Introduction: Peace and Conflict in the Time of Apocalypse
摘要
Both popular and academic narratives lament that the human and more-than-human world is currently teetering on the brink of collapse, toward a rupture of apocalyptic proportions. In peace and conflict studies, the collapse of liberal peacebuilding as an ordering frame represents a conceptual apocalypse that requires a radical rethinking of assumptions, models, and interventions in peacebuilding. This edited volume addresses this need by contributing timely reflections that reconcile apocalyptic imaginaries with our past, present, and future to bring innovation to peace and conflict studies. It offers thirteen different critical engagements with the field through apocalyptic imaginaries. Drawing from an array of theoretical and methodological approaches, the chapters are divided into three sections inspired by critical studies: the “Canon,” “Space,” and “Time.” In the Canon section, the chapters question key ontological assumptions in peace and conflict studies, and explore linkages to Indigenous and decolonial knowledge systems. In the section on Space, the chapters engage in discussions about who is recognized in peacebuilding spaces and how these perceptions shape challenges and opportunities. The final section on Time explores questions about the temporality of current and future practices. This edited volume uses apocalyptic imaginaries as an analytical frame to make three critical interventions surrounding pluralism, nondualism, and nonlinearity to peace and conflict studies.