Work packages (timeline)

WP1: Methodological framework and selection of case studies (September–December 2021)

The purpose of the first Work package (WP) is to select suitable case studies  of post-conflict societies in Southeast Europe, where the project will be implemented(approximately three towns and villages in Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia). Based on the analysis of primary and secondary sources, we will develop the theoretical and conceptual framework and identify appropriate research methods allowing us to analyze the intertwined character of anxiety and structural factors related to ethnic distance in the selected places.

WP2: Structural factors (December 2021–November 2022)

The purpose of WP2 is to identify the structural factors in the selected villages and towns in Southeast Europe and analyze the impact of structural factors on interethnic relations among the local population. This will be achieved by both the analysis and interpretation of secondary and primary sources and through fieldwork (interviewing in particular). The structural factors that will be taken into account for the analysis are: political, socio-economic, sociological (including cultural and religious), historical and peace-building factors, and the discourse that is created in the explored community about the structural factors (both within the selected places and about those places).

WP3: Analysis of anxiety in selected places of post-conflict societies (April 2022–May 2023)

The purpose of WP3 is to understand how (societal) anxiety arises in the context of previously analyzed structural factors in the selected towns and villages. In other words, we will study how anxiety occurs in the context of the post-conflict period and the current problems faced by people in the selected places in Southeast Europe (socio-economic, political, etc.) and how this affects interethnic relations. In doing so, we will methodologically rely primarily on interviewing, but perhaps also on surveys or focus groups (depending on the results in WP1 and WP2 and financial capabilities).

WP4: Developing and testing an innovative experimental (body-mind) approach for reducing ethnic distance in a selected post-conflict place (September 2021–March 2023)

The purpose of WP4 is to develop and test an innovative integrative approach based on body-oriented approaches, which aims to reduce ethnic distance in the selected town or village of a Southeast European post-conflict society. We will achieve this by organizing an 'experimental seminar' based on somatic (body-mind) approaches to people; we will be assisted by external experts trained in these approaches. We will conduct in-depth interviews with the participants before and after the seminar, and perhaps also a survey (depending on the conceptual framework that will be developed in WP1).

Dissemination and communication (September 2021–August 2023)

Communication and dissemination of project results will take place throughout the project. We will publish key findings of the project in scientific and professional journals, and we will also present the results to the general public (interviews with members of the project team, popular articles, publications on social networks). The results of the project will also be shared with relevant international, regional and local organizations working in the field of peacebuilding in Southeast Europe – primarily to provide these actors with scientifically supported results, which could serve as a cornerstone to improve the existing approaches to peacebuilding and conflict transformation in general.