Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

This study considers the development of a network of small, local initiatives created in Kenya under the umbrella of the Community Peace Museums and Heritage Foundation (CPMFH) from the 1990s on in the face of past and ongoing structural and political violence. In the shadow of the larger, government-funded national history and memorial sites, these community peace sites and initiatives reflect the concept of peace emphasizing cooperation and conflict resolution. Further, through recovering lost customs and community artifacts, they display the material culture of indigenous communities, fostering exhibits and sites of nature and memory that look toward traditional Kenyan practices and beliefs rather than hegemonic, nationalist representations. The emphasis is on sites and exhibits that reflect Kenya’s diverse communities and aim to work toward valuing heritages of peacebuilding and the possibility of sites and spaces for peace and reconciliation (between and within diverse groups) even where grievances, conflicts, and antagonisms persist. The CPMHF approach is to recapture past sites and traditions of community peacebuilding – many of which have been lost through colonization and globalization – as a way to commemorate peace heritages rather than focus solely on memorializing past violence. Through ceremonies and dialogue prompted by recovered artifacts and practices, the CPMHF provides a space for various groups to come together to learn from and about each other and to attempt to facilitate healing and reconciliation. The CPMHF sites and projects bring to light Kenya’s largely erased and silenced peace traditions and history in keeping with peace museums worldwide.