Cultural Contestation in Ethnic Conflict

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.

1. Introduction: easy questions and hard answers. What are they fighting about?; 2. The political psychology of competing narratives; 3. Narratives and performance: ritual enactment and psychocultural dramas in ethnic conflict; 4. Loyalist parades in Northern Ireland as a psychocultural drama; 5. Where is Barcelona? Imagining the nation without a state; 6. Digging up the past to contest the present: the politics of archaeology in Jerusalem's old city; 7. Dressed to express: Muslim headscarves in French schools; 8. The politics of memory and memorialization in post-apartheid South Africa; 9. Enlarging South Africa's symbolic landscape; 10. Flags, heroes and statues: inclusive versus exclusive identity markers in the American South; 11. Culture's central role in ethnic conflict.

Marc Howard Ross examines battles over diverse cultural expressions and demonstrates how culture drives conflict, but can also help mitigate it when groups develop more inclusive narratives and identities that both acknowledge the past and envision a shared future.

Marc Howard Ross is William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Political Science at Bryn Mawr College where he has taught since 1968. He has had a long term interest in social science theories of conflict and their implications for conflict management and has done research in East Africa, France, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Spain, South Africa and the United States. Professor Ross has written or edited six books including The Culture of Conflict (1993) and The Management of Conflict (1993).