Dr Vanessa Barolsky
Associate Research Fellow
Institution
Deakin University
Research Area Keywords
Social conflict; Social cohesion; Truth processes; Transitional justice.
Contact: vanessa.barolsky@deakin.edu.au
About Vanessa
I have a range of interests related to understanding social conflict and the ways in which societies can respond to, and, ideally, repair, the damage created by conflict. I work across several disciplinary areas including sociology, anthropology and criminology to tackle questions related to social conflict and its transformation. My career as a South African researcher gave me the opportunity to follow the trajectory of South African democracy from the apartheid period to contemporary challenges of social conflict and the aspiration for social cohesion. This history informs my current work in the Australian context. This includes critical engagements with social cohesion, truth and reconciliation, law, justice and terrorism. I have played a key role in funded research on countering violent extremism at the Alfred Deakin Institute over the past four years and have participated in seven research studies on violent extremism, including contributing to the development of a model to support the reintegration of the families of foreign fighters and the design and management of a quasi-systematic literature review on recruitment to violent extremism, as well as work on using creative methodologies to support resilience to violent extremism among young people. I am also currently playing a leadership role in developing a programme of activity around truth-telling at Deakin University , including two research studies on the role of truth-telling in reconciliation and a seminar series on international experiences of truth-telling.
Publications
Journal Articles
Is social cohesion relevant to a city in the global south? A case study of Khayelitsha township, South Africa (2016)
Barolsky V
Book Chapters
Radicalisation in Australia after Christchurch (2022) (In press)
Grossman M and Barolsky V
In Radicalization, Counter-Radicalization and De-Radicalization, Samina, Y & Zahir, A (eds.)
Is social cohesion the missing link in preventing violence? Case studies in South Africa and Brazil (2019)
Barolsky V and Borges D
In Reducing Urban Violence in the Global South: Towards Safe and Inclusive Cities, Salahub, J. Gottsbacher, M., de Boer, J & Zaaroura, M (eds.)
Upgrading informal trading: Impacts on livelihoods and cohesion in Khayelitsha (2019)
Barolsky V, Sanchez D and Davids D
In State of the Nation, Crain C (ed.)
Research Reports
Australia, Radicalisation, Secularism and the Governance of Religion: European and Asian Perspectives (GREASE) (2020)
Grossman M, Barolsky V and Gerrand V
Preventing violent extremism and building youth cohesion through creative production of grassroots online counter-narratives: A pilot intervention and impact evaluation (2019)
Vergani M, Barolsky V and Iqbal M
The national mapping of community-based support services for countering violent extremism (2018)
Barolsky V and Grossman M
Reintegrating children, women and families returning to Australia from foreign conflict zones: The role of community support (2019)
Grossman M and Barolsky V
Grants and Projects
‘Contact Zones: Understanding Terrorist Recruitment’
Grossman M, Barolsky V, Khalil L, Peucker M, Duckworth M, Gerrand V, Dellal H, Thomas P and Christmann K
Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies, 2021-2022
$56,000
‘Mapping truth-telling: the role of truth-telling in Australian reconciliation, addressing a colonial legacy’
Barolsky V
Reconciliation Australia
$30,000
Case Studies on truth-telling: The role of truth-telling in Australian reconciliation: Addressing a colonial legacy
Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies (CRIS), 2021-2022
$53,000
Seminar Series: Decolonising truth in Australia,
ADI research stream People, Place and Heritage, 2020
$3,000
Seminar Series: Decolonising truth globally
ADI research stream People, Place and Heritage, 2021-2022
$3,000
Mapping Intervention Capacity in Preventing and Countering Right Wing Extremism in Victoria
Grossman M, Peucker M, Barolsky V, Dellal H
Centre for Inclusive and Resilient Societies (CRIS), 2021
$53,000