STUDENT BLOG
The Power of a Storytelling: How the Radio Soap Opera “Story Story” Contributes to Peacebuilding Efforts in Nigeria
By Stephanie Lam. JNL61004, MA International and Public Communication, University of Sheffield. Introduction People have the opportunity to hear new ideas and information from one another through storytelling. For the citizens of Nigeria, a country located in the Western Coast of Africa, storytelling via radio programmes contributes to peacebuilding efforts in a post-civil war society. The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigeria-Biafran War, lasted from 1967 to 1970 and was fought...
“We Cannot Undo The Past, But We Can Change The Future”, The Fighters for Peace Project in Post-War Lebanon
By Niamh Woodmass, JNL61004, MA International Public and Political Communication, University of Sheffield Introduction In post-war Lebanon, societal divides between the former enemies remain prominent. The civil war occurred from 13 April 1975 to 13 October 1990 and was a devastating conflict which led to approximately “150,000 dead, twice as many wounded or injured and almost two-thirds of the population displaced or uprooted” (Larkin, 2021). The youth of the population in Lebanon especially...
Silence and Symbolism: The Constructive and Destructive Uses of Silence in Peace-Building and The Case of Mass Trauma
By Maria Menezes de Oliveira “The silent side of history is seen a little in the silent suffering of men and nations. But more suffering is lived through than is seen from the outside. It seems that mankind prefers to suffer in silence, prefers to live in the world of silence, even if it be by suffering, than to take its suffering into the loud places of history” Picard, (1948) Silence is an essential component of communication and proves to be malleable and multi-dimensional. In the words of...
Ingoma Nshya And Its Endeavour For Peace
Ingoma Nshya and its Endeavour For Peace by Maya El Eid, MA International Public and Political Communication, JNL61004 Communication in Peacebuilding, University of Sheffield. Music has always been seen as having the potential to facilitate cross-cultural communication, understanding, reconciliation and healing. It is also in this way that it has been used in Rwanda to encourage the population to overcome feelings of resentment brought about by the Rwandan genocide of 1994. In 2004,...
Star Radio: A Peacebuilding Project in Post-Conflict Liberia
By Nojoud Shraim, MA International Public and Political Communication, JNL61004 Communication in Peacebuilding, University of Sheffield. Star Radio was established by Fondation Hirondelle in Liberia after the first civil war in 1997 as a public service radio station that advocated for peace, good governance and development. However, due to its financial struggles, Star Radio went off-air in 2010 (Fondation Hirondelle). To analyse Star Radio as a communicative peacebuilding...