Implications of SoPiEL and New Stories

Abstract

This penultimate chapter consolidates the book’s contribution by summarising what is distinctive about SoPiEL and what it implies for theory, methodology, and youth work practice. It restates SoPiEL’s four components, clarifies its dialogic and unfinished orientation to peace, and draws out practical implications for peace informed practice, including youth voice, accompaniment, and the ethical work of making peace knowable without tethering it to violence.

The chapter establishes the book’s core argument that peace is a relational, dialogic, and practice grounded project mediated by power, institutional routines, and everyday life; and therefore, the work itself, and its outcomes, do not represent neutral abstract outcomes. In our potential roles as those who coordinate and accompany, or participate, in dialogue groups, we must continue to explore the risks of conflict and violence centred frameworks. And the chapter clarifies what SoPiEL contributes to youth work and peace education, and it ends with an invitation for readers to carry the work forward in their own settings.