The Role of Music-Making in Peacebuilding: A Levinasian Perspective

Abstract

Jourdan’s “The Role of Music-Making in Peacebuilding: A Levinasian Perspective” begins by contrasting two case studies from earlier chapters, one which celebrates the transformative role of songs in peacebuilding in Northern Uganda and the other which highlights the problematic “importation of music-making in the Western classical tradition into the West Bank Palestinian territories.” Jourdan argues that music-making, especially conceived as “ethical encounter,” has the potential to contribute to peacebuilding. Drawing on the work of the French Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas she explores both the limitations and the extraordinary potential of music ‘to put a world in common’, to ‘look into the face of the Other’ and build non-violent relationships that can change societies.