Enhancing the work of local peace entrepreneurs after ethnic cleansing: Strengthening peace formation between Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists in Rakhine State, Myanmar
Enhancing the work of local peace entrepreneurs after ethnic cleansing: Strengthening peace formation between Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists in Rakhine State, Myanmar
The project aims to explore, facilitate, and enhance the creation of critical safe spaces, by local peace entrepreneurs, for inter-ethnic and inter-religious communication in the very adverse political environment between Rohingya and Arakanese neighbours in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Rakhine is the most challenging conflict zone in Myanmar, riven by deep ethnic and religious social cleavages. Over the past few years, these tensions have escalated into ethnic cleansing, resulting in a massive exodus of Rohingya into Bangladesh, and the eruption of significant new violence between ethnic Rakhine insurgents and the state, with adverse effects on political and socioeconomic development. The project will particularly explore ways information technology could be co-opted in support of peace entrepreneurs, particularly to expand their critical safe spaces for dialogue and counter-messaging.
PROJECT TEAM
Associate Professor Costas Laoutides, SHSS and ADI.
Associate Professor Anthony Ware, SHSS and ADI.
PROJECT FUNDING
The project is funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation
THE CONFLICT | EPISODE ONE
The communication platform Facebook plays an important role in researching the Rohingya conflict in Rakhine State, Myanmar, because it is not only an information medium, but also a platform for hate speech – and offers insight into the perceptions of the conflict at lower and village levels. Conflict researchers Dr. Costas Laoutides and Dr. Anthony Ware, who are studying the conflict as part of a project funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, are trying to find out how violence can be portrayed, perceived and prevented in the long term.
MILITARY COUP | EPISODE TWO
In February 2021, the Myanmar military staged a coup and declared a state of emergency in the country. The democratically elected government was then deposed, which further complicated the work of the conflict researchers Dr. Costas Laoutides and Dr. Anthony Ware: Because in addition to the effects of the corona pandemic, new problems and uncertainties now determined the daily research routine. In order to continue the project, the scientists were able to rely on their local partners, and they also adapted their research methods – thus making a virtue out of necessity.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA CONFLICT | EPISODE THREE
In the Rohingya conflict, social media are both a curse and a blessing: on the one hand, they serve as a form of communication, on the other hand, as a platform for hate speech. In their research project, conflict researchers Dr Costas Laoutides and Dr Anthony Ware are therefore also investigating what influence the media, above all Facebook, have on the conflict. What is the reach of the posts and messages? To what extent are national ideas propagated and the population mobilised by the news? But, above all, how do the younger generations in particular use the media to campaign for peace and an end to the conflict?
MEDIA ANALYSIS | EPISODE FOUR
Even in the mostly remote villages of Myanmar’s Rakhine province, people are well connected thanks to the Internet. Conflict researchers Dr. Costas Laoutides and Dr. Anthony Ware therefore decided to conduct a media analysis to find out how Facebook messages are spread and framed. How do individual actors act? Do they exert interpretive authority over village reality? In the process, it quickly became clear to the researchers that not all news that is significant for the conflict necessarily picks up on it – but rather that deliberate restraint also helps to break the spiral of disinformation, hatred and violence.
THE GENERAL INTERVIEW | EPISODE FIVE
At the end of the video series, conflict researchers Dr Costas Laoutides and Dr Anthony Ware take another look at their research project and the biggest challenges. In addition to the ongoing corona pandemic, which made it necessary to change plans at short notice, contact with the local population was a challenging task. Here, the help of fellow campaigners on the ground was particularly important. In the general interview, the scientists also sum up what new ground was broken with the project and what particularly enthuses them about the project.