Care as everyday peacebuilding

Analyses of everyday peace provide a critical response to existing peace practices. However, absent from these discussions is the feminist research that theorizes peace through everyday practices of care. We argue that contemporary debates on everyday peace should engage with this largely forgotten tradition. We explore the contributions of this research through case studies that span the north-south divide: from Northern Ireland to Aceh, and Kashmir to Reykjavik. Demonstrating how care is an essential ingredient of everyday peace, we suggest that a care lens allows us to reframe the understanding of everyday peace to provide a fuller picture that also addresses the complex and contradictory nature of social relations involved in everyday peacebuilding. By resolving conflicts over immediate care needs and building the capacity of communities in ways that subtly challenge the fixity of conflict, care cumulatively creates possibilities for peaceful transformation.