Exploring Arts Based Ways to Counter Radicalization Among Youth

- Presentation speakers
  - Fatima Ahmed, St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada
Abstract:

A team of three Muslim women co-organized BreakWord, a spoken word gathering during the fall 2010 term. This event was executed as an assignment for a Trauma and Healing event. The underlying need the event aimed to address was the traumatization of Muslim youth as a group due to the current geo-political trends. The assumption behind BreakWord was that communication about identity issues and encouraging civic engagement can help to decrease the tendency towards violent radicalization. The performance component of the event was followed by a large-group discussion session. The workshop aims to: (a) briefly share results from the event, with special attention paid to the discussion session, (b) analyze these results and (c) suggest relevant lessons for the field of Conflict Resolution Education.