5 - The Temporal and Embodied Construction of Space and UCP

Summary

Unarmed civilian protection (UCP) is a deeply contextual practice, and one which is shaped by the spaces in which it is practised. The existence of armed checkpoints, for example, can mean that making connections with conflict-affected communities may be more difficult, while densely populated villages make protective presence and visibility far easier to achieve. While the key principles of nonviolence, nonpartisanship, primacy of the local, and independence, remain largely consistent across all UCP projects and activities, there is often a great variation in practical methods. This variation can be caused by a number of factors, such as the purpose of the UCP project (for example, the protection of specific high-profile activists or of civilian populations more generally, or encouraging the participation of women and minority groups in peace processes), the nature of the conflict, the resources of UCP and other civil society organizations, and the ability to draw on international support. An often-overlooked factor in the methods and formation of UCP, however, is the physical spaces in which it takes place. This chapter will firstly outline the contribution of spatial analysis to UCP literature through a review of works on spatial approaches to civilian protection in peace and conflict literature. It will then explore the possibility of contextualizing nonviolent space within time through the case study of South Sudan. Finally, it will locate this temporal space within bodies, by unpacking the methods of UCP and the ways in which the practice instrumentalizes nonviolent bodies in the protection of civilians.

This chapter will argue that the ‘spatial turn’ in peace and conflict studies is a welcome addition to the literature, but the beginning of a deeper understanding of the constructive power of UCP rather than its conclusion. I seek here to build on the work of Henri Lefebrve and Luis Eguren in particular. Accepting their contributions to our understandings of the construction of space, particularly in relation to nonviolent forms of civilian protection, this chapter will aim to go deeper, to understand the ways in which temporality and embodiment also contribute to the production of space.