Munin: Browsing Master's theses in peace and conflict transformation by Author

Exploring the livelihoods strategies of Liberian refugee women in Buduburam, Ghana

Addo, Joyce (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 06-Jun-2008)

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Combating physical violence against women in Iraqi Kurdistan : the contribution of local Women’s Organization

Alsayid Mohammed, Maamoon Abdulsamad (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, Apr-2009)

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Abstract:

Peace researchers aim to reduce violence “by analyzing different types of violence and its causes, predicting in order to prevent, and acting preventively and curatively”(Galtung 1996:50). This thesis addresses the issue of physical violence against women in contemporary Iraqi Kurdistan. Violence against women in Iraqi Kurdistan can be defined as structural violence, cultural violence and direct violence. The project introduces and discusses the strategies and measures implemented to combat the violence against women. In particular, I discuss the work done by local women’s organizations and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and analyze their roles in improving the status of women and in ending violence against women. A central issue to discuss is the role of women’s agency in a society characterized by patriarchal structures, in which the social roles of women submit to customary codified tribal systems that naturalize the idea that women are inferior. Through concepts developed in social theory, I will discuss different challenges and solutions to violence against women in Iraqi Kurdistan. How can women’s organizations contribute to free women from structural violence? What are their aims and objectives? What do they perceive as challenges? With whom do they collaborate? Which factors inhibit female victims in seeking help? In addition to women’s organizations, the government is involved in combating violence against women. What are the challenges facing the government in ending the violence? What is impeding government success? The outcomes of this work are encouraging, despite strong socio-cultural barriers. The theories and practices that may alleviate women’s suffering and lead to their empowerment have come to the fore. Women’s organizations have achieved important progress, and they have the potential for more. The findings suggest that local women’s organizations and international NGOs know that combating violence against women presupposes “conscientization”. This “critical consciousness” cannot be imposed on people, and it does not come from outside. But it can be developed through dialectical interaction and start within citizens who are in “limit-situation” which, according to Pinto, are the boundaries where all possibilities begin (Vieira Pinto in Freire 2003:99).

URI:

http://hdl.handle.net/10037/2054

File(s) in this item: 1

thesis.pdf (813.2Kb)

New clothes but old demons. European antisemitism from Christianity to progressive left wing milieu

Appelbaum, Amir (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 08-Nov-2005)

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Abstract:

Is there one root, and one infrastructure under the hatred of Israel, since the late 19th century, called antisemitism? Can we dare and raise such a question with regard to a phenomenon so prolonged in time and so diversified in its appearances and explanations – a human phenomenon which started as early as the charge of deicide, and which is present during a couple of thousands of years, as steady hatred in a changing world, and in a changing Europe: hatred and opposition to Jews among the followers of Christianity, hatred towards Jews in secular anti-Christian societies, and also hostility and discrimination towards Jews in liberal and left-wing circles. And along all of this, during hundreds of years, the Jews are also undergoing changes in many aspects and sociologically alternating and expanding their lifestyle, their occupations, their places of residence etc. Can we imagine any correlation between the early Church father Chrysostom, of the fourth century, who called the Jews “inveterate murderers, destroyers, men possessed by the devil”, to the French philosopher Voltaire, or between Martin Luther of the sixteenth century who called the Jews “the children of evil” to the Portuguese author and Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramango? In spite of the many centuries time gap between them, in spite of the vast cultural, social and moral differences between them, in spite of the fact that the Jews they knew were very different from those whom their pair partner encountered, all these personages share the same notions about the Jews. When I wish to identify and understand the structure of the infrastructure of the hatred of Israel, called antisemitism, I am actually relying upon a traditional Jewish conviction, which intuitively accepted the assumption that there is indeed one, eternal and permanent root, although it could not explain it. A decisive statement by Rabbi Simeon Bar-Yachai: “The religious law is: the hatred of Jacob is known”, was accepted as a general and inclusive popular determination regarding the hatred of Jews by the non-Jew as a regular and unchangeable phenomenon. This also is true of the verse that the Jews sing enthusiastically on Passover night – “and in each and every generation, they try to annihilate us” (“try” in present tense, not “tried” in past tense), which derives the basic assumption that the active hatred of Israel aspiring for annihilation (and the meaning here is more annihilation as people, as nation than physical annihilation) is everlasting hatred, which is handed down from generation to generation, under various circumstances and in different places. And even the continuation of the verse – “and God Almighty save us from them” presumes that even the rescue can be merely partial and temporary. It is not possible to essentially fix this thing, if God is required to “save” time and time again. In other words, even as far as the devoted follower is concerned, God does not have the power to cancel the hatred of Jews, but merely to save them, and even such rescue is only partial and generational. In seeking after common root, a mutual infrastructure, it seems to me that I am expressing the basic Jewish conviction, which in itself could not explain the essence of the antisemitic origins, yet regarded it to be steady factor of the human behaviour. This conviction has also fatally assumed that it would be impossible to annihilate this permanent infrastructure, and that it would always exist. In a certain tragic sense, antisemitism had become a highly important and most natural factor in establishing the Jewish identity, to the extent that the absence of antisemitism appears to many Jews as suspicious and unnatural phenomena. The traditional Jew often identifies the proper order of the world, when he/she also detects an active antisemitic element within it.

URI:

http://hdl.handle.net/10037/141

File(s) in this item: 1

thesis.pdf (7.593Mb)

Playing to win or playing for empowerment? An analysis of a Namibian team participating in the Norway Cup-project

Bjertnæs, Hanne (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 18-Jun-2007)

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Abstract:

In recent years, the value of sport as an important and useful tool in peace and development work has been increasingly recognized. The Norway Cup-project is one of Norway’s largest sport for development projects, and uses the Norway Cup-tournament as an arena for teams from developing countries to strengthen projects in their home communities through empowerment of the participants. This thesis seeks to discover what effect participating in this project has had on a boys-team from Namibia (2006). Through a qualitative research design, I have examined whether there was accordance between the goals of different levels on the Norwegian and Namibian sides. Another significant aspect examined is to what extent sport can be seen as a ‘universal language’. Related issues addressed are whether children’s sport is understood in the same way in both countries, and to what extent such a project has uniting or dividing effects. Furthermore, it is discussed if the project is designed in such a way that a prospective mutual gain is addressed, or whether bringing the teams to Norway as part of a development project enhances the differences between ‘us’ and ‘them’. An essential factor to address is that it deals with young participants. This thesis attends to the question of whether this can have empowering effects on the youth in question, or if it can result in feelings of learnt helplessness upon their return. Additionally, it is discussed whether their prospective empowerment has benefited the community at large. I conclude that the objectives for participation vary more from the official goal the further towards the ‘grassroots’ you go. The initial aims and the way in which the team was selected, is argued to have a significant influence on what is emphasized in later stages of the project. Football turns out to be a ‘universal language’ with different dialects, as ‘competition’ and ‘play’ are emphasized to different degrees by the two parties. Participation is argued to have had certain empowering effects on an individual level, but these effects do not seem to have been transferred from individual to community level to a great degree.

URI:

http://hdl.handle.net/10037/1139

File(s) in this item: 1

thesis.pdf (696.8Kb)

The internal dynamics of a non-state conflict actor. The organisational resources and internal legitimacy of the FARC-EP in Colombia

Borch, Guri Waalen (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 16-Nov-2006)

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Abstract:

Being the largest guerrilla group in Colombia and entitled the richest guerrilla group of the world, the FARC-EP constitutes the most important non-state conflict actor of the Colombian internal conflict. In recent years it has been recognised in conflict research that non-state actors must be taken seriously if we want to understand today’s internal conflicts. This is the starting point for my analysis of the FARC-EP. Whereas much contemporary research focuses on the economic agendas of conflict actors, the attention in this thesis is on how different organisational resources together reflect a social order of violence beyond the state that embraces both political, economic and symbolic elements. It asks the question of how organisational resources relate to and define internal legitimacy. Drawing upon Christopher Clapham and his notion of organisational effectiveness, indicators such as a clearly defined political project, effective structures and educated leaders will be employed as guiding lines in the empirical study of the FARC-EP. The grounds of the internal legitimacy of the FARC-EP will be established by combining these indicators with insight on the role of self-legitimation of rebels and Max Weber’s typology of domination. The most effective self-legitimating arguments of an organisation may indeed reflect its most important organisational resources. By way of looking into the FARC-EP’s self-legitimation, I find that one of its most important organisational resources is its historical memory. The FARC-EP’s sense of collective destiny is tied to stories of past suffering, in which the leader of the organisation holds a special position. As regards economic resources, there has been created a “revolutionary mysticism” of the way that economic resources are delegated, as well as a tight control over their management. Hence, the FARC-EP has managed to keep the economic resources a strength to the organisation, rather than a source of serious splits. This thesis shows that in addition to internal structures, political project and level of education and coherence, effective self-legitimating arguments should be given special attention in order to understand the grounds of internal legitimacy of a specific non-state conflict actor.

URI:

http://hdl.handle.net/10037/417

File(s) in this item: 1

thesis.pdf (1.653Mb)

Skolemobbing. Fred og ufred i et flerkulturelt område i Nord-Norge

Breivik, Reidar (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 16-Dec-2005)

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Abstract:

Dette arbeidet handler om skolemobbing i en lokal kontekst. De egentlige drivkreftene til mobbing er vanskelig å avdekke i sin helhet, men her kan det fastslås at mobbing er handlinger som må karakteriseres under begrepet vold. Vold er det motsatte av fred. Vold i sin meste ekstreme form er krig. Fredsbegrepet har historisk blitt relatert til krigshandlinger mellom nasjoner. I min søken etter hvordan mobbing kan stoppes, fokuserer jeg sterkt på konfliktløsningsmulighetene, og den veien som fører til fredsløsninger. Mobbebegrepet og fredsbegrepet er i denne oppgaven forsøkt knyttet opp mot lokale samisk/norske forståelsesformer, språk og historie. Jeg undersøkte mobbeproblematikken over en toårs-periode ved en skole i det flerkulturelle Nord-Norge, preget av det arketypiske tre stammers møte, og har også prøvd å finne ut om strukturelle og kulturelle historiske forhold kan gjøre seg gjeldende i lokal mobbekontekst. Jeg kan se at det er to prosesser som kan ha virket på hverandre og skapt turbulens i lokalsamfunnet: På den ene siden ”arvede” etterslep av fornorskning som gjorde at samer og kvener i stor grad ble assimilerte nordmenn i løpet av 2 til 3 generasjoner. På den annen side kan det dreie seg om den etnopolitiske bevisstgjøringen som har utviklet seg de siste 20-30 årene. Dette ble starten på en prosess for å kvitte seg med ”gammel falskhet” på en så grunnleggende måte, at folk flest igjen kunne framstå både med ”innersiden” og ”yttersiden” i signaliseringen av sin etniske tilknytning og tilhørighet i lokalsamfunnet. Gjennom stille revolusjon og ikke-volds aksjoner oppnådde samene å bli hørt og sett. Samhandling med nasjonalstaten, gjennom juridiske og institusjonelle nyordninger, var kanskje første steget. Dette bevirket til anerkjennelse og myndiggjøring både hos undersåtter og de styrende myndigheter. Her kan det kanskje fastslås at en ny bevissthetsprosess er på gang hos mange mennesker i det flerkulturelle Nord-Norge? Disse mentale bestrebelsene har også ført til motsetninger og uro i flere lokalsamfunn. Kanskje har slike prosesser også hatt innvirkning på mobbetilstanden i enkelte skolesamfunn?

URI:

http://hdl.handle.net/10037/143

File(s) in this item: 1

thesis.pdf (317.9Kb)

The fight against domestic violence in East Timor. Forgetting the perpetrators

Bye, Hanne Hovde (Master thesis; Mastergradsoppgave, 14-Dec-2005)

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Abstract:

War is an extreme situation where nationalism and solidarity are decisive factors. With peace in East Timor, men and women are returning back to daily life, but whereas men are expecting to return to the more traditional way of living, women – having adapted to a new way of living and often have become more independent – seem to want to expand on the new roles they gained during the occupation. Moreover, traditions and patriarchy are not only challenged by the East Timorese women; structural and institutional changes are also being introduced. With violence having become an intricate part of daily life through years of war, men’s frustration and feeling of powerlessness often result in more violence against women. The thesis, which has three major themes, is based on qualitative research conducted during June-August 2004 in Dili, the capital of East Timor. I interviewed people working in the UN, the government, the Catholic Church, and various international and local (particularly women’s) NGOs. In the thesis, I first of all set out to examine post-conflict East Timor, and specifically the high prevalence of men’s violence against women. Why has the reported number of domestic violence cases increased since the end of the occupation? What implications do war and conflict have on a population concerning questions of attitudes to violence – and the use of it? Secondly I have looked at the more general phenomenon of violence against women. Why do so many men use violence against women, and what are the theoretical explanations for men’s violence? The third theme of my thesis is the analysis of the domestic violence campaign in East Timor. I have attempted to assess its impact, both in terms of reduced violence and in attitude change. In conclusion, I present some suggestions that may secure a more sound approach for future campaigns. My study demonstrates how a substantial part of the domestic violence campaign has been aimed towards treating symptoms, overlooking the underlying problems. On the basis of my analysis I elaborate a three-fold argument: first, East Timor needs to protect the victims and make women independent both economically and socially, secondly East Timor needs to continue the strategy of advocacy and awareness-raising, and finally East Timor has to focus on men as perpetrators and what can be done to change their attitudes and violent behaviour. Currently only the first two are included on the domestic violence campaign.

URI:

http://hdl.handle.net/10037/144

File(s) in this item: 1

thesis.pdf (834.9Kb)

Browsing Master's theses in peace and conflict transformation by Author

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