Organizer: Haley Duschinski, Ohio University

Chair: Elizabeth F. Collins, Ohio University

Discussants: Elizabeth F. Collins, Ohio University; Cynthia K. Mahmood, University of Notre Dame

Violence between religious and ethnic groups has become part of everyday life for many local communities in democratic societies in South and Southeast Asia. Some of these communities are now engaging in the challenging and precarious project of building peace at the local level through negotiations involving scholars, activists, governmental bodies, and national and international nongovernmental organizations. This panel compares the ways in which specific communities are making the transition from conflict to post-conflict societies, with special attention to the experiences, motivations, and expectations of local community members. What strategies facilitate dialogue and communication between religious and ethnic groups that have been separated by a breach in the aftermath of violence? What factors determine patterns of participation in the peacebuilding process, and how do these patterns impact processes of cultural change and social transformation? How do peace processes shape the ways in which local actors remember violence in the past and imagine peace in the future? The contributors to this panel consider these questions from positions of scholarly engagement with people whose lives have been greatly impacted by violence. Through its comparative and interdisciplinary approach, this panel explores the specificities as well as the generalities of peacemaking within the context of South and Southeast Asian democracies.

Ann E. Shoemake, Ohio University

The conflict between Dayak and Madurese ethnic groups in Central Kalimantan in 2001 fed concerns that the Indonesian nation was in jeopardy of disintegration. During this time, the manner in which the news of the conflict was presented internationally often differed from the ways it was "felt" and addressed locally. In this paper, I compare the conflict’s coverage in the English-language Western press with its coverage in the local vernacular press, making a case for attention to local press in understanding the conflict’s complexities and the perceptions of those whose lives it affected. I consider a number of factors, including the explanations for the cause of the conflict, the controversies over the very classification of the conflict, and the means attempted to resolve it. Through my analysis, I demonstrate that the international press presented the violence as a means to divining a turbulent and problematic future for Indonesia as it engaged in democratic reforms following the ouster of Soeharto, and that it reinforced popular perceptions of Borneo as a land of savages and headhunters. In contrast, local press coverage presented the conflict and its resolution as organic processes that shifted over time, and they attended to the mystical dimensions thought to be driving the conflict in a way that was never touched upon in the international press. Local press coverage reveals the conflict as complicated and multi-faceted, and acknowledges that the road to peace, while far from straight and clearly marked, is nonetheless attainable if problems are addressed locally.

Endah Agustiana, Sriwijaya University

Since the outbreak of violent conflict in Poso, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia in 1998, continual instability in the region has caused hundreds of people to be killed and thousands of women and men to be displaced. Many people have lost their families, livelihoods and sources of living. In violent conflict situations, women tend to be the most vulnerable victims of various forms of violence, from domestic violence to sexual violence, as well as displacement and deprivation. During and after conflict, women also experienced and played a variety of roles in not only their own survival but the survival of their family and the waging of peace. Indeed, women are not only passive victims, but are also powerful actors in conflict situations. However, women’s experiences as agents and their contributions in violent conflict and peacebuilding processes are often unacknowledged and undervalued. As peace agents, they are underrepresented in formal peace processes. To a large degree, the analyses of conflict situations tend to focus more on women as victims rather than as actors in conflict. Scholarly literature on women and violent conflict that emerges from a gender perspective and focuses on Indonesian women’s experiences is also very limited. This paper explores the lived experiences of Indonesian women living in the Poso conflict affected area by examining their experiences as victims and as agents of violent conflict and peace and their contributions to local peacebuilding processes. Data were collected by using qualitative methods, which include participant observation, key informant interviews and focus group discussion.

Haley Duschinski, Ohio University

The violent conflict in Kashmir is currently facing a critical juncture as national leaders in India and Pakistan pursue a "composite dialogue" to resolve all contentious issues between the two countries, including the 57-year-old dispute over the contested border territory. As the peace process moves forward at the high governmental level, nongovernmental organizations are drawing attention to the importance of fostering various forms of bilateral contact to create the conditions necessary for a sustainable peace. These organizations are attempting to generate "constituencies for peace" within this highly divided region through a variety of initiatives aimed at promoting dialogue and reconciliation at the local level between those ethnic and religious communities whose identities have become politicized over the course of the conflict. This paper focuses on the conditions of knowledge creation and the politics of peacebuilding in this region. How do the patterns of political participation in the region shape the ways in which nongovernmental organizations figure in and attempt to manage peacebuilding? What are the connected, and often contradictory, efforts of municipal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and local communities to bring about peace? How do these processes shape the range of political identities that the Kashmiri people are able to call their own? The central point is that an understanding of peace in this context requires attention, not only to the workings of politics at governmental levels, but also to the workings of politics at nongovernmental levels within particular social, cultural, and political contexts.