scholarly journals Memories of Mogadishu: Reconstructing post-conflict societies through memory and storytelling

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-247
Author(s):  
Asha Siad
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Somali Diaspora ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The World ◽  
Ben Okri ◽  
Sense Of Urgency

For many members of the Somali diaspora, the fear of fading memories places a sense of urgency on them to keep these stories of their homeland alive. The great African novelist Ben Okri once said, “to poison a nation, poison its stories”. Stories have the ability to harm or heal societies. Oftentimes, it is simply exclusion from the main narrative that can greatly harm or marginalize a group of people. This paper examines the use of memory in the reconstruction of a once cosmopolitan city by the Somali diaspora around the world through the Memories of Mogadishu initiative. The film by the same title is a short documentary made by the author, in which she interviews nine members of the Somali diaspora currently residing in Canada. Ultimately, this project and this paper reveal the realities of how post-conflict societies, and individuals within them, reconstruct and reconcile their memories, in this case of their former home of Mogadishu, Somalia. This paper analyses the nine interviews and is divided into the following four sections: “Memories of Mogadishu before the Civil War”, “Civil War and Leaving Mogadishu”, “Identity Revision, Memory, and Routinization”, and “Losing and Rebuilding Memories of Mogadishu (and Themselves)”. 

Panji Hitam Dari Arah Timur

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Dadi Herdiansah
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Conflict Area ◽  
Middle East Conflict ◽  
The World ◽  
Information Spread

One of the information spread about the arrival of the Mahdi priest was that he led the war troops by carrying a black banner from the east. This information comes from several histories in several hadith books. Pro contra has occurred in response to this history. The Muslim groups who believe in the truth of this black banner tradition have flocked from all corners of the world to the Middle East conflict area which is believed and believed there is a group of mujahids carrying black banner as mentioned by the hadith. Even in the conflict area there was mutual claim between the factions that their faction was mentioned by the hadith carrying its black banner, so that even from one another, civil war was not inevitable in some places. But what is the origin of the hadith? This note is the adoptive writer to criticize the hadith by issuing all of his paths with the takhrīj al-hadīth method, Jarh wa ta'dīl and ‘Ilalu al-hadīth.

Engaging Diaspora in Reconciliation Efforts in Sri Lanka: Lessons Learnt

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
Amjad Mohamed-Saleem
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Trust Building ◽  
Social And Cultural Capital ◽  
Engagement Strategies ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Lessons Learnt ◽  
The World ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation ◽  
National Framework

With nearly three million Sri Lankans living overseas, across the world, there is a significant role that can be played by this constituency in post-conflict reconciliation.  This paper will highlight the lessons learnt from a process facilitated by International Alert (IA) and led by the author, working to engage proactively with the diaspora on post-conflict reconciliation in Sri Lanka.  The paper shows that for any sustainable impact, it is also critical that opportunities are provided to diaspora members representing the different communities of the country to interact and develop horizontal relations, whilst also ensuring positive vertical relations with the state. The foundation of such effective engagement strategies is trust-building. Instilling trust and gaining confidence involves the integration of the diaspora into the national framework for development and reconciliation. This will allow them to share their human, social and cultural capital, as well as to foster economic growth by bridging their countries of residence and origin.

Peacebuilding requirements in post-conflict societies

2020 ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Zyad Samir Al-Dabagh
Keyword(s):  
Major Obstacle ◽  
Normal Life ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The People ◽  
The World

The process of building peace and laying its foundations within the societies of the world, especially those newly emerging from the stage of conflict, are among the important and indispensable matters. Without peace, opportunities diminish in obtaining the essentials of a safe and normal life, and without peace, societies cannot It works and advances towards a better future. However, peacebuilding operations in many societies emerging from conflict or those in which they live may face a set of challenges and obstacles that constitute a major obstacle to them, which necessitates searching for the best ways and means by which these obstacles can be addressed in order to build a real and effective peace that is reflected Positively on the people of those societies.

Oil Wealth, Post-conflict Elections, and Postwar Peace Failure

2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1021-1045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Keels
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Oil Revenue ◽  
Oil Wealth ◽  
New Research

New research has emerged that suggests there is a troubling relationship between elections and civil wars; primarily, elections increase the risk of civil war recurrence. I investigate this relationship further by examining the economic factors associated with the connection between postwar elections and peace failure. Specifically, how does the presence of oil wealth impact the risk posed by postwar elections. Drawing on previous findings in the democratization literature, I suggest the immobility of oil wealth dramatically increases the stakes associated with postwar elections. As postwar elites use irregular electioneering to consolidate their control of oil revenue, it increases the incentives for postwar opposition to use violence as a means to achieve their objectives. Using post-civil war data from 1945 to 2005, I demonstrate that postwar elections that occur in oil-rich economies dramatically decrease the durability of postwar peace. Once controlling for petro elections, though, I demonstrate that subsequent postwar elections actually increase the durability of postwar peace.

Lucan’s Follies: Memory and Ruin in a Civil-War Landscape

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
The World ◽  
Old Roman

‘uilia sunt nobis quaecumque prioribus annis uidimus, et sordet quidquid spectauimus olim.’‘all the things which we saw in former years are worthless to us, and squalid - everything that in times past we gazed upon (esteemed/respected).’Calpurnius Siculus, Eclogue 7.45–6When Calpurnius’ old Roman tells Corydon, the country-boy fresh in town, that nothing that one has seen before can prepare one adequately for Nero's Roman spectacle (probably the games of 57 CE), it is almost impossible not to recall the magnificent loathing that Suetonius (Nero 12.1-2) and Tacitus (Annals 13.31) express for the new emperor's extravaganzas. Eleanor Leach comments that: ‘The builder of the amphitheatre [Nero] has combed the world for his marvels, creating a new cosmos within his gilded wooden oval.’ This spectacular new cosmos maps out a world in which pastoral can no longer exist because Nero has distorted the notion of rus in urbe to such an extent that Calpurnius’ only recourse is obituary. Here, Calpurnius’ eclogue functions not just as an elegy for pastoral, but as a poem which opens up a dialogue with Lucan's civil war landscape; in this world, metaphorical and real species of ruin take on an ever greater cultural urgency as means of interpreting the dramatic artifice of Rome's present.

Determinants of the firm performance of returnee entrepreneurs in Somalia: the effects of external environmental conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed-Abdullahi Mohamed ◽  
Asmat-Nizam Abdul-Talib ◽  
AfifahAlwani Ramlee
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Future Research ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Somali Diaspora ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Perceived Environmental Uncertainty

Purpose This study aims to examine the role of returning Somali diaspora entrepreneurs on firm performance and their perceived environmental obstacles. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on a broad literature review and covers a theoretical background to develop a research framework. It presents several propositions to be empirically tested to determine the influence of returnee entrepreneurs’ success and the challenges they face in the process. Findings The paper offers an overview of how Somali diaspora returnee entrepreneurs can use their resources to succeed in their business and the possible environmental uncertainties that could hinder them. The study highlights some under-researched areas and provides future research directions. Research limitations/implications A research investigation is needed to test the proposed conceptual framework empirically. Further research is also recommended to use other predictors when investigating the perceived environmental uncertainty faced by returnee entrepreneurs. Practical implications In the diaspora entrepreneurship literature, returnee entrepreneurs in post-conflict African countries did not get enough attention. Hence, the study will contribute theoretically to the literature. Originality/value The paper provides a conceptual framework that will help understand returnee entrepreneurs in post-conflict states in Africa, paving the way for empirical studies on the topic.

Between the utopian imaginaries of literature and international law: The question of the insurgent child in international legal discourse and Kris Montañez’s Youth

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
José Duke S. Bagulaya
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Utopian Vision ◽  
The World ◽  
Realistic Representation ◽  
The One

Abstract This article argues that international law and the literature of civil war, specifically the narratives from the Philippine communist insurgency, present two visions of the child. On the one hand, international law constructs a child that is individual and vulnerable, a victim of violence trapped between the contending parties. Hence, the child is a person who needs to be insulated from the brutality of the civil war. On the other hand, the article reads Filipino writer Kris Montañez’s stories as revolutionary tales that present a rational child, a literary resolution of the dilemmas of a minor’s participation in the world’s longest-running communist insurgency. Indeed, the short narratives collected in Kabanbanuagan (Youth) reveal a tension between a minor’s right to resist in the context of the people’s war and the juridical right to be insulated from the violence. As their youthful bodies are thrown into the world of the state of exception, violence forces children to make the choice of active participation in the hostilities by symbolically and literally assuming the roles played by their elders in the narrative. The article concludes that while this narrative resolution appears to offer a realistic representation and closure, what it proffers is actually a utopian vision that is in tension with international law’s own utopian vision of children. Thus, international law and the stories of youth in Kabanbanuagan provide a powerful critique of each other’s utopian visions.

Pyrrhic Victories

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Baberowski
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
New Economic Policy ◽  
The World ◽  
Red Army ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Military Victory ◽  
The Military

This chapter examines the aftermath of the Bolsheviks' victory over both the Whites, or counterrevolutionaries, and all rival socialists. The Bolsheviks broke the military resistance of the Whites, crushed the unrest and strikes of the peasants, and even restored the multiethnic empire, which, in the early months of revolution, had largely fallen apart. In spring 1921, when the Red Army marched into Georgia, the Civil War was officially over. For the Bolsheviks, however, military victory was not the end but rather the beginning of a mission, not simply to shake the world but to transform it. Although weapons may have decided the war in favor of the revolutionaries they had not settled the question of power. This chapter considers Vladimir Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP) that would implement economic reforms, the Bolsheviks' failure to carry power into villages, and the dictatorship's lack of support from the proletariat. It also describes the nationalization of the Russian empire and Joseph Stalin's rise to power.

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