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Abstract
Recent years have seen a growing interest in research linking musicking and peacebuilding, and the establishment of the Min-On Music Research Institute (MOMRI) in 2014 in Tokyo follows this trend. Its mission statement is: ‘To pursue a multidisciplinary investigation of the potential application of music in peacebuilding activities,’ in short, ‘music in peacebuilding.’ In this article, I attempt to define the values that inspire the MOMRI team in our collective research. I present a synthesis of two conceptual frameworks that offer a vision for peacebuilding: Johan Galtung’s ‘Transcend method’ for the nonviolent and creative transformation of conflicts and Daisaku Ikeda’s ‘philosophy of peace’ that places the protection of human dignity at the center of all endeavors. The result of this new synthesis is the articulation of four major value concepts that can help us explore the links between music and peacebuilding, namely Inner Peacebuilding, Communicative Creativity, Planetary Awareness, and Preventive Peacebuilding. Two case studies demonstrate how these concepts can be useful when trying to analyze complex musicking events, the first based on Vegar Jordanger’s research on collective vulnerability through Guided Imagery with Music, and the second on Jason McCoy’s study of the popular musician Simon Bikindi’s role in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.
Notes
1. Urbain, Olivier and Craig Robertson. Citation2016. Music, Power and Liberty: Sound, Song and Melody as Instruments of Change. London: I.B. Tauris.
2. The main goal of ‘communicative rationality’ is to connect with others, whereas in the case of ‘instrumental rationality,’ it is to use and manipulate them.
3. See Buber’s book on this issue, I and Thou [Citation1923] 1996.
4. See A Forum for Peace: Daisaku Ikeda’s Proposals to the UN (2014), edited by Olivier Urbain, London: I.B. Tauris.
5. In his foreword to A Forum for Peace: Daisaku Ikeda’s Proposals to the UN (2014), Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury (Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations from 2002 to 2007) emphasized Ikeda’s support for the UN, stating: ‘I know of no one who has highlighted the role and responsibility of the world body so consistently, relentlessly and substantively for such a long period of time’ (xi-xii).
6. Gandhi, The Collected Works, 89: 125.
7. Galtung (Citation1996) uses the spelling fault-lines with a hyphen in this case.
8. Besides establishing theories and practices, Galtung has also taken several controversial political stances, the main ones concerning the United States’ foreign policies. For the purpose of this statement of values, we only take into account his theories, and remain neutral regarding his political choices. For instance, he makes a distinction between the US Republic and the US Empire, praising the former and severely criticizing the latter; the subtitle of his main book on the topic offers a stark choice: US Fascism or US Blossoming? (Galtung Citation2009).
9. Galtung uses the word ‘party’ for both individuals and groups.
10. This literary device of using a different name than his own serves to allow some liberty when Ikeda mentions the stories of real people in his serial novel. Most often, several stories are combined into one, and also one story can be spread among several characters. Apart from historical figures who keep their real names, all people appearing in the novel have a name which is similar, but different from, their real names.