‘The ‘local-visual turn’: understanding peacebuilding in post-conflict societies using photo-elicitation

The ‘local turn’ and ‘visual turn’ are increasingly crucial in peacebuilding processes in post-conflict societies. This research combines these concepts, offering a deeper understanding of communities experiencing ongoing peace processes and the environments where these processes take place. It uses the ‘local-visual turn’ with a photo-elicitation methodology to understand the relationship between the material world, social realities, and local peacebuilding processes. Specifically, in Northern Ireland, a post-conflict state experiencing ongoing tensions exacerbated by Brexit. Photo-elicitation interviews were carried out across local communities in Northern Ireland. The findings point to four key themes: local understandings of peace processes in Northern Ireland at the onset of Brexit; youth, peace, and the future of Northern Ireland; religion, churches and the peace processes; and paramilitarism and the peace processes. The results demonstrate that peace processes can be more comprehensively understood by rooting research methodologies in local experiences and physical landscapes.