Browsing results for Giryama

(2007) Giryama – ‘Peace’, ‘conflict’

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.

Krijtenburg, Froukje (2007). Cultural ideologies of peace and conflict: A socio-cognitive study of Giryama discourse (Kenya). PhD thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. PDF (open access)

This study is inspired by the idea that ‘ordinary’ people, and especially their understandings and beliefs, are an essential – yet relatively neglected – factor in intercultural conflict resolution. Within the wider context of social studies of conflict and its attempted resolution this is a cognitive study of their understandings (i.e. the ‘cultural understandings’) of ‘peace’ and ‘conflict’. The overall framework is that of anthropological linguistics, with its characteristic view of language as linguistic practice. An analytical model is developed and applied to a case study of the Giriama of Kenya. This model facilitates accounting for an insider view as well as a cross-cultural comparison. It can be used for studying ‘cultural understandings’ of ‘peace’ and ‘conflict’ in other communities,and renders outcomes that can be compared. The research domain is everyday and public discourse.

(2015) English, Giryama – ‘Peace’

Published on May 12, 2017. Last updated on August 19, 2021.

Krijtenburg, Froukje, & de Volder, Eefje (2015). How universal is UN ‘peace’? A comparative linguistic analysis of the United Nations and Giryama (Kenya) concepts of ‘peace’. International Journal of Language and Culture, 2(2), 194-218. DOI: 10.1075/ijolc.2.2.03kri

It is now commonly accepted that, for the sake of international peace, the provisions of the UN Charter (originally devised to regulate interstate wars) should be interpreted so as to allow for intrastate interference as well. Yet the UN Charter does not explicitly state what the term peace refers to. It seems that the concept underpinning this term is so much the norm that only deviations from it are marked and therefore noteworthy or definable. Still, in view of the wide array of UN peacekeeping missions all over the world, a clear notion of ‘peace’ could make an important contribution to the success of these missions. In view of this, the paper addresses two questions: what lies behind the concept of ‘peace’ embedded in UN discourse, and how internationally salient is it? To provide the necessary perspective, we undertake a comparative ethnolexicological analysis of the UN and Giryama (Kenya) ‘peace’ concepts. The analysis aims to highlight those aspects of Giryama kuelewana and UN peace that are characteristically ‘socially meaningful’ and concludes by highlighting convergences and divergences between them.