Peace research in non-violence contexts: a case study among the Southwest Nigerian Yorùbá

I analyse the abilities of peaceful communities to maintain harmony by making a case study of the Southwest Nigerian Yorùbá in this research. I examine the potential of Yorùbá Christians and Muslims to manage their disputes, crises, and conflicts to avoid violence and maintain peace within their host Yorùbá culture, religion, and values. The qualitative method of inquiry used here involved focus groups and interviews to generate primary data, which I analysed with thick description. One of the main findings showed that the existing Ẹbí (family) theory among the Yorùbá played a significant role in sustaining peace. This theory focuses on the idea of family as the means to keep the Yorùbá in harmony during conflicts. This study, however, further found that the idea of the family alone was insufficient for dealing with the complexity of conflict situations. In addition to the family theory, the Yorùbá Muslims and Christians use other features within the Yorùbá culture, religion, and social life in creative and positive ways to maintain harmony. Such abilities do not exonerate the Yorùbá from occasional conflicts as in many human societies, but they are positive illustrations of their potential to keep the peace. Could these abilities of the Yorùbá meet the requirements of peaceful societies and be given recognition by scholars? This work, although being a research in peace studies also has relevance for anthropology, Christian-Muslim relations, cultural and African studies. Future studies can focus more communities for a better understanding of peace as a contribution to peace and conflict studies