Irish Religious Demography and Conflict, 1659–1926

Kerby A. Miller, History, University of Missouri

Research Grant, 2006

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The goal of this project was to collect and analyze historical data (official and unofficial) on the numbers of Irish Catholics and Protestants (the latter divided between Anglicans and Dissenters), who inhabited Ireland’s various administrative and census districts (townlands, parishes, baronies, counties, and provinces), to better understand how and why their geographical and demographic relationships changed between the mid-17th and early 20th centuries. My collaborators—Professor Liam Kennedy of the Queen’s University of Belfast and Dr. Brian Gurrin of the National University of Ireland at Maynooth—and I have found that:

(1) The demographic experiences of the Anglicans and Presbyterians in Ulster, Ireland’s only northern province (most of which now comprises Northern Ireland) were significantly and often dramatically different, at least from the early 1700s through the 1880s. In various, fundamental ways, these findings challenge the notion that Irish history is the story of only two [different and antagonistic] traditions—one homogenously Protestant, the other Catholic—particularly since the Ulster Presbyterian experiences of mass emigration (and even susceptibility to the Great Famine of 1845–52) often appear to be much more similar to those of Ireland’s Catholics than to those of the members of the Church of Ireland (the island’s legally established religion until 1869).

These findings challenge the notion that Irish history is the story of only two [different and antagonistic] traditions—one homogenously Protestant, the other Catholic.

(2) the demographic data from Ireland’s three southern provinces (Leinster, Munster, and Connacht) indicate that the proportional and even the absolute sizes of their Protestant populations (overwhelmingly Anglican) declined in the mid-18th century. These findings challenge the argument that the decline of the southern Irish Protestant population was related directly to the rise of Irish Catholic nationalism, which was not pronounced until the early 19th century.

Because of its immense size and complexity, this is an ongoing project. Only a small proportion of our findings have been published to date (March, 2011). However, one book and several major articles are now in progress; and we anticipate many more to follow.

Does Prosecution Reduce Violence Between Intimate Partners?

Joel H. Garner, Joint Center for Justice Studies, Inc.

Research Grant, 2007

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Objectives: This research uses existing data from prior studies to assess the relationship between the prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of offenders and repeat intimate partner violence. A secondary focus is to determine whether the effectiveness of criminal justice interventions is conditioned upon an offender’s stakes in conformity (i.e., employment, marriage, etc.).

Finding 1: Prior research has reported that criminal prosecution and conviction for intimate partner violence is rare or infrequent but our systematic review of 135 English-language studies from six countries found that, on average, one-third of all reported offenses and three-fifths of all arrests for intimate partner violence result in the filing of criminal charges. In addition, we found that half of all prosecutions result in a conviction (Garner and Maxwell, forthcoming 2009).

Finding 2: A detailed review of thirty published studies determined that the predominant finding reported in this literature is that prosecution, conviction. and sentence severity have no statistically significant effect on repeat incidents of intimate partner violence.

Finding 3: When prosecution and conviction do have a statistically significant effect, the findings are inconsistent but more findings favor a reduction in repeat offending than favor an increase in repeat offending. The statistically significant effects for the severity of sanctions are about evenly split between reduced and increased repeat offending.

We found that half of all prosecutions result in a conviction

Caveat 1: Findings 2 and 3 stem from research studies that use heterogeneous samples of cases, different indicators of criminal justice interventions, diverse measures of repeat offending, and a variety of bivariate and multivariate statistical tests that may generate limited rigor and insufficient statistical power to determine the effectiveness of criminal justice interventions.

This research is ongoing and additional products will be available during 2008.

Preliminary Finding 1: Automated data on the characteristics of the offenders, sanctions, and repeat offending are available from fourteen out of thirty published studies. The automated data include common measures of offender characteristics and sanctions; there are few common measures of repeat offending in the available data.

Preliminary Finding 2: Our re-analysis of data on 3,662 arrests collected by Wooldredge and Thistlethwaite show consistent support for the crime control effects of filing charges, for obtaining a conviction, and for sentencing offenders to probation (Garner and Maxwell 2008).

Preliminary Finding 3: The effects of jail sentences vary from no effect to an increase in repeat offending, depending upon the sample used, the sanctions compared, and the use of statistical controls to address the selection of higher risk offenders for jail sentences (Garner and Maxwell 2008).

Bibliography

1. Garner, Joel H. and Christopher D. Maxwell. "The Crime Control Effects of Prosecuting Intimate Partner Violence in Hamilton, County Ohio." Final Report to the National Institute of Justice. 2008.

2. Garner, Joel H. and Christopher D. Maxwell. "Prosecution and Conviction Rates for Intimate Partner Violence." Criminal Justice Review (Forthcoming 2009).
   

Distinctive Characteristics of Marital Violence

Richard Felson, Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University

Research Grant, 2004

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The study of violence has become increasingly specialized. Researchers and policy makers focus on such topics as domestic violence, sexual assault, or violence between strangers. Specialization can be beneficial, but it may also inhibit our understanding of violent behavior. For example, perhaps some of the patterns observed in domestic violence occur in any type of violent encounter or in any violent encounter between people who know each other. Perhaps men’s violence against their wives is similar in many ways to their violence against others. Only by examining violence involving both genders in a variety of relationships can we determine how particular forms of violence are special. Only by examining the larger context can we discover when theories of domestic violence, theories of violence against women, or general theories of violence or aggression, are more useful.

We examined these issues using a large national victimization survey. In one of our studies we examined the ways in which assaults committed by male intimate partners are more serious than assaults committed by female partners and whether these differences reflect gender differences in offending and victimization generally (Felson and Cares, 2005). In general, gender effects do not depend on the victim’s relationship to the offender. Regardless of their relationship: (a) men cause more injuries; (b) women suffer more injuries although their injuries tend to be less severe; (c) victims are more fearful of male offenders, but only if the offenders are unarmed; and (d) men are particularly likely to precipitate assaults by other men, not their female partners. Violent husbands do assault with particularly high frequency but so do women who assault family members.

In general, gender effects do not depend on the victim's relationship to the offender.

We also examined the role of alcohol intoxication in different types of violent incidents (Felson, Burchfield, and Teasdale, unpublished). Analyses indicate that offenders are much more likely to be intoxicated when they physically assault a stranger than when they assault someone they know and least likely to be intoxicated when they assault an intimate partner. We argue that conflicts involving people who know each other are more intense and may lead to an assault without the facilitative effect of alcohol. We find no support for the idea that offenders who commit sexual assaults are more likely to be drinking than offenders who commit physical assaults.

Finally we examined whether when people are intoxicated they increase the likelihood that they will become victims of physical or sexual assaults. Analyses showed that the frequency and amount of alcohol people consume increases greatly their risk of victimization when drinking, but it is not associated with victimization while sober. This evidence suggests that drinking has a causal effect on victimization. We also find that men, young adults, and less-educated respondents are at a particularly high risk of victimization when drinking, controlling for how frequently they drink. Evidently, some demographic groups behave more provocatively than others when they are intoxicated.

Bibliography

1. Felson, Richard B., Keri Burchfield, and Brent Teasdale. The impact of Alcohol on Different types of Violent Incidents (unpublished).

2. Felson, Richard B. and Keri Burchfield. "Alcohol and the Risk of Physical and Sexual Assault Victimizations." Criminology 42(4) (November 2004): 837-858.

3. Felson, Richard B. and Alison C. Cares. "Gender and the Seriousness of Assaults on Intimate Partners and Other Victims." Journal of Marriage and Family 67 (December 2005): 1182-1195.

Identifying Genes Responsible for a Highly Heritable Aspect of Antisocial Behavior in 7-Year-Old Children

Robert Plomin, Behavioral Genetics, King's College London

Research Grant, 2004

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Our recent work on the genetic basis of antisocial behavior has concentrated on defining the most heritable antisocial behavior phenotype for molecular genetic analyses. We have now repeatedly demonstrated that while antisocial behavior with co-occurring psychopathic traits is highly heritable, antisocial behavior without psychopathic traits is not (Viding, Blair, Moffitt, & Plomin, 2005; Viding, Jones, Frick, Moffitt, & Plomin, 2006). In addition, multivariate twin model-fitting work has demonstrated considerable genetic overlap between antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits (Viding, Frick, & Plomin, in press). This essential twin analysis work has been instrumental in validating appropriate targets for molecular genetic analyses.

We have now repeatedly demonstrated that while antisocial behavior with co-occurring psychopathic traits is highly heritable, antisocial behavior without psychopathic traits is not.

Based on our repeated finding of the high heritability of psychopathic antisocial behavior, as well as our multivariate results, the following approaches are being taken with our molecular genetic analyses.

1) Using the TEDS sample, we have replicated recent findings of association between a particular genotype (COMT) and antisocial behavior in children with high levels of hyperactivity (Thapar et al., 2005). This association did not hold for psychopathic traits, indicating that COMT may be a candidate gene for impulsive, rather than premeditated type of antisocial behavior. These findings are currently being prepared for publication.

2) Our DNA pooling study is ongoing. Given the costs associated with such study, we wanted to perform additional twin analyses in order to optimize the sample selection. Based on the findings from our twin analysis, we are now conducting a DNA pooling study on individuals with high levels of BOTH antisocial behavior and callous-unemotional traits. We also wanted to wait for the development of more powerful Affymetrix SNP microarray (GeneChip), which we discovered was in the pipeline soon after we received the Guggenheim funding. The new Affymetrix GeneChip can be used to genotype 500,000 DNA markers (SNPs), which is sufficient to scan the entire genome. We have continued to develop our use of pooled DNA genotyped on GeneChips (Butcher et al., in press; Meaburn et al., 2005, 2006), which we use to screen the 500,000 SNPs and then follow up on nominated SNPs with individual genotyping. Given the extra costs of the new GeneChip, we have also obtained additional money to supplement the funds provided by the Guggenheim Foundation.

Bibliography

1. Butcher, L. M., Schalkwyk, L., & Plomin, R. "Applicability of DNA pools on 500K SNP microarrays for cost-effective initial screens in genomewide association studies." Nucleic Acids Research. (In press.)

2. Meaburn, E., Butcher, L. M., Schalkwyk, L. C., & Plomin, R. "Genotyping pooled DNA using 100K SNP microarrays: A step towards genomewide association scans." Nucleic Acids Research 34 (2006): e27.

3. Thapar A., Langley K., Fowler T., Rice F., Turic D., Whittinger N., Aggleton J., Van den Bree M., Owen M., O'Donovan M. "Catechol O-methyltransferase gene variant and birth weight predict early-onset antisocial behavior in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder." Arch Gen Psychiatry 62(11) (Nov. 2005): 1275-8.

4. Viding, E., Blair, R. J. R., Moffitt, T. E., & Plomin, R. "Evidence for substantial genetic risk for psychopathy in 7-year-olds." Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 6 (2005): 592-597.

5. Viding, E., Frick, P., & Plomin, R. "Genetic contribution to psychopathic personality traits in children." In Biology of Personality and Individual Differences, edited by T. Canli. (In press.)

6. Viding, E., Jones, A., Frick, P., Moffitt, T., Plomin, R. "Heritability of antisocial behaviour at nine: Do callous-unemotional traits matter?" Developmental Science. Under review, 2006.

Gangs, Violence, and the Redivision of Space in Chicago

John Hagedorn, Criminal Justice, University of Illinois, Chicago

Research Grant, 2002

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Recent declines in homicide in Chicago have been seen as similar to earlier declines in New York City and Los Angeles. Popular explanations that policing strategies largely explain variation in rates of violence have been skeptically greeted by criminologists. However, no plausible explanation for persisting high rates of homicide in some cities and very low rates in others has been credibly presented. One reason for this may be the narrowness of criminological investigations. Explanations for violence internationally have included human rights, housing, and economic development among other variables. This essay presents data from a study on homicide in Chicago and supplements criminological thinking on homicide by adding insights from urban and globalization research.

This essay presents data from a study on homicide in Chicago and supplements criminological thinking on homicide by adding insights from urban and globalization research.

Bibliography

1. Hagedorn, John and Rauch, Brigid. "Housing, Gangs, and Homicide: What We can Learn from Chicago."Urban Affairs Review 42:4 (March 2007): 435- 456.

2. Hagedorn, John (ed.). Gangs and the Global City: Alternatives to Traditional Criminology. University of Illinois Press, 2006.

3. Hagedorn, John. A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangsta Rap Culture. University of Minnesota Press, 2007.

The Kayapo Conjuncture: An Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance with International Civil Society Against Violence and Rights Abuse by the State and National Security

Terence Turner, Anthropology, University of Chicago

Research Grant, 1997, 1999

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The 1990s brought an intensification of efforts to extract the natural resources of the Amazon (mining, especially of gold; logging of tropical hardwoods; the clearing and burning of large tracts of forest by agribusiness and cattle ranching interests; big highway construction projects that brought uncontrolled influxes of settlers and further deforestation; and vast hydroelectric dam schemes that threatened to destroy fisheries and flood huge areas) that were fostered by the Brazilian state, whose developmentalist policies were driven in large part by pressure from global financial institutions and foreign governments to reduce Brazil’s huge debt and trade deficit. Standing in the path of these projects were scattered indigenous peoples and communities of regional Brazilian settlers. These groups were unorganized, poor, and in many cases relatively unacculturated. To most observers, they seemed about to be overwhelmed and pushed off their land, as their forest habitat was burned around them and their rivers dammed and polluted by mining operations.

The performance and achievements of the Kayapo and the conjuncture of forces of which they were able to make themselves the focus during this period was nothing short of spectacular.

As an anthropologist who had been studying one of the most important indigenous Amazonian peoples, the Kayapo, since 1962, it seemed to me that the prophecies of doom were premature. I had observed that beginning in the mid-1970s, the Kayapo had been taking the measure of the threats to their ecosystem and the survival of their communities and culture, and acquiring the resources and contacts to confront and deflect or defeat them. I thought that chronicling and analyzing their struggles in the climactic decade of the mid-90s to mid-2000s might have general implications for the conventional wisdom of developmentalist theory, anthropological and political science treatments of the relation of marginal and ‘weak’ populations and ethnic groups to globalization and state-sponsored development, and might also serve as an example for other indigenous and regional settler groups contending with the same forces. In a number of field trips made possible by the grant, I was able to document, and to a considerable extent theorize, the processes through which the Kayapo were able to transform their own social and political structure to form a united front to regain control of their extensive traditional territory, make a series of interethnic alliances with other indigenous and Brazilian settler groups, attract the support of national and international civil society (in the form of nongovernmental organizations devoted to environmental conservation, human rights, and indigenous support), and important sectors of the Brazilian state itself (such as the judicial system, parts of the federal bureaucracy, and elected members of the national congress) as well as important coverage in the media and the scientific and academic establishment. This was the conjuncture I proposed to study: I was fortunate that so much of it developed and exerted its effects in the period supported by the grant. The performance and achievements of the Kayapo and the conjuncture of forces of which they were able to make themselves the focus during this period was nothing short of spectacular, and has continued to be so down to the time of this writing. I believe that the account of their achievements and the analysis of the factors and processes that have made them possible that I have been able to work out and publish with the support of the grant have had (at least to some extent) the more general effects on developmentalist thinking and anthropological theory for which I hoped.

In all, the research made possible by the grant has directly or indirectly produced twenty published articles and reports, and either directly supported or laid the foundation for nine trips to Kayapo communities, or in a couple of cases to the offices and archives of Brazilian governmental and nongovernmental agencies concerned with the Kayapo, located in Brasilia and Sao Paulo. A selected list of articles follows, including a recently published piece which although it is later than the period covered by the grant does draw together most of the main issues addressed by the research.

Bibliography

1. Turner, Terence. "Extrativismo mineral por e para comunidades indígenas da Amazônia: a experiência entre os Waiãpi do Amapá e os Kaiapó do sul do Pará" [Mineral extraction by and for indigenous Amazonian Communities: Gold Mining by the Wayampi and Kayapo]. Cadernos do Campo, Sao Paulo, (1998).

2. Turner, Terence. "Indigenous and culturalist movements in the contemporary global conjuncture." In Francisco F. Del Riego, Marcial G. Portasany, Terence Turner, Josep R. Llobera, Isodoro Moreno, and James W. Fernandez. Las identidades y las tensiones culturales de modernidad,1999.

3. Turner, Terence. "Indigenous rights, environmental protection and the struggle over forest resources in the Amazon: the case of the Brazilian Kayapo." In Jill Conway, Kenneth Keniston, and Leo Marx, eds., Earth, air, fire and water: the humanities and the environment, 2000.

4. Turner, Terence and Fajans-Turner, Vanessa. "Political innovation and inter-ethnic alliance: Kayapo resistance to the developmentalist state." Anthropology Today 22(5) (2006):3-10.

Endocrine Disruption of Aggression: What We Can Learn About Humans by Studying Fish

Ethan D. Clotfelter, Biology, Amherst College

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Research Grant, 2006

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Hundreds of chemicals are known to interfere with the vertebrate endocrine system. These endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) differ from more traditional toxins in that they have myriad sublethal behavioral and physiological effects. One endpoint that is frequently affected by endocrine disruption is aggressive behavior, due to its underlying hormonal basis. Fortunately, because the endocrine system is remarkably conserved among vertebrates, we can study the effects of EDCs on aggression in relatively simple animals such as fish.

This study focused on EDCs called phytoestrogens, which are plant compounds that are structurally similar to our endogenous estrogens. Phytoestrogens are released into the environment wherever plant material is processed and concentrated, including sewage treatment plants, agricultural fields, and wood pulp mills. Humans are exposed to phytoestrogens via dietary sources such as soybeans, chickpeas, and flaxseed. My laboratory uses the fighting fish Betta splendens, a species well-known for its stereotyped aggressive displays, as a research organism with which to evaluate the effects of phytoestrogens on vertebrate behavior and physiology.

In our first experiments, my students and I exposed male B. splendens to the following concentrations of waterborne phytoestrogens using a 28-day semistatic experimental design: 17β-estradiol (an endogenous estrogen that we used as a positive control; 10, 100, 1000, and 10,000 ng/L), genistein (1, 10, 100, 1000 µg/L), equol (10, 100, 1000 µg/L), or β-sitosterol (10, 100, 1000 µg/L). The lower concentrations of each chemical are similar to those that animals experience in nature. Aggressive behavior in response to a mirror stimulus, a common index of agonistic behavior in fishes, was significantly decreased in several of the phytoestrogen treatment groups. These changes in behavior were not the result, however, of decreased overall activity, as we found no effects of phytoestrogens on spontaneous swimming behavior.

The decrease in 11-KT and the increases in serotonergic and dopaminergic activity are all consistent with the behavioral results we obtained.

In order to explain these changes in aggression, we examined two probable physiological mechanisms: sex steroid hormones in the bloodstream and neurotransmitters in the brain. With respect to steroid hormones, we assayed levels of the primary fish androgen, 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT), and found that fish exposed to phytoestrogens for 28 days had decreased 11-KT levels. More specifically, we found that genistein and 17β-estradiol (positive control) caused slight reductions in circulating 11-KT levels, while β-sitosterol significantly decreased concentrations of this androgen. To address the second question, we measured the concentration and metabolism of serotonin and dopamine, two monoamine neurotransmitters known to modulate aggressive behavior in vertebrates. We found that: (i) 17β-estradiol and β-sitosterol increased serotonin metabolism to its primary metabolite (5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid), (ii) equol and genistein increased dopamine levels, and (iii) β-sitosterol increased dopamine metabolism to its primary metabolite (3, 4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid). The decrease in 11-KT and the increases in serotonergic and dopaminergic activity are all consistent with the behavioral results we obtained.

The significance of these findings is that low doses of phytoestrogens are capable of altering species-typical aggressive behavior in vertebrates by interfering with the normal functioning of the neuroendocrine system. The implication for humans is that elevated phytoestrogen consumption, whether through the diet or dietary supplements, has the potential to cause subtle yet significant physiological—and perhaps behavioral—changes.

Scrutinizing the Gray Zones: Dynamics of Collective Violence in Contemporary Argentina

Javier Auyero, Sociology, State University of New York, Stony Brook

Research Grant, 2005

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Close to three hundred stores and supermarkets were looted during week-long food riots in Argentina in December 2001. Thirty-four people were reported dead and hundreds injured. Among the looting crowds, activists from the Peronist party (the main political party in the country) were quite prominent. During the lootings, police officers were conspicuously absent—particularly when small stores were sacked. Through a combination of archival research, statistical analysis, and multisited fieldwork, and taking heed of the perspective of contentious politics, this work provides the first available analytic description of the origins, course, meanings, and outcomes of the December 2001 wave of lootings in Argentina. The research scrutinizes the gray zone where the actions and networks of both party activists and law enforcement officials meet and mesh. The research, furthermore, makes a case for the study of the gray zone in less spectacular, but equally relevant, forms of political activity. Clandestine connections between established political actors, I argue, count in the making of collective violence and in routine political life.

The research scrutinizes the gray zone where the actions and networks of both party activists and law enforcement officials meet and mesh.

Bibliography

1. Auyero, Javier. "L'Espace des luttes." Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 160 (2006): 122-132.

2. Auyero, Javier. Routine Politics and Violence in Argentina: The Gray Zone of State Power. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007.

3. Auyero, Javier. "The Political Makings of the 2001 Lootings in Argentina." Journal of Latin American Studies 38 (2006): 1-25.

Violence Against Women and Social Changes in Postcommunist Societies

Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic, Sociology, Institute for Criminological and Sociological Research, Belgrade

Research Grant, 2000

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The main aim of the survey was to examine the ways in which social changes in postcommunist and war-affected societies influence the vulnerability of women to violence (domestic violence and sex trafficking). Having in mind that preliminary findings suggested the hypothesis that the impact of social changes on women’s vulnerability to violence is mediated by changes in the everyday life of both women and men, the subject of research was determined as an examination of the impact of social changes on changes in everyday life of women and men as well as the impact of the latter on women’s vulnerability to violence. Also, the impact of social changes, primarily the impact of the creation of civil society and the women’s movement, on the attitudes of both citizens and the state toward the problem of violence against women is examined. Comparison of data for four countries (Serbia, Hungary, Macedonia, and Bulgaria) allowed me to learn about similarities and differences in the impact of social changes on everyday life and violence against women. The comparative research of these processes in countries which belonged to different models of communism, which were on different levels of economic development and which—because of these differences and some additional influences, such as war and inter-ethnic conflicts—achieved different levels of macro social change, allowed me a deeper examination of the nature of realized changes and, at least at an analytical level, differentiation between the impact of war and social transition on everyday life and violence against women.

The focus of my analysis is on the changes and transitions in the life of adults in postcommunist society, including both changes in comparison with life during communism and different changes that occurred over the last ten years. Looking at the biographical and subjective perceptual processes of individual women and men, based on the use of intergenerational and historical dimensions, I analyze them in relation to broader structural changes in their countries. I explore in particular the dynamic relations between the individual women and men and other members of the family and household, and relations between the household and the changing economy within the wider society. The impact of socioeconomic and war-related changes on family structure, gender identities, relationships and violence against women is the focus of my analysis. I assume that a comprehensive understanding of the causes and consequences of violence requires that it be placed within the context in which it occurs and that it be examined from the perspective of both women and men. Forty-five women’s group activists, judges, lawyers, social workers, researchers, professors, psychiatrists and psychologists, as well as ninety-eight persons (thirty-six men and sixty-two women) were interviewed during 1999 about the influence of social changes to their everyday life and women’s vulnerability to violence.

Structural violence contributes to gendered interpersonal violence both by causing it and by preventing society and victims from confronting it effectively. 

My survey findings showed that global economic and political changes and war produce micro level changes, i.e., changes in everyday life and gender, generational, and ethnic structures/identities. Privatization and a market economy led to the development of both a traditional gender ideology and retraditionalization of gender structures. War, militarism, dissatisfaction with the quasi equality of women and men, emasculation of men, and “masculinization” of women during communism as well as antifeminism contributed as well. Moreover, “capitalism generates massive inequalities in the social structure” (Mooney, 2000, 216) and privatizes family and women’s secondary status within it, which, as observed by Schechter (1982, 225), is dangerous “because it allows violence to accelerate while everyone says ‘Mind your own business. This is a family problem.’ ” Moreover, a market economy also limits women’s body to a sexual object and marketable good. Thus, patriarchy, structural violence brought by capitalism, and macro violence may be considered the main macro structural factors which affect women’s vulnerability to violence.

Both a high level of structural violence and few resources for social programs result in a large part of the population in postcommunist and war-affected societies being vulnerable to interpersonal violence—as victims but also as perpetrators. Structural violence contributes to gendered interpersonal violence both by causing it and by preventing society and victims from confronting it effectively. Therefore, it is not surprising that, in spite of all the positive political changes, and despite the efforts made by civil society and women’s movements, not much has changed in terms of legal and institutional reforms regarding violence against women in postcommunist countries. A close connection between the welfare state and a decrease of both shaming and violence is obvious. The problem is, however, that, because of the global expansion of neoliberal capitalism, the welfare state is presently difficult to build even in developed countries, let alone in developing ones.

Bibliography

1. Nikolic-Ristanovic, V. Social change, gender and violence: post communist and war affected societies. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.

The Militarization of Nuer and Dinka Community Life: A Comparative Field Study of the Transformative Impact of Sudan’s Unresolved War

Sharon E. Hutchinson, Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Jok Madut Jok, History, Loyola Marymount

Research Grant, 1999

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Our original research focused on the militarization of Nuer and Dinka community life, with special attention devoted to the role of ethnic conflict triggered off by the 1991 splitting of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The tremendous surge in Nuer/Dinka violence precipitated by that event mercifully came to an end in January 2002, after the SPLA was reunited by Dr. John Garang and Dr. Riek Machar. Inter-Nuer tensions, however, began to escalate after the SPLA’s reunification, with some of Riek Machar’s former allies turning against him, with the encouragement and military assistance of the government of Sudan. Oil exploration activities in Nuer and Dinka regions of the Western Upper Nile, moreover, continued to gain momentum, with an estimated 174,000 Nuer and Dinka civilians within the oil zone having lost their homes by early 2003. While US-monitored peace negotiations currently taking place between the government of Sudan and the SPLA are expected to yield a “framework peace agreement” in a matter of days or weeks, the potential for continuing North/South and South-on-South violence remains very high.

Inter-Nuer tensions, however, began to escalate after the SPLA's reunification, with some of Riek Machar's former allies turning against him, with the encouragement and military assistance of the government of Sudan.

We have continued to carry out fieldwork on evolving patterns of inter- and intra-ethnic violence in war-torn regions of the Western Upper Nile (a.k.a. Unity State), southern Sudan—including six months of intensive field research carried out between mid-December 2002 and mid-June 2003. Owing to some of the publications generated by my 1998–2000 field studies, carried out with your support, as well as to longstanding research association with southern Sudan and to my fluency in the Nuer language, some of my writings attracted the attention of several U.S. State Department officials. As a result, I was asked to serve as an official “monitor” on a newly created, US-led international team of observers—known as the “Civilian Protection Monitoring Team”—stationed in southern Sudan. The team’s formal mandate was broadly defined. Basically, the team was responsible for “investigating, confirming and reporting” on all attacks on “civilians or civilian property” carried out by the SPLA, the GOS or any of their allied militias. Since nearly all of the military attacks against southern Sudanese civilians that occurred during my term of service took place in Nuer regions of the oil-rich Western Upper Nile province, we played a prominent role in the collection of first-hand accounts of such attacks from civilians and military personnel involved on both sides of the conflict. Because no one else on our team spoke Nuer, we took responsibility for interviewing nearly all of the civilians, IDPs, local chiefs, POWs, government officials, militia leaders, regional commanders, and rank-and-file soldiers on the war front. After four months of service with the CPMT, we served an additional two months of service with USAID, carrying out more detailed investigations on displaced Nuer populations in the western and eastern Upper Nile.

Since September 2003, we have also been deeply involved in a major class action suit, raised under the Alien Tort Claims Act in a U.S. Federal Court, by current and former residents of southern Sudan, alleging that Talisman Energy, a Canadian oil company, collaborated with the Sudanese government in a policy of ethnically cleansing civilian populations to promote oil exploration activities. Thus far, we have developed a series of geographical and historical maps, documenting military attacks in the oil zone, tracking the successive movements of the displaced, identifying the placement of new government garrisons and, more generally, exposing the overall impact of continuing military violence on Nuer communities throughout the region. Drawing extensively on previously established contacts in the region as well on our translation skills, we have tried to ensure that cross-cultural communications run as smoothly as possible between an excellent team of American lawyers and the predominately nonliterate southern Sudanese plaintiffs represented in the case. We have also been developing educational materials in the Nuer language in the hope that a future peace accord will permit the reopening of schools in the region. In these ways, we have sought to transform the extensive field experience I have gained through our academic investigations over the past twenty-three years into something that will be able to better serve the immediate needs and aspirations of the communities we have studied.

Bibliography

1. Hutchinson, Sharon E. and Jok Madut Jok."Gendered Violence and the Militarization of Ethnicity: A Case Study from South Sudan." In Werbner, Richard (ed.). 2002. Postcolonial Subjectivities in Africa. New York & London: Zed Books. p. 84-108.

2. Hutchinson, Sharon E. 2001 "A Curse from God? Political and Religious Dimensions of the Post-1991 Rise of Ethnic Violence in South Sudan." Journal of Modern African Studies. 39 (2): 307-331.

3. Hutchinson, Sharon E. and Jok Madut Jok. 1999. "Sudan's Prolonged Second Civil War and the Militarization of Nuer and Dinka Ethnic Identities." African Studies Review 42 (2). p. 125-145.