As the successful peace process in Northern Ireland took shape in the 1990s, attention rightly focused on the politicians and paramilitary leaders who were the key protagonists of the conflict.  Much of the success of this “track one” process, however, rested heavily upon the peace architecture that had been built over the previous 30 years from the grassroots upwards.  Of these civil society efforts, religious-based peacemakers – both clerics and lay members – often played pivotal roles in building bridges across sectarian divides and within their own communities as well, forging the dense network of relationships that supported the track one peace process of the 1990s and withstood the inevitable pressures against it.

Although religious institutions are often seen as complicating conflict dynamics, many religious “mavericks” (in the words of the Institute’s Professor John Brewer) reached out to counterparts on the other side during the darkest days of the Troubles.  The relationships that resulted from these courageous first steps produced enduring networks that pushed for track one initiatives and helped to facilitate public support once these initiatives bore fruit.

Professor Darren Kew, Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has examined the peace- and democracy-building roles of civil society groups in Nigeria and other African countries since the early 1990s, and has spent the last 15 years working with and studying the efforts of religious leaders in Nigeria to conduct Muslim-Christian dialogues there.

Darren is a Visiting Scholar at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute.  He will be based at the Institute for the duration of the 2023-24 academic year.  Funded by the US Friends of Queen’s University Belfast Visiting Professorship, awarded by the US-UK Fulbright Commission, he will be conducting comparative research on religious-based peacemakers in Northern Ireland, exploring the lessons learned by them during the Troubles and their ongoing roles in the present.

Twenty-five years of peace alongside the growing secularization of Northern Ireland overall has thinned these religious-based peace networks.  How have their roles changed, and what new and enduring challenges do they face in trying to build bridges across a still largely segregated society?

Over the academic year 2023-2024, Professor Kew will be working with Mitchell Institute Fellow: Religion, Arts and Peacebuilding, Professor Gladys Ganiel – one of the world’s leading scholars on faith-based peace efforts in Northern Ireland – to interview religious peace practitioners, identifying lessons learned and the continuing challenges that they face.

They will explore:

• How did they build and maintain peace networks during the darkest days of the Troubles? 
• How have they sought to preserve and develop them in the subsequent years since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, and what are the key struggles they face now?

Particular attention will be paid to the question of engaging more of the younger generation in peace work in Northern Ireland, including students taking Professor Ganiel’s ‘Religion and Peacebuilding’ module on the MA in Conflict Transformation and Social Justice.  In addition, Professor Kew will engage key Nigerian interfaith peace practitioners, who will join meetings online with their Northern Irish counterparts.

They will share learning and approaches to religious peace work and assist in developing strategies for expanding networks in Northern Ireland.

 

Professor Darren Kew

Professor Darren Kew is a Visiting Scholar at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute.  He is the recipient of a US Friends of Queen’s University Belfast Visiting Professorship, awarded by the US-UK Fulbright Commission.