Cultural Contestation in Ethnic Conflict

by Marc Howard Ross

• ISBN13: 9780521690324
• ISBN10: 0521690323
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-05-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Ethnic conflict often focuses on culturally charged symbols and rituals that evoke strong emotions from all sides. Marc Howard Ross examines battles over diverse cultural expressions, including Islamic headscarves in France, parades in Northern Ireland, holy sites in Jerusalem and Confederate flags in the American South to propose a psychocultural framework for understanding ethnic conflict, as well as barriers to, and opportunities for, its mitigation. His analysis explores how culture frames interests, structures demand-making and shapes how opponents can find common ground to produce constructive outcomes to long-term disputes. He focuses on participants' accounts of conflict to identify emotionally significant issues, and the power of cultural expressions to link individuals to larger identities and shape action. Ross shows that, contrary to popular belief, culture does not necessarily exacerbate conflict; rather, the constructed nature of psychocultural narratives can facilitate successful conflict mitigation through the development of more inclusive narratives and identities.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. x
Preface	p. xiii
Introduction: easy questions and hard answers, what are they fighting about?	p. 1
The political psychology of competing narratives	p. 30
Narratives and performance: ritual enactment and psychocultural dramas in ethnic conflict	p. 63
Loyalist parades in Northern Ireland as recurring psychocultural dramas	p. 88
Where is Barcelona? Imagining the nation without a state	p. 127
Digging up the past to contest the present: politics and archeology in Jerusalem's Old City	p. 154
Dressed to express: Islamic headscarves in French schools	p. 191
The politics of memory and memorialization in post-apartheid South Africa	p. 224
Enlarging South Africa's symbolic landscape	p. 251
Flags, heroes, and statues: inclusive versus exclusive identity markers in the American South	p. 280
Culture's central role in ethnic conflict	p. 312
References	p. 329
Index	p. 350
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