Religion And Conflict In South And Southeast Asia

This is a major new contribution to comparative and multidisciplinary scholarship on the alignment of religion and violence in South and Southeast Asia.

By examining the sometimes surprising and unexpected roles that culture and religion have played in mitigating or exacerbating conflicts, this book explores the cultural repertoires from which Southeast Asian political actors have drawn to negotiate the pluralism that has so long been characteristic of the region. Focusing on the dynamics of identity politics and the range of responses to the socio-political challenges of religious and ethnic pluralism, the authors assembled in this book illuminate the principal regional discourses that attempt to make sense of conflict and tensions. They examine local notions of "dialogue," "reconciliation," "civility" and "conflict resolution" and show how varying interpretations of these terms have informed the responses of different social actors across Southeast Asia to the challenges of conflict, culture and religion. The book demonstrates how stumbling blocks to dialogue and reconciliation can and have been overcome in different parts of Southeast Asia and identifies a range of actors who might be well placed to make useful contributions, propose remedies, and initiate action towards negotiating the region's pluralism. This book provides a much needed regional and comparative analysis that makes a significant contribution to a better understanding of the interfaces between region and politics in Southeast Asia.

Examines the ways in which religion and nationalism have interacted to provide a powerful impetus for mobilization in Southeast Asia.

Potentially destabilizing ethnic conflicts continue to challenge nation-states worldwide: The countries of Southeast Asia are no exception. Globalization, population movements and historical and political fault-lines in a tremendously ethnically diverse region, coupled with continuing uneven access to economic development, have seen the resurgence of old conflicts or the flaring up of new ones. Along with violence and the loss of life and livelihood there are also longer-term cross-border impacts to consider in the form of refugees or displaced persons, illegal migrant labour, as well as drug and arms smuggling. Written by country experts, this volume examines ethnic configurations as well as conflict avoidance and resolution in five Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand. Ethnic Conflicts in Southeast Asia is a resource for scholars, policy-makers, NGO personnel, analysts and others who wish to deepen their understanding of the region, or develop strategies to prevent, modulate and resolve such conflicts.

Drawing on a rich body of multimethod field research, this book examines the ways in which Indonesian and Philippine religious actors have fostered conflict resolution and under what conditions these efforts have been met with success or limited success. The book addresses two central questions: In what ways, and to what extent, have post-conflict peacebuilding activities of Christian churches contributed to conflict transformation in Mindanao (Philippines) and Maluku (Indonesia)? And to what extent have these church-based efforts been affected by specific economic, political, or social contexts? Based on extensive fieldwork, the study operates with a nested, multi-dimensional, and multi-layered methodological concept which combines qualitative and quantitative methods. Major findings are that church-based peace activities do matter, that they have higher approval rates than state projects, and that they have fostered interreligious understanding. Through innovative analysis, this book fills a lacuna in the study of ethno-religious conflicts. Informed by the novel Comparative Area Studies (CAS) approach, this book is strictly comparative, includes in-case and cross-case comparisons, and bridges disciplinary research with Area Studies. It will be of interest to academics in the fields of conflict and peacebuilding studies, interreligious dialogue, Southeast Asian Studies, and Asian Politics.

Introduction : religion and women in peace and Conflict studies / Monique Skidmore -- Contesting traditions : religion and violence in South Asia / Peter van der Veer -- The citizen as sexed : women, violence, and reproduction / Veena Das -- The nuclear fetish : violence, affect, and the postcolonial state / Betty Joseph -- Overcoming the silent archive in Bangladesh : women bearing witness to violence in the 1971 Liberation War / Yasmin Saikia -- The watch of Tamil women : women's acts in a transitional warscape / Patricia Lawrence -- Mothers and wives of the disappeared in southern Sri Lanka : fragmented geographies of moral discomfort / Alex Argenti-Pillen -- The other body and the body politic : contingency and dissonance in narratives of violence / Mangalika de Silva -- Buddha's mother and the billboard queens : moral oower in contemporary Burma / Monique Skidmore -- With patience we can endure / Ingrid Jordt -- To marry a man or a spirit? : women, spirit possession cult, and domination in Burma / Bènèdicte Brac de la Perrire.

Since 9/11 much has been written about U.S. and European responses to terrorism, to Iraq and Afghanistan, and to tensions between Islam and the West. But countries in Asia Pacific have attracted much less attention--yet their responses reveal much not only about their respective foreign policies, but also about their internal electoral politics, the tensions of plural societies, the sway of ethnic-cultural stereotypes, the perceived sociopolitical roles that religions play, the conditioning of the mass media, and the international implications of internal armed conflicts. Mindful of the interconnections between the global and the local, and their impact on different policy areas, the authors of this collection examine contemporary developments in four multiethnic, multifaith societies, which are also significant middle powers in Asia Pacific: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Australia.