Authority melding: carnivalesque elements within reconciliation pedagogy

This paper explores the intersection of post-conflict reconciliation and the carnivalesque, examining how certain carnivalesque strategies function as an artistic intervention to engage young people as a constructive force in the peacebuilding process. Focusing on comedy and the subversion of authority, it proposes that, through the inversion of hierarchies, and collective laughter, carnivalesque strategies empower young people to challenge authoritarian narratives and assert their agency in rebuilding communities. Drawing on my 12 years of practice in Northern Bosnia as a theatre director and facilitator, this article employs sociologist Richard Sennett’s understanding of authority to analyse devised comedy as a peacebuilding pedagogy.