Cassandra's Dilemma

In the course of its professionalization and institutionalization, peace and conflict studies face the threat of shrinking to merely a form of vocational training. In such a tamed version of social analysis, scholars will not be able to provide adequate answers to complex questions. Drawing on the reading of Christa’s Wolf’s novel Cassandra, this article lays out tasks and challenges for peace and conflict studies from a feminist, post- and decolonial perspective. Through Cassandra, we know that it is of utmost importance to discover, decipher and expose the rules of the pre-war period in order to prevent and transform conflicts successfully. In the spirit of the mythical figure of Cassandra, this article calls for an uncomfortable criticism to be cultivated within peace and conflict studies, to intervene in the public sphere, and to dare to address the scholarly terrain itself.