Preventing Socio-Political Conflicts and Building Peace Block: The Role of Music

Abstract

It has been observed that when people think in dissimilar ways and are not willing to compromise at all, conflict arises. Preventing conflict and building peace are long term processes that need to be sustainable for the full realization of human rights. In order to sustain peace there is need to prevent conflicts. The changing nature of conflicts presents new threat to man, hence the expanded number of situations to address. But since conflict emanates from the mind, it makes good sense to look at ways by which the mind could be trained to become restful. Music as an art that works on the mind has a role to play here. Music education is not only useful in preventing conflicts but in sustaining peace. The focus of this paper is to establish the role of music in resolving a spectrum of social and political crisis in the contemporary world. It examines the materials and practices of music making to reveal how music and performance can be used to nurture cultural awareness among communities in conflict in Nigeria. It discovers that music is a vehicle to promote conflict resolution, peace building and to build awareness of the necessity of peace and avoid future conflict. It recommends music education programmes to build capacity by developing and enriching knowledge, skills and values that prevent conflicts and promote a culture of peace.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n2p703