Conflict and integration in the Basse Casamance, Senegal

Research questions

The conflicts will be analysed along two different lines: according to emic and etic categories. The first distinction will likely be made along political, social, religious and ethnic lines. The second distinction will be made in terms of the differentiation between non-violent and violent conflicts. This distinction will make it possible to differentiate between institutionalized and non-institutionalized forms of conflict resolution. The issue at stake is whether conflicts are resolved by violent or communicative means, whether conflict resolution derives from a collective social process or from an unbalanced use of individual force. What triggers the shift to violent conflict and what are the causes of a peaceful turn in the course of action? As there is probably no single cause or trigger for a violent “turn” in a conflict, one needs to examine the interrelatedness of causes to answer the question of how these conflict forms are related to one another. As there is probably no single cause or trigger for a violent “turn” in a conflict, one needs to examine the interrelatedness of causes to answer the question of how the latter are related to one another.

Research methodology

The following approach will be used to analyse a) the exclusive or integrative elements of a certain culture that make conflict resolution possible or impossible; and b) the conditions and the effects of reconciliation processes: In accordance with the relevant literature, the different groups will be differentiated based on the crucial criteria of “age” (young/old), “ethnicity” (Jola/Casamançais), “local status” (migrant/native) and “hierarchy” (new/old elites). They will be studied with regard to their strategies of identification between “us” and “them”, in other words, inclusion versus exclusion. How are ethnic/transethnic, regional/national, traditional/modern identities constructed and how do they relate to specific values, traditions and beliefs? Understanding the mechanisms of identification is seen as a precondition for the analysis of conflicts; the knowledge of the patterns of group-construction, identification processes and their social, political and economic practice should make it possible to understand how different levels of conflict emerge.