Intergroup Conflict

The aim of the current study was to show that the type of conflict behavior (constructive vs. unconstructive) groups use in conflicts depends on their power position as well as the likelihood that power determines victory and defeat. In an alleged online debate, we created a conflict between two opinion based groups. We then measured participant’s action tendencies and their actual behavior. Overall, the results show that especially when the likelihood that power determines victory and defeat is low, power plays a role: those low in power become more constructive, while those high in power show no constructive behavior at all. Next to that, powerless groups tend to behave more unconstructively when it is likely that power detremines victory and defeat. The implications for intergroup relations are discussed.

This research aims to establish a narrative of human decision-making in the face of unpredictable climate and intergroup conflicts along the Middle Sakamarekely Valley, in arid southwest Madagascar. This is pertinent to the anthropological question of how a society can adapt or be resilient to climate variability and intergroup violence. I worked within the framework of historical ecology using cultural niche construction theory to investigate why riverine communities preferred to occupy specific parts of a valley over others in the face of unpredictable climate and intergroup conflicts during the 16th-19th centuries CE in southwest Madagascar. I investigate this issue at different scales including spatial, temporal, and organizational scales. To do so, this thesis implemented GIS-based approaches to explore settlement patterns, and land uses at spatial scales. I also employed the archaeological approach to scrutinize the cumulative effects of human-environment interactions at temporal scales. Finally, I used the ethnohistorical approach to analyze and interpret decision-making at an organizational scale. By integrating these three powerful approaches as an analytical and theoretical package, I offered a historical ecological approach to analyze decision-making in the face of unpredictable climate and internecine violence in the southwest.
I drew on settlement patterns, intrasite layout, features, ceramics, faunal remains, and ethnohistorical data to answer my research question. I gathered these data through a regional survey, intrasite spatial patterning survey, excavation, and ethnohistorical inquiries. I examined data through spatial analysis using a GIS program, ceramic analysis, archaeozoological analysis, and amino acid specific nitrogen isotope (δ15N) analysis of cattle remains. The results showed that both unpredictable climate and intergroup conflicts influenced the decision-making of communities in the southwest to select a location depending on the period of study. Meanwhile, the ethnohistorical records for the last 400 years demonstrated that in addition to these influencing factors, the decision of people was heavily influenced by people’s belief in cosmological values. People consulted a diviner ombiasy to predict a situation vis-à-vis the cosmological forces before making any decision, whether to travel, or to move to another place, or to build a house, or to attack an enemy, etc. To choose where and when to settle, a community leader mpisoro consulted a diviner and acted upon the insight and prediction of the divination. All decisions depended on what the divination was telling. This ideological aspect of decision-making is still a challenge for archaeologists to detect in the archaeological records. This thesis propounds methods and techniques to approach such challenges.

This paper examines inter-group relations in Nigeria in the context of the upsurge of domestic terrorism. Through a desk-based review of relevant publications and content analysis, it argues that contrary to Gordon Allport's contact theory, the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates of Nigeria in 1914 has succeeded more in strengthening prejudice, sustaining suspicion and entrenching a culture of hate. The paper further argues that terrorism seem to have replaced dialogue in inter-group relations as demonstrated by the threats posed by Boko Haram and Ansaru in the north and MEND in the south. It also contends that contrary to the views of the apostles of the theory of 'fundamental diversity or 'strange bed-fellows', Nigeria draws her strength from her diversity. The paper concludes that despite the challenges associated with the aftermath of the amalgamation, the diverse nature of Nigeria could be more positively harnessed to make Nigeria truly the giants of Africa.

The essay includes a section from my doctoral dissertation titled, “Black and Off-White: An Investigation of African American and Jewish Conflict from Ashkenazi Jewish American Perspectives.” The essay presents a foundational overview of early research and theory addressing the causes for intergroup conflict. Though it focuses on specifically the bitter-sweet social relationship between African American and Ashkenazi (European heritage) Jewish communities, it has application for intergroup conflict more generally.

This research focuses on the relations between the Arab minority and the Jewish majority in Israel under a perspective of intergroup conflict. More precisely how the State of Israel self-perception as a Jewish State impacts on the recognition of the rights of the minority. The variables considered in order to pursue such analysis are indeed education and language as the two major founding bricks of group identity.
The research questions are: 1) How Jewish values and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict affect the protection of the Arab minority in the State of Israel? 2) To what extent does the intergroup conflict involving the Israeli society create prejudice and exclusionist behaviour vis-à-vis the Arab minority with regard to language and education policies? 3) What options can be put suggested in order to overcome separation and discriminations considering strategies of peace education aimed at reconciliation and integration of ethnic groups in conflicting countries? 4) Are bilingual and binational education feasible instruments for solving intergroup conflict? Is it compatible with the identification of Israel as a Jewish State?

Filosofie en wetenschap zijn sinds de oudheid met elkaar in wisselwerking: wetenschap zit meer aan de empirische kant, filosofie meer aan de kant van de reflectie. Beide zijn theoretisch, modellen vormend. De laatste eeuwen zijn filosofie en wetenschap te ver uit elkaar gegroeid: bij Kant, omdat deze ten onrechte dacht dat je vanuit de wetenschap niets kunt zeggen over het kenvermogen, bij de fenomenologen en hermeneuten, omdat deze wetenschap gelijkstelden met één soort wetenschap. Karikaturen van ‘de’ wetenschap verleid(d)en filosofen zich er niet meer mee bezig te houden, met als gevolg dat zij niet mee kunnen groeien met de modernste wetenschap.  Vanuit de moderne evolutiebiologie is er echter veel te zeggen over allerlei wijsgerige vragen. Er is bijvoorbeeld een nieuw beeld ontstaan van het leven: dat draait vooral om genen doorgeven. Het gaat niet om de overleving van de ‘soort’. Ook het geloof dat evolutie vooruitgang is blijkt niet te kloppen.  De unieke menselijke geest lijkt het product van wapenwedlopen tussen samenlevingen van vroege mensen. Ook op de vraag naar zin werpt de evolutionaire benadering van de mens licht. Mensen zijn samenwerkers die taken verdelen binnen culturele en politieke systemen. Iedereen is daarom op zoek naar zijn unieke taak in de groep. Dat passen en meten is ook vaak een kwestie van je aansluiten bij de juiste groep en de juiste morele houding. Het zoeken naar zin is eigenlijk het zoeken naar een manier van leven die bij je past. Mensen objectiveren hun zoeken naar de zin-in-het-leven echter graag tot zin-van-het-leven, deels om anderen hun mening op te dringen, deels om te komen tot een gemeenschappelijke levenshouding en moraal.