Culture And Peace Building: Lessons From Social Service Practitioners In Botswana

Abstract

Cultural frameworks for conflict resolution and peace building are based
on norms and values of the people. These set acceptable standards of
behaviour for everyone in the community. They are enforced by the family,
the headman, and the Chief following democratic principles before a verdict
is reached. This ensured justice and ownership of community values and
norms. Therefore, strategies or policies that ignore values and norms in
peace building risk being totally irrelevant. This paper appraised the role
of culture in Peace Building in Botswana. The paper submitted that the
intellectuals must examine cultural traditions and myths by deconstructing
exclusionist myths and by reconstructing a more pluralist, inclusive set of
cultural myths and traditions in Botswana.
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