This report investigates the rural inter-communal conflict as a threat to community livelihood in Jonglei State, one of the ten states in South Sudan. Jonglei State has a long history of unrest, which has also affected other parts of the country. Cattle raiding and conflict have manifested in Jonglei State and the surrounding communities for many years. Many people have lost their lives, and livestock losses have been abundant. It is vital that local government understands and contextualises these challenges so that appropriate interventions may be developed. This study proposes to provide a brief historical background on the evolution of inter-communal conflict in Jonglei. There have been recent changes in the security situation and increased access to weapons. Advanced weaponry has also led to a rise in insecurity and increases in the number and scale of cattle raids. Political tensions and political instability have also emerged. The political situation is unstable and political factions are in constant disagreement. Furthermore, there are limited economic opportunities there is also limited access to natural resources such as water and grazing land for cattle. Climate conditions and migration patterns are also discussed and explained. The cross sectional descriptive survey was used in this study. Various recommendations flowing from the results of the study are proposed in the final chapter. If adopted, these recommendations could enable the Government of South Sudan and the residents of Jonglei to overcome inter-communal conflict.

D.Cur. / The overall objective of this study is to describe a model that will serve as theoretical framework for facilitating interaction to both nurse educators and nursing students during conflict at a college of nursing. There is need for transformation at colleges concerning interaction during conflict and that can be facilitated through practising the opposite elements of negative interaction, identified in the field-work of the research study, which is compliance with norms, justice which is fair and equal treatment, facilitative communication, power sharing, facilitative peer group dynamics. A unique contribution in the model description is the facilitative interaction elements identified as opposites of the results of the field research, namely: Compliance with norms Justice, which is fair and equal treatment Facilitative communication Power sharing Facilitative peer group dynamics.

Xenophobia ‘fear and hatred of strangers’ has become part of the international humanitarian agenda with the increased human mobility due to complex emergencies. Nevertheless, there is a knowledge gap in how to address such a complex social problem. Xenophobia has become evident in Colombia, and the UNHCR has responded with the media campaign ‘Somos Panas Colombia’, with the objective to reduce it and promote solidarity toward Venezuelan migrants. My research objective is to identify the social dynamics between the host communities and migrants in this context; then to understand how the UNHCR campaign can interact with these dynamics. The dynamics are categorized into dividers and connectors, through the Do No Harm approach, and discussed from social psychology perspectives. In this manner, we can distinguish which factors can be strengthened, and which can be weakened through campaign activities. Furthermore, in order to identify the optimal conditions for encouraging positive group interactions, the research employs the framework of the Intergroup Contact theory, which suggests that contact under the conditions of equality, common goals, cooperation and institutional support typically reduces prejudice. Such conditions strengthen a common ingroup identity that could include both Venezuelans and Colombians. This systematic thinking undergirds the analysis to understand how to most effectively reduce intergroup tensions and xenophobia, as well as how not to exacerbate it. My findings are that real structural factors, like pressure on the social service systems, combined with perceptions of these to be threatened, exacerbated by media reporting, divide the communities; whilst common interests and values, highlighted by the civil society and credible opinion leaders who display tolerant and positive relationships with migrants help to connect them. Finally, I conclude that the UNHCR has broadly identified the intergroup dynamics and has the potential of effectively addressing them through the campaign content strategies of sending rational-emotional messages that induce empathy and activates solidary behavior, and the communication strategy of building partnerships to reach target populations in an effective manner.

No description available.

No description available.

This research aimed to test the effectiveness of a new social-psychological intervention aimedat conflict resolution and intergroup reconciliation. It was set in a relevant post-conflictcontext exploring intergroup attitudes and relationships between Serbs and Albanians.Existing empirical evidence shows that intergroup conflict affects perceptions of groups ́morality which in turn, are important for peace-building efforts. Recent research has providedevidence demonstrating that learning about outgroup moral exemplars, a novel interventionaimed at challenging social beliefs about a relevant outgroup, can improve intergroupattitudes such as increased contact intentions, reconciliation beliefs and perceptions ofoutgroup morality. Nonetheless, it remains to be explored whether this intervention (learningabout outgroup moral exemplars) would be effective in contexts marked by prolongedintergroup animosities and what processes could explain the expected positive effects. Thisstudy (N=373) presents experimental data demonstrating that learning about outgroup moral(vs. neutral) exemplars induces moral elevation regarded as a positive emotion promotingmoral affiliate behaviour which in turn, is related to positive intergroup outcomes (such asprejudice reduction and approach behaviour). The present research confirms the effectivenessof the moral exemplar approach in regards to intergroup reconciliation processes. Moreover,in this paper we extend the current literature by demonstrating that moral elevation could be apsychological mechanism relevant for facilitation of positive intergroup outcomes in conflictsettings.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Africa, 2002.

Thesis (DPhil (Psychology))—University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / This study is located in the Joe Slovo informal settlement, Langa, Cape Town. This is a settlement much like many other townships in South Africa in that it is a disaster-prone, marginalised community. On the 15 January 2005 a fire ravaged the area, destroying 2 590 dwellings and leaving 12 950 people homeless. This qualitative study attempted to explore the personal perspectives of the survivors of this shack fire within the wider context of communal and socio-political variables. A number of interviews were conducted, some with the fire survivors, and others with service providers in the field of disaster management. Conservation of Resources (COR) theory was found to be a useful lens through which to analyse the data. The fire event itself is shown to have been a precipitant of a far longer and more complex chain of events and ongoing struggles for survival. Reactions to the fire and subsequent events, furthermore, must be understood at a number of levels – including at inter-personal and inter-group levels. The principles and corollaries of COR theory enable a deeper exploration of the disaster especially in terms of resource loss and the implications of survivors having been disadvantaged prior to the fire taking place. A number of pre-event issues are presented in order for this context to be fully understood. Two obstacles to community intervention are emphasised as key. First, the reality of what COR theory terms ‘communities within communities’ has implications for survivor behaviour. Second, the focus on the acute aftermath of the fire, and what COR theory terms the ‘avoidance of long-term needs’ is also crucial. COR theory facilitated the visibility of a link between the data and the use of space at an intergroup level. Despite the abolition of apartheid, segregation between groups in South Africa remains high. The current study made use of the social psychology of segregation to explore the inter-group conflict that emerged as the most salient and ongoing feature of this disaster. Although the current study is exploratory, it is hoped that it will encourage future research into the interface between space, inter-group relations and disaster.

This thesis explores the experiences, encounters, responses and reactions to Islamophobia through a narrative study of forty female Pakistani and British students with a Pakistani heritage in universities across England. In exploring Islamophobia as a ‘racialised’ phenomenon, the participant narratives locate the experiences and encounters of Islamophobia within their ‘intersubjective’ realities, across various ‘communities’ of ‘discourse.’ These realities are informed by the wider socio-political milieu of a war against Al Qa’ida and its affiliates that ‘securitizes’ the Muslim and Pakistani identity(s) particularly in Britain. The university is also implicated in the counter terrorism agenda of the state, depicted as a ‘vulnerable’ space for radicalizing students. However, females in this discussion are predominantly absent within the academic and public narratives. Therefore, this research will explore the experience of Islamophobia, the way it is perceived by the British/Pakistani/Muslim/female student, and the way students respond and react to it within the university. The research employs a narrative method of inquiry. The narrative analysis is informed by a Bakhtinian notion of ‘dialogics’ to explore the multiplicity of ‘meanings’ that emerge through individual accounts of Islamophobia located within their public and private realms. In exploring these narratives the thesis illustrates how ‘degrees of religiosity’ influences encounters and experiences of Islamophobia, and highlights responses and reactions of students to such experiences, that include individual and group activism to challenge Islamophobia and the insecure meta-narrative about Muslims and terrorism. The research further focuses on both the religious identity of the Muslim student, and their problematic ethnic identity, Pakistani demonstrating how in a securitized socio-political milieu Muslim students are further vulnerable to experiences of Islamophobia, in the form of Pakophobia, where both their religious and ethnic identities are held suspect. These narratives have implications for the emerging understanding of Islamophobia as a ‘racialised’ phenomenon. They further have implications for universities that are encouraged to participate in the government’s counter-terrorism agenda. The narratives by locating the research within the particularities of a wider socio-political milieu that ‘racialises’ and ‘securitizes’ Muslims raises critical questions about the nature of discrimination in a post 9/11, 7/7 era that may have repercussions for other Muslim minority groups.

This thesis is an interdisciplinary project in experimental social psychology, psychopharmacology, neuroscience, and neuroethics. The role of emotion in higher order psychological processes – social and moral judgments – was investigated. Specifically the role of noradrenergic mediated emotional arousal was researched. Behavioural studies demonstrated that acute beta adrenergic blockade with propranolol led to a reduction in negative implicit racial associations and also a modification of moral decision making. These findings suggest that basic affective processes might be causally relevant for higher order evaluations. However, enhancement with the noradrenergic potentiating agent reboxetine did not show effects opposite to those of propranolol on racial attitudes or moral judgments, which might indicate that emotional arousal, specific to beta-adrenoceptors might be involved in the effects of propranolol. Further a pharmacological fMRI study demonstrated that the activation pattern in brain regions commonly associated with intergroup bias -- such as the amygdala, insula, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and fusiform gyrus -- was affected by propranolol, and that the effect in the amygdala was correlated with implicit racial bias. Taken together the research suggests that automatic emotional arousal plays a role in higher order psychological processes, such as moral and social judgments, which aids the understanding of the underlying neurobiology of such processes. Finally, the ethical implications – such as the prospect of pharmacological moral enhancement – are discussed. The findings also suggest that the moral and social effects of already widely used psychotropic medications should be subject to further empirical and ethical investigation.