Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Advanced Research in Social Sciences and Humanities
Year: 2025
DOI:
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Cultural And Threat Narratives in Muslim Mindanao: Analysis and Intervention
Prof. Dr. Rene R. Calandria
ABSTRACT:
The protracted conflict in Mindanao has its historical roots during the Spanish occupation of the region resulting in decades of hatred between the Muslims and Christians. The subsequent occupation of the Americans in 1898 did little to mitigate the conflict. The infighting reached its height when the Marcos government emancipated most of the land in the area and distributed them to the Christian settlers. This qualitative research will focus its investigation and analysis on the ethnic and cultural threat narratives between the Muslim and Christian communities in the region and propose a peacebuilding model in the resolution of conflict. The study involves a systematic analysis of cultural and threat narratives affecting the reconciliation process among conflicting parties. The decades long cultural conflict between the Muslims and Christians is not only a question of threat narratives but the failure to acknowledge that cultural differences exist between them and how they affect the landscape of the conflict including the negotiation and resolution process. Thus, essential to the constructive management and the mitigation of this cultural conflict is the modification of competing psycho-cultural interpretations or narratives so that conflicting parties may come to realize the existence of people on the other side with whom they can negotiate. The peacebuilding approach proposed in this paper adopts the reconciliation paradigm of Lederach which are designed to provide a framework not only in the comprehensive analysis of conflict but in understanding and resolution of conflict through restoration and transformation.
keywords: conflict resolution, culture, threat narratives, identity, conflict analysis