Individual Contribution In War

Individual Contribution In War

Understanding what triggers wars in regions needs a comprehensive understanding of the people within these regions that were either victims or perpetrators of the war and what pushed them. Many scholars do not look at the individual level of the cause of war but rather offer societal explanations of why the war started. Individuals form a family unit, and family units eventually form a society, thus understanding individual emotions, ideas, and conceptions will offer deeper insight into the wars that were either cultural or ethnic. Understanding individual emotions will give a better insight into the war in regions.

In (Dossa, 2014)’s zenana, she looks into how individual emotions play a major role in shaping the political and cultural ideologies of people.

The women she related within the shipyard offered insight into the political and ethnic tensions that existed in Karachi. Individual emotions about something or someone are eventually voiced out in political ideologies as this are people with a common emotional feeling that have come together to push their emotional agenda forth. In the shipyard, the women were friendly with each other are had peaceful relations despite being from different ethnical backgrounds. The difference in their ethnic backgrounds was not the issue of division.

In the conversations, the women had the issue of being a Muhajir, or Sindhi was only brought about when discussing a bad trait in an individual, but normally the relations were peaceful. For instance, during the scandal, Aliya and Zubaida blamed the bad traits of the involved individuals on the ethnic background one was a bandit because of their Sindhi background, and the other had loose morals because of their Muhajir ethnicity, but the daughter does not speak Punjab because she is Muhajir.  Muhajir and Sindhi groups were the major sources of ethnic tension in Karachi, yet they had intermarried and were leaving peacefully with each other in their neighborhoods.

After war, how individuals deal with their emotions is crucial as it helps with the reconciliation process. Most individuals prefer forgetting the painful memories that war brought on them (Hyndman & Amarasingam, 2014). Having a misguided conception of memory is detrimental as it determines whether the war scars would heal or simply aggravate to pain that would recreate a future insurgence of the victimized people. In Sri Lanka, the tension is still high and very noticeable after the war; the Tamil government has, to some extent, kept the Tamil Tigers alive through the preservation of LTTE weaponry and bunkers (Hyndman & Amarasingam, 2014). After 2009 the triumphant Sinhala nationalism victor destroyed the Tamil Elam maps that were all over. Here there is a suppression of memory through the destruction of cemetery yards and anything that represented the Tamil tigers. This act fosters hatred in individuals and resentment for the present government. These individual feelings will lead to mobilization of people that have a common feel and rise of another uprising.

Individual control over their emotions creates windows of morality that allow individuals to restrain themselves from doing that which is immoral. This emotional restrain form a basis of moral culture in societies. In Zenana, the purdha was a cultural restriction that made sure decency was maintained. The women used the purdha not only to govern themselves within their homes but also on how they related to others. The women withheld from speaking on how they felt, and this, to a greater extent, has maintained peace. Utterances are what spark off violence, learning how to restrain the self through choosing what to say is crucial in matters of upholding peace. Although Aliya and Zubaida had information that would have tarnished Raza’s image, they withheld the information when the couple came around asking about Raza’s family. Had told their true feelings to the couple, the impact would have been worse than it had and probably caused hatred among the involved families.

In zenana, the personal effort of the women in maintaining unity and the transfer of goodwill among the neighbors goes a long way to show the impact that the women have in their communities as sometimes their husbands would extend this goodwill to their neighbors. The created a social unity in the shipyard as a result of the women’s efforts in their extension of goodwill and in their struggle of controlling their emotions and relations, exercising the purdha.

Although religion is considered to be something personal and a common interest in religion brings people together for a common purpose. Religion has been used to bring back normalcy and peace within communities (Lawrence, 2005). In Karachi, religion has played a major role in maintaining peace, and the noble class decided that drawing a divisive line on fellow Muslims because of their ethnic background was a sign incomplete convert and chose to leave peacefully together as an Islamic community despite different ethnical backgrounds. In Sri Lanka, the social concentration has been shifted to religion, and old religious practices are being reworked. According to Lawrence (2005), people experiencing trauma or difficult situation tend to seek a safer place for themselves through memory or practice, and religion offers this for most victims of war. The LTTE stated in their interview that religion is not part of their consciousness struggle, as they are not seeking to bring about division among the Tamil community, as the Tamil community is host to different religions. Individuals have used religion in these instances as a safe place. Within the confines of religion, peace was attained and achieved, as there was no reason for division among brothers in religion.

War is traumatizing to anyone that has gone through it, and many may choose to avoid it at any cost.  Peacemakers are commended for their free will and courage for action (Dossa, 2014). Individual effort and emotions push people to act courageously; therefore, having an understanding of individual emotions and personage will give insight into why wars exist and why peace is achieved and maintained. Dossa, (2014) uses the Zenana as a place where she learned and understood the individual female struggles of women in the community that we’re able to maintain peace in their homes that extended to the neighborhood and extensively to the entire Karachi. The efforts made by every woman within her household to maintain peace somehow lead to peace within Karachi without their knowledge. This was how they interacted with each other within their communities.

The memory of war is also important in achieving peace.  The aftermath of war is crucial in reconciling and maintaining peace. If there is respect in commemorating the war despite the victor and the loser, a good memory is fostered in individuals, and they seek to maintain peace rather than wait for an opportunity to avenge their loss or pain. Religion is an individual choice but has been used to create a safe place in the aftermath of war. Individuals within common religious circles realize the need to maintain peace and find it absurd to fight with a fellow brother. Individualism goes a long way toward achieving peace and maintaining it through emotions and self-control.

Reference:

Hyndman, J., & Amarasingam, A. (August 01, 2014). Touring “Terrorism”: Landscapes of Memory in Post-War Sri Lanka. Geography Compass, 8, 8, 560-575.

McDermott, R. F., & Kripal, J. J. (2005). Encountering Kali: In the margins, at the center, in the West; Lawrence, P. (2005).  Chapter 5 Kali In A Context Of Terror. Dehli: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.

(Dossa, 2014), P. A., & University of Toronto Press. (2014). Afghanistan remembers: Gendered narrations of violence and culinary practices (ZENANA). Toronto: University of Toronto Press