Author(s): Andrew Strathern

Sociology

In many societies, particularly in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, peace and violence are linked intrinsically because peace-making follows on the principle of compensation for killings, as a means of averting acts of revenge. After many years researching and writing about problems of violence and social control in Pacific Island societies, especially the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, in Peacemaking and the Imagination , Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart shift the focus of study to concentrate on the peace-making process. Peacemaking and the Imagination reveals that focusing on acts of violence can be a self-limiting process and that peace-making initiatives which take into account broader social and cultural practices of compensation and the broader ethos of exchange relations into which these are set, are more viable. Peacemaking and the Imagination presents a thoughtful and creative approach to the transformation of violent conflict.