Rewriting peace and conflict
The Virtual Encyclopaedia represents a compilation of theory and empirical research in peace and conflict studies from de- and postcolonial approaches, emphasising the contributions from the research network ‘Postcolonial hierarchies in Peace and Conflict Studies.’
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Joint Call for Contributions with the Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) and the Forum Transregionale Studien
The joint call for contributions with a thematic focus on methodological innovations and alternative formats of knowledge production and circulation is open from June 1st to August 15th, 2026.
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Podcast: Confronting Hierarchies
In the six episodes of the podcast, we question dominant narratives in dialogue with a diversity of voices within and beyond academia and critically engage with theories and research practices. Join us in our journey of confronting hierarchies.
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Video: Plural Perspectives on Peace and Conflict in Asia.
In this video four scholars provide diverse theoretical insights from which we can approach peace and conflict in Asia today. What all of them share is an analysis of how histories of colonialism and imperialism shape both the present of nation-states and individual experiences.
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Pluriversality
Myriad other worlds already exist... the pluriverse is not something that needs to be created, but... recognized (Querejazu, 2016, pg. 4, cited in Fitzgerald, 2023).
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Rewriting peace and conflict

While peace and conflict studies (PACS) is a burgeoning and diverse field, it still grapples with its colonial roots and trajectory. Postcolonial and decolonial approaches have pointed out that research and practice in PACS are based on West-driven epistemological and ontological grounds resulting from colonial structures of power that hinder and often misconstrue our understanding of peace, conflict, and violence and contribute to the reproduction of the structures sustaining different forms of violence. Dominant dynamics of knowledge production in the field have marginalized non-Western and indigenous epistemologies and worldviews. For a critical engagement that contests the effects of colonialism and coloniality of knowledge, scholars have emphasised the need to interrogate and problematise foundational concepts in the different disciplines of Social Sciences. Such endeavour also entails unsettling the patterns of (in)visibility by bringing the voices and different forms of knowledge of traditionally marginalised groups to the centre.

Against this background, the Virtual Encyclopaedia offers an interdisciplinary compilation of crucial theoretical and conceptual debates, empirical analyses, and thorough reflection on methods and knowledge production in the field from de- and postcolonial approaches, with an emphasis on the contributions from the collaborative network Postcolonial Hierarchies in Peace and Conflict. Rather than unambiguous and all-encompassing definitions, the Virtual Encyclopaedia aims to provide readers with the tools to critically approach peace and conflict studies through the lenses of postcolonial theory and decolonial thought.

 

Taking seriously the critique of the coloniality of knowledge and its effects on the field, the Virtual Encyclopedia aims to address epistemic hierarchies and inequalities by promoting the inclusion of multiple and diverse voices (in terms of fields, regions, and career stages) and plural perspectives, as well as fostering cooperative networks.

Virtual Encyclopaedia

Entries

Podcast

Videos

Interventions

Entries

Classified into the two clusters ‘Theoretical and conceptual debates’ and ‘Methods, Knowledge production and dissemination’, the entries aim to provide an insight and orientation on key concepts and theories as well as empirical analyses which are important for a post-/decolonial perspective on peace and conflict. Each entry has a number of tags through which it is linked with other entries sharing those tags. The entries are  furthermore interconnected and draw from a diverse body of knowledges in dialogue including different formats such as audio, images or storytelling.
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Living well and quilombo teachings

The concepts of living well, of the indigenous peoples, and of quilombo teachings, born out of the resistance of the black peoples, afford lived experiences and organizations that are distinct from the colonial and capitalist modernity. Both challenge the logic underlying modern exploitation by proposing new forms of coexistence that are based on ecological harmony and collectiveness. This article explores how these two traditions, originating in different contexts, converge by ‘re-signifying’ the relation between human beings and nature and by promoting more just, sustainable, and inclusive societies, all the while keeping alive teachings and practices that transcend the colonial logic.

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Abraham Hand Vargas Mencer & Ana Carolina Pasolini Gonring
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Feminicide in Abya Yala

Feminicide in Abya Yala is not an isolated phenomenon, but rather the most extreme expression of a colonial, patriarchal, and capitalist system that has historically dispossessed and violated women, especially those who are racialized and impoverished. This entry explores its historical roots, its links to organized crime and state impunity, and presents some responses that, from community feminisms, propose to resist, care for, and transform the structures that perpetuate this violence.

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Katherine Esponda Contreras
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Colonialities of Power and Peace in Cameroon

This article makes the case that the militarised model of peace favoured in the discourse around Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis falls within a hegemonic, liberal/Western conception of peace shaped by the coloniality of power. This top-down perspective makes no space for a pluriversal dialogue, which is essential for resolving the crisis. Drawing on the concepts of decolonial peace and coloniality (of power), the article outlines several pathways for enshrining peace in Cameroon – and in Africa more broadly – within African peoples’ systems of values and knowledge. The core argument is that lasting peace in Cameroon and other conflicts on the continent requires a decolonial and Indigenous approach to peace.

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Nicanor Tatchim
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PLURIVERSAL
PEACEBUILDING

COLONIALITY
OF PEACE

TRANSITIONAL
JUSTICE AND
DECOLONISATION

FUTURES-THINKING

DECOLONIAL PEACE &
RESISTANCE THEORY

EPISTEMIC
VIOLENCE

POSTCOLONIAL
AND DECOLONIAL
DIFFERENCES

COLLABORATIVE
RESEARCH

INTERSECTIONALITY

SECURITY.
SPEAKING WITH FANON?

INTER-SUBALTERN
HIERARCHIES

SYSTEMS OF
CONFLICTIVITY

TERRORISM -
THE IRREDEEMABILITY OF A CONCEPT

Participating
institutions

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