Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico.
Dr S. Slatcher, community music practitioner and Director of Citizen Songwriters.
Dr S. Niño, Colombian PhD graduate from the University of Edinburgh (2024).
Dr S. Coyne, ECR and musician working with singers who have experienced homelessness.
Dr V. Gascón, Mexican ECR and recent PhD graduate at Glasgow (2024).
Ms V. Salinas-Maceda, independent Bolivian ECR.
Start and End Date
01/02/2019 – 31/07/2024 (extended due to Covid-19 disruption)
Funder and Funding Amount
The Royal Society of Edinburgh £15,116 (£20,184 fEC)
Related Publications
Publications and conference papers, key outputs marked with (*) :
Odena, O. (Ed.) (2023) Music and Social Inclusion: International Research and Practice in Complex Settings. Series: SEMPRE studies in the psychology of music. Routledge: Abingdon, UK, and New York, NY, USA. ISBN 9781032037196 (hardback); 9781032037202 (paperback); 9781003188667 (eBook) (*)
Odena, O. (2023) A model for developing music and music education activities for social cohesion in complex settings. In: Odena, O. (ed.) Music and Social Inclusion: International Research and Practice in Complex Settings. Series: SEMPRE studies in the psychology of music. Routledge: Abingdon, UK, and New York, NY, USA, pp. 22-36. ISBN 9781032037196 (doi: 10.4324/9781003188667-4)
Scharf, J. and Odena, O. (2023) Does the 21st century music curriculum enable Northern Ireland’s children sing each other’s songs? In: Odena, O. (ed.) Music and Social Inclusion: International Research and Practice in Complex Settings. Series: SEMPRE studies in the psychology of music. Routledge: Abingdon, UK, and New York, NY, USA, pp. 130-144. ISBN 9781032037196 (doi: 10.4324/9781003188667-12)
Figueiredo, S. and Odena, O. (2023) The impact of music education in social projects: two cases in South Brazil. In: Odena, O. (ed.) Music and Social Inclusion: International Research and Practice in Complex Settings. Series: SEMPRE studies in the psychology of music. Routledge: Abingdon, UK, and New York, NY, USA, pp. 100-114. ISBN 9781032037196 (doi: 10.4324/9781003188667-10)
Rodriguez Sanchez, A., Odena, O. and Cabedo-Mas, A. (2023) Using sound ethnography to study a social music programme in Colombia. In: Odena, O. (ed.) Music and Social Inclusion: International Research and Practice in Complex Settings. Series: SEMPRE studies in the psychology of music. Routledge: Abingdon, UK, and New York, NY, USA, pp. 217-229. ISBN 9781032037196 (doi: 10.4324/9781003188667-19)
Odena, O. (2023) The role of music in social projects: an introduction to its well-being benefits. Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 27(3), pp. 210-219. (doi: 10.1108/MHSI-01-2023-0013)
Odena, O. , Figueiredo, S., González-Moreno, P. A., Green, A., Howell, G., Pairon, L., Rodríguez-Sánchez, A., Slatcher, S. and Zapata-Restrepo, G. (2022) Can Music be a Tool for Social Transformation? Other. Futurum Careers. (doi: 10.33424/FUTURUM318). Briefing for non-academics (*)
Odena, O. and Scharf, J. (2022) Music education in Northern Ireland: a process to achieve social inclusion through segregated education? International Journal of Music Education, 40(3), pp. 471-486. (doi: 10.1177/02557614221075835)
Moskal, M. , Odena, O. , Arizpe, E. , Gormally, S. , Pacheco, E.-M. , Dagar, P. and Aldegheri, E. (2021) Education, Culture and Learning in Response to Conflict and Protracted Crisis [Symposium]. Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) 65th Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, 25-29 Apr 2021.
Odena, O. (2020) Developing Multiculturally-Sensitive Music Student Teachers through Collaborative Enquiry during School Placements in Glasgow. ECER 2020, Glasgow, UK, 25-28 Sep 2020 [Event cancelled].
Odena, O. (2020) El papel de la creatividad musical en proyectos intercomunitarios: los enfoques de profesionales en Irlanda del Norte. In: Murillo, A., Tejada, J., Riaño, M.E., Berbel, N. and Morant, R. (eds.) Escuelas Creadoras: Escuelas del Cambio. El arte como herramienta de transformación [Creative Schools: Changing Schools. The art as transformative tool – original in Spanish]. EdictOràlia: València, Spain, pp. 113-139. ISBN 9788412002386 (paperback); 9788491334828 (epub) (doi: 10.7203/PUV-OA-482-8)
Odena, O. , Rodríguez-Sánchez, A., Zapata-Restrepo, G., Cabedo-Mas, A., Figueiredo, S., González-Moreno, P. A., Pinto, M. E. and Valiente, O. (2019) Developing a Framework for the Study of Performing Arts Programs for Other-than-artistic Purposes in Conflict Settings. In: 4th SIMM-posium, Bogotá, Colombia, 26-27 Jul 2019.
All the above publications are tagged in the University repository Enlighten under the internal project code 305663, please see https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/project_code/305663.html. A record of any future project-related publications will be uploaded to Enlighten.
Project news (impacts)
This Network critically explored the contribution made by performing arts practices in developing peace education and inclusion with individuals affected by violent conflict. The activities benefited practitioners and NGOs as well as local communities by helping to develop research-informed practices. Examples of social arts programmes abound, but developers do not appear to comparatively and systematically study how and under which conditions individuals benefit from participation. The Network addressed and continues to address this gap through three overlapping activities: facilitating links among collaborators; critically co-evaluating and sharing best practices/policies; and facilitating KE links with potential partners globally.
The connections between collaborators were strengthened over the course of Workshop III in Glasgow, where delegates (20 face-to-face and 20 online) shared best practices. The Network expanded its outreach through sharing a suite of resources including an OA briefing for practitioners, available at https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/284117/. Resources were (and will continue to be) shared with potential partners identified through collaborators and Advisory members. To widen access, materials were made available in a number of formats, comprising an academic book, press headlines and briefing, for social media circulation and through collaborators’ webpages. Education media company Futurum co-produced the extended OA briefing for their school’s platform and is coordinating its on-going global dissemination. Activities enabled by the RSE award include workshops with academics and non-academics in Colombia, Scotland and online. A video on Workshop III produced by the videographer at the University of Glasgow is available in YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvlAbi1tA70
The OA 16-page briefing for practitioners and policy makers is available in Enlighten:
https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/284117/. It has been shared widely and attracted attention of research and teaching associations globally (e.g. Portuguese Association for Music Education, who invited Odena to deliver the opening keynote at their Annual Conference in 2023).
Over the duration of the project Zapata-Restrepo was awarded a UNESCO Chair in Arts, Education and Culture of Peace in Colombia, Mateos-Moreno obtained a 1-year Visiting Scholar award to Glasgow, and seven members gained promotion, including two ECRs to Lecturer positions.