How the Arts Generate Social Capital to Foster Intergroup Social Cohesion

Abstract

Through the case study of the Guernica Peace Mural Project (GPMP) in Columbus, Ohio, which involved American and Somali groups, I explore how participatory community arts generate social capital to promote intergroup social cohesion. The use of participatory and collaborative arts, high-level interactions and “authentic personal interactions,” ¹ and nonhierarchical relationships or equal partnerships in an informal setting in the GPMP produce a new kind of social capital, “bridged bonding.” Bridging the differences between the two groups and bonding them into one integrated whole, bridged-bonding social capital is applied as social glue to create a cohesive multicultural community.

Keywords:

• community development
• informal arts
• intercultural dialogue
• participatory arts
• social capital
• social cohesion

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank her professors, Dr. Margaret Wyszomirski and Dr. Karen Hutzel in the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy at The Ohio State University, for their expert advice, guidance, and feedback throughout the research and writing of this article. She is also grateful to all of the research participants who shared their time, experiences, and views on the Guernica Peace Mural Project with her.

Notes

1. I adopt this term from one of my research participants' description of the GPMP in the interview. I have decided that this is a good way to refer to one of the key characteristics of the GPMP. I put it in quotation marks here to acknowledge that attribution. Hereafter, it will simply be a term of reference in the article.

2. In 2010, I interviewed 4 American graduate students, 15 Somali children, and 2 volunteers from the Somali Women and Children's Alliance, and collected 117 online postings of American graduate student reflections on the project, all of whom were promised anonymity. Any references in quotations that come from these interviews and online postings reflect general comments that are emblematic of commonly held perceptions or attitudes from the project. Therefore, no attributions to individuals are made.