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alexdpar's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Peace education has certainly followed that liberal model the author argues needs transforming. Ever since reading their second book and reconstructing my own notions for what it means to be a peace builder, I’ve had a hard time finding the right people and causes to support. But this book certainly points you in the right direction. I found myself once again attacking some preconceived notions I’ve learned through higher education. I’ve also found myself becoming more invested in localized and grassroots movements, which are lessons I have taken into my research and employment programs. Not all of my clients have been happy with my arguments of extended peace building time frames and calls for a more localized bottom-up approach. Which maybe that is a sign itself the typical international model still needs work.
And while the authors other works certainly feel like case studies and more academic, I would argue that this book should be given to anyone in an introductory peace studies class as it helps them re-evaluate their priorities and motivations. It is certainly personal and full of emotional and persuasive material. Worth the read for anyone who wants to make a change anywhere.
And while the authors other works certainly feel like case studies and more academic, I would argue that this book should be given to anyone in an introductory peace studies class as it helps them re-evaluate their priorities and motivations. It is certainly personal and full of emotional and persuasive material. Worth the read for anyone who wants to make a change anywhere.
andrewsever's review
5.0
Séverine takes you on a journey of understanding what is not working in the context of conflict resolution and finding peace, why that's the case, and how it can be adjusted. She helps you see the pivot points and gives you inspiration on doing it in your own community. Her strength and raw talent in connecting to the heart of communities and conflict is extraordinary, and I am a better mediator and outsider for it - I hope to find ways to create change for peace in every step I take. Thank you Séverine - it was truly a pleasure to read this book and experience the journey.
kartikn's review
3.5
--FAVOURITE NON-FICTION OF 2021--
This was really good book with a lot of good information about development, white saviors, conflict and of course, peacebuilding. Autesserre acknowledges that there isn't any one size fits all to help the developing world and every method has its upsides and downsides. Cannot recommend enough
This was really good book with a lot of good information about development, white saviors, conflict and of course, peacebuilding. Autesserre acknowledges that there isn't any one size fits all to help the developing world and every method has its upsides and downsides. Cannot recommend enough
annierens's review
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Severine Autesserre is my personal hero. If you read this book, she will become yours too.
I first discovered Severine's writing when I read her first two books as a young teenager. Instantly, I was hooked. Her stories are so mind-blowing yet from-the-heart. Her characters can sometimes be infuriating yet so very endearing. Her way of writing is both accessible and sophisticated. Can you blame me when I tell you I sent her 'fan mail' after reading her first book at age 15?
It was because of Severine that I ultimately decided to go to Barnard College (where she works as a professor). I have taken classes with her, been her advisee, and served as her research assistant. She is one of the most brilliant, kind, and thoughtful people I have ever met. It's truly an honor to know this author.
But that's not why you should read this book. No, why you should read this book is because it's a brilliant, heart-warming, hopeful portrait of the ways in which we can build peace in an otherwise divided world. It's a candle burning in the dark, a sliver of hope for a more peaceful, more just way to live. It's a refreshing take on conflict that could potentially change the way we look at peace.
This book is a must-read. And that's not just because the author is awesome, which she is. But it's because this book is truly revolutionary.
I first discovered Severine's writing when I read her first two books as a young teenager. Instantly, I was hooked. Her stories are so mind-blowing yet from-the-heart. Her characters can sometimes be infuriating yet so very endearing. Her way of writing is both accessible and sophisticated. Can you blame me when I tell you I sent her 'fan mail' after reading her first book at age 15?
It was because of Severine that I ultimately decided to go to Barnard College (where she works as a professor). I have taken classes with her, been her advisee, and served as her research assistant. She is one of the most brilliant, kind, and thoughtful people I have ever met. It's truly an honor to know this author.
But that's not why you should read this book. No, why you should read this book is because it's a brilliant, heart-warming, hopeful portrait of the ways in which we can build peace in an otherwise divided world. It's a candle burning in the dark, a sliver of hope for a more peaceful, more just way to live. It's a refreshing take on conflict that could potentially change the way we look at peace.
This book is a must-read. And that's not just because the author is awesome, which she is. But it's because this book is truly revolutionary.
jasmineqzou's review
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a more nuanced understanding of international intervention and how it can succeed. I have so much respect for the way that Autesserre approaches peacebuilding—a thorny and often painful topic in the past half-century—in this book. She criticizes the conventional top-down peacebuilding approaches where foreign peacebuilders run the show and socialize in insular peacebuilder circles, focusing on arranging handshakes between leaders and scheduling elections instead of the quotidian causes of violence that affect the communities that peacebuilders are supposed to protect. These criticisms of what she calls “Peace, Inc.” are grounded in Autesserre’s brutally honest reflections on her own experience as a foreign peacebuilder following guidelines that perpetuate neo-colonialist/neo-imperialist dynamics between peacebuilders and locals.
However, Autesserre does not just focus on the myriad ways that peacebuilding has failed over the past decades, but instead she has valuably outlined what strategies *have* worked. Drawing from organizations and initiatives in the Congo, Colombia, Somaliland, and Palestine/Israel, Autesserre emphasizes the importance of bottom-up strategies in successful peacebuilding—of listening to locals explain where the source of violence is, of respecting the expertise of insiders instead of assuming they are not as capable as foreigners at analyzing the problems, and of committing to local, grassroots initiatives for peace, projects that require long-term investment, and are certainly less glamourous than negotiating a handshake between leaders.
Ultimately, this book helped me feel hopeful that there are tools that dedicated individuals can implement to foster peace in their communities. Her vivid anecdotes helped me see the leaders and activists hard at work in foreign lands, using strategies that I feel empowered to replicate in my own communities.
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