Pluriversality, Peace and Existential Continuity in Timor-Leste

Epistemic decolonization has been pivotal to the formation of more critical research agendas for peace. Central to this are calls for onto-epistemological reframing and meaningful engagement with diverse cosmologies, knowledge systems and ways of being. Drawing on the analytic of pluriversality, this article explores one dimension of peace in Timor-Leste – largely overlooked within normative frameworks of liberal peace – underpinned by a spiritually grounded imperative for existential and cultural continuity. This is rooted in a deeply felt presence of the dead, origin groups as a prominent basis of sociality, and the spiritual vulnerabilities of unresolved grievances for intergenerational peace and wellbeing.