What Would Peace look Like in Acapulco? The Views of Local Practitioners and Stakeholders

Abstract

This article critically explores what peace means for 39 practitioners and stakeholders in the city of Acapulco, Mexico in 2021. Working in non-formal education, community development, the arts, and culturally based activities across the city, their responses provide unique insight into what peace might look like in a city with high levels of inequality, drug-related violence, and crime. Facilitating their vision of peace and getting participants to articulate what peace would look like for them, this article provides insights into practitioners’ views, changing the narrative from them being victims of violence to agents of positive social change. Peacebuilding literature frames the discussion, and the article concludes with lessons derived from the detailed analysis of participant views which might offer a pathway for others living and working in similar contexts.