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Paper short abstract

Explores how arts, oral histories and textile traditions support healing, memory and social cohesion in post-conflict communities. Argues that creative, community-led cultural practices are essential to reimagining peacebuilding and future development.

Paper long abstract

This paper explores the role of oral histories and creative cultural practices as vital, community-driven tools of peacebuilding in post-conflict societies. While conventional peacebuilding frameworks frequently emphasise policy, security, and institutional interventions, lived experiences of conflict reveal that emotional repair, cultural continuity and community trust are equally essential. Drawing on interdisciplinary work across South Asia, particularly oral histories of the Partition of India, phulkari embroidery in Punjab, and Indigenous craft knowledge in the Himalayan region, this paper argues that oral testimony and material practice together produce forms of cultural memory that support social healing.

Through case studies of curatorial projects, intergenerational storytelling workshops and collaborative craft-based initiatives, the paper examines how communities utilize oral narratives and embodied creative practice to process trauma, reclaim agency and challenge erasures inherent in colonial and postcolonial histories. These practices facilitate dialogue, strengthen local identity and preserve intangible heritage at risk of disappearance.

The paper advances three key insights:

(1) Oral histories act as relational infrastructure, building trust and enabling communities to narrate conflict on their own terms.

(2) Creative practices, including textiles, ritual forms and everyday making, translate memory into tangible, shareable expressions that support cohesion and resilience.

(3) Integrating arts-based methodologies into peacebuilding shifts the field towards more ethical, participatory and culturally grounded approaches.

Ultimately, this paper positions oral history and creative practice not as supplementary cultural activities but as central, transformative components of sustainable peacebuilding and post-conflict development.