In a groundbreaking study that celebrates the quiet resilience of communities living through challenging times, Yale anthropologist Catherine Panter-Brick and her team have uncovered something remarkable: people from vastly different backgrounds all have unique but valuable perspectives on how to build lasting peace in their everyday lives.

The research, conducted in Nouakchott, Mauritania's vibrant capital city, brought together an inspiring mix of voices—students, refugee students, diplomats, university professors, and community members. Each group participated in creative mapping exercises where they visually represented what "everyday peace" means to them and how they work to sustain it in their daily lives.

What makes this study so uplifting is its fundamental optimism: despite living in a region affected by conflict, economic challenges, and the pressures of migration, these diverse groups are actively thinking about and working toward peace. Mauritania sits at the crossroads of North Africa's Maghreb region and the Sahel, navigating complex regional dynamics while fostering coexistence among its ethnically diverse population.

"Mauritania feels the pressures of regional conflict, migration, and economic change, yet continues to foster coexistence," said Panter-Brick, who directs the Conflict, Resilience, and Health Program at Yale's MacMillan Center. "This makes it a valuable place to study how different groups reason about peace."

The mapping sessions revealed heartening insights into how people conceptualize peace. Mauritanian students focused hopefully on governance reform and economic opportunity, showing a forward-thinking vision for their country's future. Refugee students, drawing on their lived experiences, centered their maps on security and freedom from fear—powerful testimony to their resilience. Scholars examined the relationship between everyday peace and good governance, while diplomats created intricate maps connecting justice, safety, and regulation.

Perhaps most touching were the community perspectives: men emphasized family peace and economic security, while women highlighted the crucial importance of community relationships—reminding us that peace often starts in our most intimate circles.

Why It Matters: This research offers genuine hope for peacebuilding efforts worldwide. By demonstrating that different groups have distinct but complementary views on peace, the study provides a roadmap for more inclusive, effective peacebuilding policies. "One of the clearest messages from our work is that different groups view peace through different priorities, and those differences matter for peacebuilding policy," Panter-Brick explained. Understanding these diverse perspectives isn't just academic—it's essential for creating meaningful, lasting change.

The study, published in Frontiers in Political Science, emerged from warm partnerships between Yale's Jackson School of Global Affairs, Mauritania's Diplomatic Academy, and the University of Nouakchott. As Abdelkader Mohamed Ahmedou, former director general of the Diplomatic Academy, beautifully put it, this work "highlights Mauritania as a genuine laboratory of peace: a space of cultural and ethnic diversity, social coexistence, and reflection on governance."

In a world that often focuses on conflict, this research shines a light on something profoundly hopeful: ordinary people in challenging circumstances are constantly working toward peace, each in their own meaningful way. By learning to see through each other's eyes, we can build more effective pathways to the everyday peace we all seek.