A Visual Arts-Based Approach to Peace Mediation - Master's Research Experience of Yelyzaveta Glybchenko
From April 2019 to June 2020, I was working on my master’s thesis - " A Visual Arts-Based Approach to Peace Mediation: Exploring the Conceptual Potential of Visual Art-Making in Peace Mediation " - as part of the Master’s Degree in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research at Tampere University, Finland. My research objective was to develop a visual arts-based approach to peace mediation - something that has not been done before. The novelty made my work both challenging and positively thrilling. And I would like to share the research experience and some findings here. I came into the research process with extensive experience in visual art, graphic design and their employment for social change (for example, the work for Color Up Peace ) and a profound interest in mediation. According to Birks and Mills (2011), personal and professional experiences of the sort contribute to the development of 'theoretical sensitivity', which guides the researcher in the choices perta...