Remembering Peace in Religious, Ecological, and Economic Terms

Abstract

Peacebuilders and environmentalists share a fundamental challenge: reforming the collective memories which fuel cycles of violence and ecological degradation. This chapter offers a tripartite account of how collective memory influences collective behavior, politically and environmentally. It then highlights a shared strategy used to address this problem. Both Daniel Philpott, a political philosopher and peacebuilding activist, and Wangari Maathai, Nobel Laureate and environmental activist, affirm the use of public rhetoric which combines religious narrative with historical data to heal collective memory. While this chapter does not argue for the effectiveness of Philpott’s and Maathai’s approach—that argument requires further empirical study—it does offer an interdisciplinary research agenda to scholars and activists in either field.