Peacebuilding, foodways and the everyday: a fragile confidence in post-intervention Solomon Islands

Stephanie Ketterer Hobbis*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article situates peace research in the messy ambiguities of everyday encounters between foreign peacebuilders and local populations in post-conflict environments. It suggests that anthropology allows for moving the liberal/hybrid peace debate beyond its immediate boundaries – a focus on governance systems and the intervention itself – towards a more comprehensive examination of mundane experiences in shared places and their possible influence on peacebuilding processes. Specifically, this article draws on ethnographic fieldwork in post-conflict and post-intervention Solomon Islands and on anthropological research on the importance of food for identity formation, sociality and customary peacebuilding in Melanesia. By examining non-elite Solomon Islanders’ perceptions of foreign interveners’ apparent rejection of Solomon Islands foods, the article shows how everyday ‘food-based’ encounters between foreign peacebuilders and Solomon Islanders affect non-elite Solomon Islanders’ confidence in long-term peace and more broadly their value and status in the ‘modern’, global, liberal political economy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)470-484
Number of pages15
JournalSocial Anthropology
Volume25
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • confidence
  • food
  • foodways
  • foreign intervention
  • peacebuilding
  • Solomon Islands
  • statebuilding

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