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Everyone should agree that conflict’s precursor is ideology. Ideology is not an abstract notion. It is taking decision about social structure and social order and charting a pathway to achieve it or stabilise the achieved. The stabilisation comes from normative behaviour of people through generations. Individualism and collectivism are the two norms directing the path of human excellence in broken and continuing old civilisations across the globe.
There is a persistent gender digital divide in Nigeria which has profound impact on peace and development. Despite a substantial internet user base, disparities persist, particularly affecting women in rural areas. This paper draws on USAID-provided statistics to highlight the existing gender gap in mobile phone ownership, internet usage, and smartphone access. Despite governmental and organizational efforts, challenges such as cultural norms, limited educational opportunities, and biases hinder progress. The paper tries to capture the possible solutions to bridge this gender digital divide which could include targeted awareness campaigns, cultural sensitivity initiatives, infrastructure development, and industry collaboration as essential steps to bridge the gap. Additionally, promoting girls’ education, ensuring equal access to technology, and empowering women economically can be the possible ways to empower girls and women to contribute to social cohesion and development. Collaboration between government bodies, civil society organizations, and community groups is crucial for sustainable change.
The post-cold war era continues to experience high levels of violence and instability. The focus on threats to individuals compels a shift in conflict analysis to integrate multiple perspectives. The protracted violent Samburu and Turkana conflict has been attributed to the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, political incitement, competition over scarce and diminishing water and pastures, celebration of a culture of heroism that elevates the social status of raiders, the decline of the role community elders, marginalisation by successive governments and little presence of state security. Gender relations in Baragoi is extremely unequal, Samburu women face high levels of exclusion, violence and poverty. Women serve as proxy actors in the conflict. Culture and identity continues to play a crucial role in the dynamics of the conflict. The essentialist masculine assumptions of gender roles primarily confine women as victims, war widows, or heroic mothers, which gives little room for Post Conflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD). In this paper, the author examines how gendered identities have impacted on the causal factors, trends, impact and resolution of the conflict. To sum up the discussion the author proposes remedies to the conflict part of which includes political will to reinforce existing human rights laws and legislations as well as promotion of alternative sources of livelihood.
The number of international refugees across the world is in millions and are increasing every year. The migrants and refugees who have fled their respective countries have to live in challenging situations often leading to mental health issues, stress, trauma and feeling of hopelessness. In most refugee camps there are meagre resources, limited health care facilities and often scarcity of basic resources like water, sanitation etc. In such stressful situations, there is likelihood of a stressful or toxic communication ecosystem. It is like when an inmate in a refugee camp becomes much stressed then her/his communication is also affected. It is in this context, there is need to introduce a healthy communication ecosystem. This paper is a result of an action training in the Gandhian approach to nonviolent communication by the author of selected inmates of Nakhivale Refugee Camp in Uganda. It tries to establish that training in nonviolent communication helps to make deeper human connections and can contribute to healthier interactions amongst people.
The tsunami of technological advancement, the overt pressure to achieve one’s materialistic goals and declining work-life balance are some of the reasons of poor dialogues in families. The advent of frozen communication due to excessive use of technologies is leading to insensitivities and a slow-death of empathetic and open communication in many families. The dysfunctional communication patterns are having negative impact on relationships in families. This paper through in-depth interviews of families argues on the emergent need to reframe the communication ecosystems, encourage cyberfasting, and take up joint activities amongst family members. Through such efforts, the aim would be elaborate on a dialogical family nonviolent communication approach.
The worsening violence in Sudan is creating an equally catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the country. It is almost seven months since the disastrous conflict erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The violent conflict has led to cross-border displacement, massive migration of lakh of Sudanese people; the situation has now taken shape of a full-scale civil war, genocide of innocent civilians and extreme violence against women. It is in this backdrop, there is critical and emergent need of major intervention to not only end the violent conflict, but also mount a major humanitarian mission as the entire health infrastructure has crumbled and the move towards a famine-like condition where people are deprived of even their basic needs. It is also here we are reminded of Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of nonviolence and most importantly his ideas of structural nonviolence. This paper is an attempt to explore the essence of Gandhian structural nonviolence in conflict situations as that in Sudan. It also delves through interviews of Sudanese refugees in Chad, a neighbouring country on the breakdown of lives of the innocent civilians and their dreams of a peaceful and nonviolent Sudan.
Generation Gap is not the word of the Year; it is an old term used widely, over the past few years, different regions have shown different graphs highlighting the problem associated with generation gap and media is often accused of creating or magnifying the gap. Generation gap is defined as difference of attitudes and understanding between two generations, imbibes an actual deep rooted problem. Difference of attitudes and understanding often leads to erosion of culture and traditions, which is directly related to the existence and identity of the individual. Culture, though a complex topic can be simply defined as the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society passed on from one generation to another. Generation gap often disrupts the transmission and creates a gap to bring monoculture, which means a culture is dominated by a single shared belief, objective, or other element that defines the group and others does not exist in a long run. The research tries to understand the existence of any such gap in the society of Sikkim and whether media is actually the responsible factor for the gap or not. The research also tries to find out whether the causes can be utilised as a cure or not.