Batik in Malaysia and Indonesia: A collaboration for reconciling issues of cultural heritage

Conflict claims for the cultural heritage of batik between Indonesia and Malaysia have created tensions between the people of these two countries. The Indonesian and Malaysian governments have never involved academics and arts education institutions in resolving such conflict claims, yet, these communities can play a significant role in post-conflict reconciliation efforts. This article describes a conflict reconciliation method initiated by academics, artists and art educators through a collaborative art project between art higher education institutions in Malaysia and Indonesia. Ways in which collaborations within and across the art and education communities may address the understanding and reconciliation of issues related to cultural heritage conflict are explored.

Papua Conflict Reconciliation Model and Strategies

At a glance, the Papuan conflict is a vertical conflict that has lasted more than 50 years. The main cause of this conflict is the desire for “Free Papua” which is supported by the Free Papua Movement (OPM). Conflicts also escalated over the issue of race and discrimination against Papuan students in Surabaya and Malang in August 2019. Negotiation is the Indonesian government's best option for resolving disputes in Papua. The main purpose of this article is to find the best solution for dispute resolution in Papua in terms of the terms that must be carried out and the negotiation process. This study uses a qualitative methodology to investigate social phenomena in society that occur naturally without engineering or laboratory work. This approach provides descriptive data in the form of descriptive or verbal words that describe conditions, situations, or certain different variables. The data collection technique is to use a literature search to obtain the required data. As a result, the Papua conflict negotiation process involved internal parties (central/regional government, KKB/OPM, traditional/religious leaders, civil society) and external parties (freeport), and became the main demand. Indicates that it is an independent Papua. Negotiations have been time consuming and faced many obstacles, but we continue to strive to reach a mutually beneficial solution. Dialogue between Jakarta and Papua should better reflect the cultural values of the Papuan people.

Yvonne Delhey, Rolf Parr and Kerstin Wilhelms (eds.), Autofiktion als Utopie // Autofiction as Utopia

This volume, emerging from a conference, brings into conversation research on the two title-words autofiction and utopia. It focuses on what the introduction defines as the point of convergence of these genres or writing modes: the desire to shape reality according to one’s individual vision, which, the editors note, can serve as critical commentary on society (1). In exploring this intersection, the volume takes up an important strand in the discussion on autofiction, namely the one about its potential functions both for individual authors and for society more broadly. Autofiction has been argued to not only allow individuals to express and transform themselves, but also to, for example, empower author and readers with narrative agency by challenging dominant cultural narrative models (Meretoja 2021) and work towards post-conflict reconciliation (Dix 2021).

Christian-Muslim Relations in the Shadow of Conflict

In February 2000, large-scale Christian-Muslim riots shook the Nigerian city of Kaduna, killing thousands of people and displacing tens of thousands more. Drawing on original survey data from a random sample of three hundred young men living in particularly conflict-prone neighborhoods in Kaduna, the chapter analyzes patterns of Christian-Muslim relations fifteen years after the February 2000 crisis. The author argues that local exposure to deadly intergroup violence continues to have profoundly negative effects on intergroup relations nearly two decades later. Kaduna residents on either side of the religious divide continue to exhibit high levels of mistrust and prejudice against members of the religious out-group, and demonstrate substantial out-group discrimination in behavioral games with real material stakes. The chapter highlights three interrelated consequences of exposure to large-scale episodes of intercommunal violence, each of which complicates post-conflict reconciliation: (1) the erosion of intergroup trust, (2) the tendency that the violence increases local residential segregation along communal lines, and (3) lasting psychological effects. The chapter offers micro-level evidence on each of these consequences from the Nigerian context, and cautions against expectations that post-conflict communities should quickly bounce back from large-scale interreligious violence.

The influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on Czech-Polish cross-border cooperation: From debordering to re-bordering?

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes to social behaviours in Europe. One of its major consequences was the temporary closure of borders, which was introduced as a measure to prevent the uncontrolled pandemic spreading and involved internal Schengen borders. This has had a major impact in the way in which cross-border cooperation has been conducted in Europe, including the Czech-Polish borderland, as it dramatically restrained all flows across borders. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of the pandemic on five roles of cross-border cooperation: 1) as a multi-level governance form; 2) as a regional development tool; 3) as a para-diplomacy form; 4) as a post-conflict reconciliation tool; and 5) as Europe-building. We argue that the impacts of the pandemic complicated regional development and the Europe-building role of cross-border cooperation in the Czech-Polish borderland. The article envisages re-bordering processes also in the Czech-Polish borderland, but with important exceptions in the regions with a high level of cross-border integration, mainly in the Euroregion Těšínské Slezsko/Śląsk Cieszyński. The paper also calls for the elaboration of the guidelines for possible repeated (Schengen) border closures and proposes modifications of the INTERREG microprojects schemes, to keep them attractive also in times of expected cuts in public finances.

Voices of conflict, reconciliation, and transnational belonging : interrogating the events at the II roundtable discussions for Salvadorans in Canada

This Major Research Paper is a case study examining an act of civil disobedience at a Salvadoran community event which occurred in 2007 to explore the political participation, transnationlism and a sense of belonging for Salvadorans in Canada. Interviews were done with participants who attended the event as well as members of the community not present. The questions explored are: 1. Is political engagement a strong indicator of social relations within the community? 2. What do these social relations mean for the political participation of Salvadorans and how do these intersections affect their sense of belonging? and; 3. Do these dynamics affect a sense of identity for Salvadoran in Canada? Research data emphasized an understanding of politics as "party politics" among participants, embedded with socio-economic hierarchies which are transferred through generations. Other concepts emerging from the data highlight the political socialization of Salvadorans and the impact of the civil war.

Voices of conflict, reconciliation, and transnational belonging : interrogating the events at the II roundtable discussions for Salvadorans in Canada

This Major Research Paper is a case study examining an act of civil disobedience at a Salvadoran community event which occurred in 2007 to explore the political participation, transnationlism and a sense of belonging for Salvadorans in Canada. Interviews were done with participants who attended the event as well as members of the community not present. The questions explored are: 1. Is political engagement a strong indicator of social relations within the community? 2. What do these social relations mean for the political participation of Salvadorans and how do these intersections affect their sense of belonging? and; 3. Do these dynamics affect a sense of identity for Salvadoran in Canada? Research data emphasized an understanding of politics as "party politics" among participants, embedded with socio-economic hierarchies which are transferred through generations. Other concepts emerging from the data highlight the political socialization of Salvadorans and the impact of the civil war.

ABKHAZ-GEORGIAN ETHNOPOLITICAL CONFLICT AS A COMPLEX CONFLICT AND PROSPECTS FOR ITS SETTLEMENT

The paper addresses the issue of Abkhaz-Georgian ethnopolitical conflict treating it as not a single process but as the complex case that consists of several consecutive self-sufficient conflicts or sub-conflicts during which different parties had various goals and escalated the situation trying to achieve miscellaneous aims. Although each of these sub-conflicts are looking like historical phases of one conflict, each of them has its own logic and, therefore, requires to be analyzed separately. The first sub-conflict of 1991-1994 can be quite accurately explained from the structuralist perspective as an attempt of the Abkhaz to reconsider their status and break the discriminative social structures developed during imperial and Soviet rule. The second phase 1994-2008 was the period of nationalist mobilization and the new clashes and atrocities were the result of the Georgian and Abkhaz elites’ intention to strengthen their legitimacy and power. Russia's role in this case fits well with the concept of "humanitarian intervention" and does not correspond to the Roger Brubaker’s famous “triadic nexus” (1996). Finally, the last phase of conflict since 2008 can be hardly called an ethnopolitical conflict itself since peace and the military status quo were established after the war of 2008 which neither side can challenge. Therefore, after 2008, it is more appropriate to speak about the need of post-conflict reconciliation instead of Abkhaz-Georgian ethnopolitical conflict. However, none of the parties has taken steps towards this reconciliation yet because the settlement of the conflict is impossible while it continues to be used for nationalist mobilization.

Social Change and the Culture as the Basic of Wulandoni-Pantai Harapan Reconciliation

This study aims to explain social change of post-conflict of the Wulandoni - Pantai Harapan community and what kind of cultural communication space should be built for sustainable reconciliation and peace. The two focus studies above have become very central in reading and analysing the reality of the conflict between the two villages. By using ethnographic method, this study found three things. First, the conflict between Wulandoni and Pantai Harapan villages is not a religious conflict. Even so, it cannot be denied that the discourse on religious conflict was quite developed at that time because the cultural and religious realities of the two villages were quite different. Second, the Wulandoni-Pantai Harapan conflict caused social change and the loss of kinship between the people, especially the loss of the Wulandoni barter market. Third, post-conflict reconciliation and peace efforts are immediately carried out thanks to the cultural and economic relations between the people on the south coast of Lembata Island. These social, economic and cultural kinship relationships are important pillars in creating peace and harmony between communities. This study also opens the discourse of reconciliation and peace based on local culture and economy in the south of Lembata Island.