Learning Pragmatic Nonviolence Together: African Peace Studies in Australia

At first sight it may seem strange to be discussing the role of African peace studies in Australia. However, since its origins 40 years ago, peace studies at the University of New England (UNE) has had a special interest in developing countries, specifically in Africa. Since 2003 UNE has been providing full doctoral peace studies field-research scholarships to a range of African students. Over the period 2003–2021, a total of fifteen of these African students have gained their doctorates at UNE studying African topics and four more are still in progress. Their geographical coverage has included the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ghana, Nigeria, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa as well as the African Union, ECOWAS and UNEP. Issues examined include evaluations of peacekeeping missions, explorations of human rights models of nonviolence and studies of women’s work in achieving justice and the SDGs for all. Drawing on the research of this outstanding group of African students, this chapter explores the experience of building a trans/multidisciplinary nonviolent oasis at a geographical cross-roads whilst peace studies units around the world, searching for funding, were rebaptising themselves as security and conflict departments.