Community Resilence
Key to Sustainable and Enduring Societal Peace in Intractable Conflicts: The South African Experience
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Olugbenga-Jay Oguntuwase
The dialectics of history took another turn when, South Africa succeeded in berthing a new democratic society in a transition that did not involve an external third party mediator and without shedding any blood, which is the general characteristic feature of apartheid South Africa. The society through its negotiations and institution of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, eased out apartheid for the first multi–racial general election in which power shifted from the white minority to the black majority with the inauguration of Dr. Nelson Mandela as the first black president of democratic South Africa. This work seeks to look at the mediation processes from a theoretical perspective. Our concern in this paper is to derive a blueprint for the sustainability of societal peace especially in conflicts that have hitherto been tagged as intractable. Hence, looking back, South Africa may not have gotten it all right, but qualitatively, a major stride had been achieved in the de-escalation of the south African apartheid conflict, particularly with the dismantling of apartheid against all odds. South Africa is just one among a number of other intractable conflicts in the world. The fundamental questions to ask is that what elements, principles, theories, and narratives whether accidental or by design cumulatively accounted for the successful de-escalation of the South African intractable conflict? This is with a view towards harnessing them together as a blue print for the de-escalation of similar intractable conflicts on the globe. A close study of the South African conflict, using Critical Discourse Analysis, within a philosophical purview, reveals that a set of theoretical paradoxes may underlie the peace process in SA. Teasing out these for posterity, sustainable societal peace and stability is what this paper is all about.
Local Knowledge in Bangladesh: From Coping to Adaptation
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session John Hicks, Mir Rabiul Islam, Valerie Ingham, Elaine Kelly
Due to its geographical location, Bangladesh is predictably subject to regular flooding. Recent evidence indicates a change in flood frequency and the severity of flood events. We conducted field trips to Bangladesh in 2010 and 2015, and utilised in-depth interviews with participants from regularly flooded villages. In this context, we argue that it is useful to consider strategies to cope with a given flooding event separately from strategies to adapt to flooding in general and that, in the absence of organised and adequately resourced adaptation programs, coping strategies, reliant on local knowledge, will increase. In discussing coping and adaption strategies we focus on three elements common to each: governance, social networks, and income diversification. In particular, we are interested in how the nature of each element differed between scenarios of coping or adaptation and in demonstrating how local knowledge, essential for coping with a crisis, can also be employed to aid efforts of adaptation to repeated crisis.
A Cultural Paradigm Shift in Sub-Saharan Africa: Cultural Dimensions and Determinants
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Raphael Ebanda
Ranging from the nomadic to the centralized and territorial, and from the trans-human pastoralist to sedentary agriculturalist, Africa is made of amazing, but simple diversity. The cultural traits acquired from African ancestors shaped the life styles of local communities, whose attitudes and behaviour have evolved with time into a new cultural paradigm. This study characterizes the cultural paradigm shift that is silently taking place in Sub-Saharan Africa. An ethnographic research design was conducted during the years 2016 and 2017 with the local communities at Akono in Cameroon and Rusinga in Kenya. The survey questionnaires included 248 participants in each site and unveiled determinants and cultural dimensions, whose stepwise regression model showed a significant correlation. At the Akono site, globalisation, monetisation of the economy, government regulations, and climate change significantly contributed to the variation in cultural dimensions. At the Rusinga site, globalisation, monetisation of the economy, climate change, and religion significantly contributed to the variation in cultural dimensions. The interviews were conducted with ten elders from each community and revealed that the transformation of cultural dimensions contributed to the loss of traditional practices at Akono and Rusinga respectively, while activities for subsistence evolved. Indigenous culture is selectively being discriminated and handed down to younger generations.
Psychosocial Effects of the Perception of Economic Inequality in Everyday Life
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Juan Diego García-Castro
Contemporary societies are characterized by an increasing economic inequality which has an impact on life expectancy, violence, social relationships, health, and academic performance, among other factors (Wilkinson & Pickett, 2017). The paper discusses the partial results of an ongoing research on the Perception of Economic Inequality in Everyday Life (PEIEL). Research on the construction of a new measurement scale, descriptive studies on psychosocial effects of PEIEL, and confirmatory studies with experimental manipulations are described. It is discussed how PEIEL decreases tolerance to inequality and increases support for redistributive policies. A higher exposure to perceived economic inequality and its negative effects on society can activate an intention to reduce it. The practical implications of having measured PEIEL open up the possibility to reduce tolerance of economic inequality by presenting its negative effects on people’s everyday life. It can also provide a root for the development of more precise theoretical models of other psychosocial effects of perceived inequality. The hope is that its results can be useful in the long term to develop social programs and policies aimed at reducing inequality and its associated effects.
