New Books in Sociology

David Oakeshott, "Schooling, Conflict and Peace in the Southwestern Pacific: Becoming Enemy Friends" (Bristol UP, 2024)

Mar 26, 2025

David Oakeshott, a postdoctoral fellow at the Australian National University, shares his deep insights into post-conflict education in places like Bougainville and the Solomon Islands. He discusses how youth must confront the violent histories of their families while fostering connections with former adversaries. The conversation unveils the powerful concept of 'enemy friends' and explores the impact of reconciliation ceremonies on schooling. Oakeshott also addresses how state narratives often clash with personal relationships in educational settings, shaping national identity after conflict.

50:28

Episode guests

David Oakeshott

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Transitional justice in post-conflict education highlights the challenges of engaging with historical violence to promote reconciliation among youth.

The term 'enemy friends' illustrates the complex relationships that persist across conflict lines, complicating traditional narratives of transforming foes into allies.

Deep dives

Understanding Transitional Justice

Transitional justice in post-conflict settings emphasizes the need for societies to understand and address the violent past to foster reconciliation and healing. The speaker highlights their experience in the Solomon Islands, where a Truth and Reconciliation Commission report was largely ignored by educators and students, indicating a reluctance to engage with the country's history of conflict. The concept of place-based justice becomes a critical analytical tool for understanding how local communities perceive justice in their unique contexts. This approach recognizes that those affected by conflict often have their definitions of justice, which may differ from established frameworks in transitional justice literature.

Intro

2min

Navigating Education in Post-Conflict Pacific

12min

Enemy Friends: Reconciliation in Conflict

8min

Reconciliation and Education Post-Conflict

18min

Navigating National Identity in Post-Conflict Education

6min

Exploring the Role of Education in Post-Conflict Societies

2min

Bringing concepts from critical transitional justice and peacebuilding into dialogue with education, Schooling, Conflict and Peace in the Southwestern Pacific: Becoming Enemy Friends (Bristol University Press, 2024) by Dr. David Oakeshott examines the challenges youth and their teachers face in the post-conflict settings of Bougainville and Solomon Islands.

Youth in these places must reconcile with the violent past of their parents’ generation while also learning how to live with people once on opposing ‘sides'. This book traces how students and their teachers form connections to the past and each other that cut through the forces that might divide them. The findings illustrate novel ways to think about the potential for education to assist post-conflict recovery.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s episodes on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.

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