Research

Vilma Esquivel · 2026

From Musicking to Mediating

MA Thesis · School of International Peace Studies · Soka University · Supervised by Dr. Olivier Urbain, with Dr. Jonathan Luckhurst

Contribution. Demonstrates that sustained musical practice develops relational capacities essential for mediation and dialogue, resulting in the Musicking Mediator framework and ARTI.

Through embodied autoethnography and critical incident analysis, the research identifies capacities developed through decades of musical practice: polyphonic listening, somatic co-regulation, temporal stewardship and structured improvisation.

These findings form the Musicking Mediator framework. Sustained musicking cultivates relational phronesis — practical, somatic wisdom — operationalized through ARTI.

“The musically-formed mediator does not merely facilitate dialogue but orchestrates relational possibility.”

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Patricia Vlieg · 2026

Sounds of Identity

Panamanian Folk Songs as Decolonial Narratives of Cultural Memory and Collective Reimagining · Soka University

Contribution. Demonstrates that Panamanian folk songs function as living practices of cultural memory and peacebuilding, beyond their role as artistic heritage.

Its research corpus is Cabanga — Panamá en el Corazón, examined across fourteen songs through the interwoven themes of land, longing and legacy.

The songs operate as sonic diagnostics, making visible structures that continue to organize territory, identity and memory. They also facilitate communal healing and re-existence: the creative construction of alternative ways of being.

The research calls for a decolonization of listening, recognizing folk song as legitimate embodied knowledge and a resource for pluriversal futures.

“To understand people, we must engage with their folk songs.”