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Long Abstract:
This panel is formed of sui generis papers that talk to similar themes.
Accepted papers:
Session 8Sepalika Welikala (The Open University of Sri Lanka)
Paper short abstract:
Foregrounded on anthropological readings and using an interpretive approach to public debates this paper analyzes how the right-wing agenda uses populist rhetoric in law reforms as a site where articulations of anti-minority ideologies are fostered for political support.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines the subversion of law reforms by a right-wing agenda to challenge the personal laws of a minority ethic group in a plural legal setting. The rhetoric to mobilize legal reforms is framed within the discourse on rights, yet it can also be seen as populist rhetoric that appeals to the emotions and concerns of Sri Lanka’s fragmented polity. Sri Lanka’s multiple traditions of laws have existed to facilitate the co-existence of pre-colonial customary laws with the modern legal system introduced by the Dutch and British colonial administrations. The parallel systems include personal laws of specific communities alongside general laws that apply to everyone in other instances. This paper discusses the attempts being made to abolish the Muslim personal laws which are being promoted through the parliament to repeal the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) and also through the “One Country One Law” campaign. Although Muslim women activists have been advocating reforms to the discriminatory MMDA for many years, the indecision within the community has enabled the anti-Muslim politics to invoke reforms rhetoric to overhaul the customary laws that are guaranteed by the Sri Lankan constitution. Conceptually foregrounded on anthropological readings of legal pluralism and right-wing populism and using an interpretive approach to analyze public debates on customary laws, MMDA and “One Country One Law” policy, this paper analyzes how law reforms are being politicized as a site where articulations and dynamics of anti-minority ideologies are fostered to construct a sense of belonging among right-wing political supporters.
Luisa Isidro Herrera (York University)
Paper short abstract:
This ethnographic work analyzes the alternative forms of security created and developed by The Caqueta Teachers’ Network who undertake pedagogical duties in the face of community experiences of death, abuse, and displacement during the armed conflict and so-called post-conflict era.
Paper long abstract:
Despite the official end of Colombia’s lengthy armed conflict, rural-based youth in Colombia face human rights violations such as: a) enforced recruitment; b). enforced displacement; c). homicide of their parents; d). enforced disappearance and kidnapping; e) armed group forced assumption of control and usage of their educational facilities; f). unsatisfied basic needs, among others (Rivera Burgos 2022; Comisión de la Verdad 2022b). In response, The Caqueta Teachers’ Network have developed alternative forms of pedagogy through educational tools that mobilize the encrypted memory of their students to preserve collective safety and local peacebuilding against the impacts of both armed conflict and post-conflict violence. Working respectfully in engagement with this communities, this ethnographic work analyzes the alternative forms of security created and developed by The Caqueta Teachers’ Network who undertake pedagogical duties in the face of community experiences of death, abuse, and displacement during the armed conflict and so-called post-conflict era. Drawing on scholarship on feminist geopolitics and research into grassroots practices of grounded protections (or alter geopolitics), We explore how The Caqueta Teachers’ Network meet, seek, generate, and implement collective resistance to address everyday violence while weaving cross-national solidarity with the Truth Commission in Colombia, Former FARC-EP militants, and non-partisan organizations such as Embrace Dialogue.
Sharon Teitler Regev (Max stern Yezreel Valley College) Shlomit Hon Snir (Yezreel Academic College) Keren Michael (Max Stern Yezreel Valley College)
Paper short abstract:
This research examines revenge tourism through an anthropological lens, analyzing how violent conflict impacts regional tourism while shaping travel motivations. It explores how war experiences generate stress and desire for normalcy manifesting as revenge travel.
Paper long abstract:
This research examines revenge tourism through an anthropological lens, analyzing how violent conflict and instability not only severely impact regional tourism industries but also shape human travel motivations and behaviors. Utilizing quantitative data gathered from Israeli participants during “Iron Sword” war, the study explores how experiences of war become embodied, generating heightened stress and desire for normalcy that manifest through revenge travel. The current research focus on the effect of demographic data, personality traits and perceived stress on travel intentions.
The data included 660 Israeli participants, 51.8% women and 48.2% men, with an average age of 42.18 (SD=14.33). All participants completed self-reported questionnaires. Data was analyzed using path analysis.
The results indicate that demographic factors and personal resources impacted reactions to the war. In particular, women and those with lower resilience viewed it as more stressful. Additionally, higher stress levels and lower religiousness impacted the levels of revenge tourism. Participants also reported a reduced in tourism expenditures while the instability persisted.
An anthropological interpretation situates these findings within long-standing theoretic debates over structure and agency. Destabilizing events clearly constrain human activity and movements, evidencing structural domination. Yet ensuing revenge tourism also reveals people’s agentive capacities – their ability as individuals and groups to construct meanings, form intentions, and undertake actions towards recovery and healing in the aftermath. Tourism serves as a ritual restore normalcy, though framed by demographic factors like gender and prior experience.
Mamoon Bhuyan (Brunel University London)
Paper short abstract:
This paper critically examines the emergence of detention camps in the northeast Indian state of Assam and the impact of detention based on the lived experiences of detainees.
Paper long abstract:
Since the nineteenth century, colonial establishments have utilized camps as facilities for the mass confinement of individuals whose freedom raised concerns, including prisoners of war and civilians. European and North American colonial administrations started employing detention camps to house civilian populations in the Global South, where they were actively involved in suppressing dissent, protests and ‘insurgencies.’ Since then, detention camps have become a significant tool for social and political control worldwide. In this context, postcolonial northeast Indian state of Assam's detention camps also serve the purpose of containing and segregating individuals considered ‘undesirable’ due to socio-cultural factors, specifically those labelled as the ‘Bangladeshi Other.’ At present, six district prisons in the state function as detention camps, housing thousands of suspected ‘illegal immigrants’ from Bangladesh, including children. Among these prisons, the Kokrajhar district prison is the sole facility designated for women and children. Despite the inauguration of a new "transit camp" in Goalpara district by the Assam government in January 2023, the six district prisons continue to detain suspected immigrants from Bangladesh. This paper critically examines the emergence of detention camps in the northeast Indian state of Assam and the impact of detention based on the lived experiences of detainees. In doing so, this paper brings in postcolonial concepts such as bare life, necropolitics, and carceral state.
John Dulin (Utah Valley University)
Paper short abstract:
In this paper, I argue that the concept of negative value can be useful for theorizing patterns of interreligious relations Gondar, Ethiopia. I explore value neutrality, value difference, value conflict, and social conflict as moments in the process of relations across religious boundaries.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper, I argue that the concept of negative value can be useful for theorizing patterns of interreligious relations in Gondar, Ethiopia. I explore value neutrality, value difference, value conflict, and social conflict as distinct moments in the process of relations across religious boundaries. To understand movement between these moments, it is useful to examine how values (positive and negative) become visible in the sometimes convoluted semiotics of social interaction. Using ethnographic examples, I will argue that value difference defines relations when distinct emblems of value are vividly juxtaposed (mosque/church, cross/hijab, prayer call/ liturgy), while value neutrality is common when signs of sameness overshadow value difference (arguably the most common pattern). Value conflict becomes salient when value signs articulate in a way that suggests potential subversion of one value by the other. Finally, value conflict can become a social conflict when actors publicly perform a value subversion (that is, perform actions widely interpreted as realizing your own values and subverting the values of the other). Performances, of course, transform contexts and frames of interaction. Performed value subversion can transform the positive values of one group into a threateningly negative value to another group. This analysis shows that value difference does not necessarily create conflict, but under certain conditions, it can play a role in patterns of conflict and coexistence in religiously plural social environments.