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“SUSTAINING PEACE FROM CAMPUS TO COMMUNITY”, THE ROLE OF STUDENTS TO PROMOTE CAMPUS-LEVEL RECONCILIATION: A CASE STUDY OF MALUKU, INDONESIA

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dc.contributor.advisorBjorn H. Nordtveit
dc.contributor.advisorAsh Hartwell
dc.contributor.advisorMichael Hannahan
dc.contributor.authorNovrita, Julia
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst
dc.date2024-03-28T16:20:15.000
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T15:57:44Z
dc.date.available2024-04-26T15:57:44Z
dc.date.issued2022-09-01
dc.date.submittedSeptember
dc.date.submitted2022
dc.description.abstractIn the context of intractable conflict, a higher education institution, especially a public state university, is not only a learning place for youth aged 18-26 years, but also a symbol of control, power, pride, and identity of dominant regional groups. This condition has made some scholars and practitioners in peacebuilding doubt the capacity of higher education to promote peace and reconciliation in the aftermath of war, arguing that the challenges outweigh the opportunities. Learning from the experience of the alumni of the Non-Violent Study Circles (NVSC) program and their affiliations at the University of Pattimura (UNPATTI), the largest public university in Ambon, Maluku, one of provinces of Indonesia with a history of sectarian conflict, this dissertation aims to identify the challenges and opportunities students faced to promote campus-level reconciliation that transcends communal division. The conceptual framework was developed based on Bar-Tal’s socio-psychological dynamics in intractable conflict, intergroup conflict, and reconciliation strategies. Employing qualitative methods, this study engaged 80 research participants in face-to-face interviews, individually and in small group discussion in addition to observation and secondary data sources. In addition, critical autoethnographic data were added to triangulate findings with the narratives provided by the research participants. The findings revealed that students’ motivation and level of engagement in reconciliation and peacebuilding activities were influenced by their lecturers, mentors, senior students, peers, and parents as internal and external actors who shaped campus political dynamic either toward the culture of conflict or peace. Five dimensions of challenges were identified, namely historical, socio-cultural, political, organizational/structural, behaviour and psychological. To overcome the challenges, students took different actions, including promoting the NVSC program as a medium to develop shared values, facilitating critical dialogues around conflict and identity as well as organizing intergroup art and sport activities. The findings suggested that interventions should start with assessing and dismantling sociopsychological infrastructures (collective memory, collective emotions, and ethos of conflict), creating a safe space for positive intergroup contact, strengthening students’ initiatives to promote a sense of ownership, empowerment, and leadership in the long-term, while maintaining neutrality in the process.
dc.description.degreeDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
dc.description.departmentEducation
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.7275/31050346
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5791-176X
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/19064
dc.relation.urlhttps://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3791&context=dissertations_2&unstamped=1
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.source.statuspublished
dc.subjectHigher Education
dc.subjectPeacebuilding
dc.subjectCampus-Level Reconciliation
dc.subjectIntergroup Dialogue
dc.subjectStudy Circles
dc.subjectIntractable Conflict
dc.subjectEducational Leadership
dc.subjectEducational Psychology
dc.subjectHigher Education Administration
dc.subjectHumane Education
dc.subjectInternational and Comparative Education
dc.title“SUSTAINING PEACE FROM CAMPUS TO COMMUNITY”, THE ROLE OF STUDENTS TO PROMOTE CAMPUS-LEVEL RECONCILIATION: A CASE STUDY OF MALUKU, INDONESIA
dc.typeopenaccess
dc.typearticle
dc.typedissertation
digcom.contributor.authorisAuthorOfPublication|email:julianovrita@gmail.com|institution:University of Massachusetts Amherst|Novrita, Julia
digcom.identifierdissertations_2/2705
digcom.identifier.contextkey31050346
digcom.identifier.submissionpathdissertations_2/2705
dspace.entity.typePublication
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