Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Anthropology Divided Nations Divided Nations In this essay, I will discuss both the cultural factors in divided nations encountered in the book “The Violence Within: Cultural and Political Opposition in Divided Nations”, edited by Kay B. Warren, and the methods by which the contributors to this volume have collected their data. The broad array of conflict and opposition encountered in the book are inclusive to countries such as Northern Ireland, Israel, Egypt, Iran, South Africa, The Philippines, Guatemala, and Brazil. A variety of authors have lent their interpretations and experiences in and of these cultures. The methods of data collection are wide ranging, including participant observation, representative, and the accounts of professionals in the same or similar fields. First, I will describe the cultural factors contributing to unrest in each of these nations, and then the methods by which the authors have collected their research material. Cultural Factors in Northern Ireland There is a long history of opposition to British colonialism in Northern Ireland and historically, colonialism creates a special case which carries characteristic cultural effects in the opposition. Colonialism, as Begona Aretxaga (223) points out, “not only exploits and despoils, it also creates meanings and shapes feelings.”. He further suggests that it is this creation of meanings and shaping of feeling that sets colonialism apart from other forms of political opposition. It is this effect which has laid the cultural framework for the political defiances of the Irish. The major cultural vessel used to express dissent has historically been seen in the form of hunger strikes by political prisoners. This practice has a far-reaching cultural basis which can be found in Gaelic tradition. The hunger strike has also gained significant meaning from the Catholic religion, drawing from the symbolism therein. Whereas this type of non-violent protest has often been associated with the precedent set by Ghandi, here it has a rich historical background and was used to rally and unify the Irish people. From the British perspective, what made colonialism acceptable to the masses was a cultural infusion, painting a picture of the Irish as savages. Their religion was deemed pagan. This religious dissimilarity has permeated through the years, and been the main source of difference as seen between these two entities. Next, I will document the cultural components contributing to the conflict in Israel. The rather significant cultural minority of Palestinian Arabs, contained within Israel, a Jewish state, has led to political protest and sometimes to violence, and there are factors inherent in the attitudes and structure of both cultures that have influenced the discourse between them. The lack of national identity perceived by the Palestinian Arabs or Israeli Arabs as they are now labeled by the Israeli establishment, is the primary source of conflict. This exclusion from Israeli politics is the point of contention and the root of political unrest. The Jewish establishment of Israel has attempted to exclude the Arab population from political involvement and further has undertaken to control this population. In his final observations, Davida Wood (115) summarily concludes that the state’s attempt to manipulate clan politics has actually had the opposite effect, cultivating Palestinian nationalism. This is an important point, because in Palestinian culture, politics and the culture of the clan are closely situated. Seemingly, Palestinian nationalism is growing in Israel despite the efforts of Zionist control. Palestinian culture is closely allied with Palestinian politics. The communist party has often been perceived as a conduit for nationalist sentiment. This in conjunction with the hamula, clan or the cultural hub of Arab society, has led to an air of unpredictability central to Arab reaction. Central issues to the ties that bind culture and politics are so called “sexual politics” or more importantly the honor within the clan and also the perceived threat of Westernization. This climate of unpredictability has allowed for a rise in nationalist sentiment. In the following section, I will outline the aspects of cultural association seen in Egypt which are responsible for unrest. The rapid modernization of society, which was supported by Sadat’s regime in Egypt, led to Islamic revival in the form of religious networks which seek to preserve traditional culture. These networks can have either a stabilizing or destabilizing effect, depending on conditions and intent. Guilain Denoeux (138-139) defines these networks more clearly, classifying them as “double-edged” or “radical Utopian”, the latter being solely destabilizing and the former having either effect depending upon certain conditions. In light of modernization, these networks seek to provide a sense of brotherhood in a climate of drastic change. In the case of Egypt, the jama’at islamiyya and the Takfir wa’l-Hijra in combination were successful in disrupting and inevitably overthrowing Sadat’s regime. This was done through political assassinations and the assassination of Sadat himself. The new regime “has put the strict enforcement of Islamic values, morality, and codes of behavior high on it’s list of priorities.”, according to Denoeux. In the subsequent section, I will relay a similar situation in Iran which involves similar networks. In Iran, to counteract the insurgent tide of Western dominated government, there arose a number of religious and culturally-based networks. These networks, as well as being a way for Muslims to combat the imposing advance of Western culture, were an interconnected mode for disseminating information to the people providing additional strength and security within the prevailing Islamic culture. Networks such as the hay’at-e senifs “helped overcome class cleavages by bringing together and creating lines of communication and patronage” (to paraphrase the words of Denoeux). However, radical Utopian groups such as the Fada’iyan-e Islam were not well understood, structurally speaking. The one aspect that all these groups had in common was to unify Islamic culture against the monarchy in a successful effort. Now, I will continue with an account of the political turmoil in South Africa, and the cultural factors involved. Historically, in South Africa, the Afrikaners have asserted control over the African majority through violence and the policy of apartheid. Through economic superiority, they were able to maintain this political superiority, asserting their own as the dominant culture. The Afrikaners’ excuse for this continuation of inequality was the preservation of their own culture. From the opposition arose many organizational alliances and movements, adopting various ideologies and intent. Some, including the Pan Africanist Congress and the Black Consciousness movement, were exclusively African and were exclusive to the long indigenous African peoples. The Inkatha organization was even more exclusive, being constructed from a distinct Zulu nationalism. Other movements such as the African National Congress and the United Democratic Front were based upon the Freedom Charter which calls for an all-encompassing democratic nation. Due to the varying cultural identities present in South Africa, the Charterists were dominant in overcoming oppression because of their umbrella philosophy. Concluding with the depiction of South African uprest, I will move to cover the situation in the Philippines. The cultural factors responsible for civil unrest and dissatisfaction in the Philippines stem from socioeconomic inequalities, including the especially poignant issue of agrarian land reform. Cultural ethos plays a major role in the discourse that has ensued in this debate over the need for the redistribution of resources. The political disputation over this reform has evolved into a harsh prattle between “farmers” or peasant farmers and “planters”, the political and economical elite. In the midst of this ongoing struggle over cultural inequalities, there has been upheaval, but in the end it has only led to restoration of political policies of the past. In the frame of cultural ethos, the major affronts arising from both sides are in the areas of sweat equity, optimization of land production, and elite paternalism. The right to land ownership is a heated battlefield, involving the issue of sweat equity from the farmers and in turn the issues of ownership and sweat equity from the planters side. The optimization of farm production through the scale of ownership is also a much contested ethical issue. Finally, it is the position of elite landowners that peasants need to be provided for and could not possibly manage land by themselves. Next, I will traverse into the violent and unnerving conflict in Guatemala and the cultural factors involved therein. The violence in Guatemala stems from cultural factors, primarily resulting from a wide separation in racial identities. Specific to these racial differences are the conflict between ladinos and Mayan guerrilla factions, as well as the differing cultural aspects of Mayan groups. A horrific climate of violence between guerrillas and the ladino controlled government’s militarization, as Kay B. Warren’s (31) relation, through Trixano accounts of the events, describes, “There was great fear. People frequently appeared along the highways dead, dumped. You didn’t know what town they were from.”. These circumstances, while on the surface painting a picture of mistrust between Mayans, have been counteracted somewhat through the Mayan art of storytelling. These stories, Warren (47) notes, serve to “individualize betrayal rather than treating it as a collective act on the part of existing Mayan factions”. Another cultural reaction, resulting from the conflict, is to remain ambiguous about or otherwise trivialize the events that take place in their communities. While both sides have felt the effects of this division, it has been the impoverished Mayans and their culture that have experienced of it. Finally, I will discuss the situation in Brazil. In Brazil, many culturally based Afro-Brazilian groups emerged in the face of racial hegemony, and each had limited yet vital effects. The majority of these groups served to heighten Afro-Brazilian culturalism, but the movimento negro was the only group with any political influence. There are many reasons for the lack of mobilization. In the case of the Americanista and Africanista groups, as Michael Hanchard (66) states, “Both were spawned in intellectual environments where, for the most part, they remained.”. With the Black Soul movement there was some political mobilization, but as Hanchard (73) exclaims, “it was largely a culturalist and a musical phenomenon.”. Another key factor, relating to ineffectiveness, was the high number of these organizations, leading to separation. I will now discuss the methods of data collection used by the authors of each article. While some of the authors in this volume have based their research upon library research alone, others have implemented methods which are more “hands on”. Aretxaga, Wood, and Warren have all supplanted their research with first person experience. Wood utilized the method of participant observation in combination with qualitative data and library research. Aretxaga and Warren both included first person accounts in their research. Of all the articles fashioned through library research, only one includes any quantitative data. The article constructed by Jeffrey M. Riedinger uses a great deal of quantitative data. The articles authored by Denoeux and Hanchard, in contrast, are based solely upon library research. I’ll conclude next with a discussion of the similarities and differences that I have observed in reading these articles. There are a number of common themes evident in these examples, including the effects of colonialism, and race-based oppression. Racism has played a role in Northern Ireland, Israel, South Africa, Guatemala and Brazil. The effects of colonialism can be seen in Northern Ireland and South Africa in a characteristically racial policy of conquest. If this is a proper representation of violence in the world, then obviously racism can be seen as a factor contributing to these conflicts. Religion, as well is a major theme of contention when violence breaks out. In countries such as Northern Ireland, Israel, Egypt, Iran, The Philippines, and Guatemala, religion is either a central carrier in cultural conflicts, or plays a major role. It is especially significant when politics and religion are closely related. Much dissimilarity exists in how cultures organize themselves in opposition to a dominant political power. While some become fragmented, others may effectively separate to produce the desired result. Still others form strong networks that create stability in opposition. In all cases, cultures seem to be compromised and at the hands of the elite or otherwise economically superior class. Bibliography: References Cited Aretxaga, Begona 1993 Striking with Hunger: Cultural Meanings of Political Violence in Northern Ireland. IN: THE VIOLENCE WITHIN: Cultural and Political Opposition in Divided Nations. Edited by Kay B. Warren. Boulder: Westview Press. Denoeux, Guilain 1993 Religious Networks and Urban Unrest: lessons from Iranian and Egyptian Experiences. IN: THE VIOLENCE WITHIN: Cultural and Political Opposition in Divided Nations. Edited by Kay B. Warren. Boulder: Westview Press. Hanchard, Michael 1993 Culturalism Versus Cultural Politics: Movimento Negro in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil. IN: THE VIOLENCE WITHIN: Cultural and Political Opposition in Divided Nations. Edited by Kay B. Warren. Boulder: Westview Press. Marx, Anthony W. 1993 Contested Images and Implications in South Africa. IN: THE VIOLENCE WITHIN: Cultural and Political Opposition in Divided Nations. Edited by Kay B. Warren. Boulder: Westview Press Riedinger, Jeffrey M. 1993 Everyday Elite Resistance: Redistributive Agrarian Reform in the Philippines. IN: THE VIOLENCE WITHIN: Cultural and Political Opposition in Divided Nations. Edited by Kay B. Warren. Boulder: Westview Press. Warren, Kay B. 1993 Interpreting La Violencia in Guatemala: Shapes of Mayan Silence and Resistance. IN: THE VIOLENCE WITHIN: Cultural and Political Opposition in Divided Nations. Edited by Kay B. Warren. Boulder: Westview Press. Wood, Davida 1993 Politics of Identity in a Palestinian Village in Israel. IN: THE VIOLENCE WITHIN: Cultural and Political Opposition in Divided Nations. Edited by Kay B. Warren. Boulder: Westview Press. Word Count: 2071
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