Interfaith and Intrafaith
Boundaries
Religion, Culture, and
Conflict
Some Key Culture concepts:
• Ethnicity: Identity with or membership in a particular racial,
national, or cultural group and observance of that group's
customs, beliefs, and language.
• Proselytize: to try to convert another person to your religion
(Christianity, Islam, Buddhism… proselytizing religions)
• Fundamentalism: literal interpretation and strict adherence to
basic principles of a religion… leads to extremism (and usually
terrorism)
• Maladaptive diffusion: diffusion of a process with negative side
effects or What works in one region may not in another.
• Globalization: the development of worldwide patterns of cultural,
political, and economic relationships (fueled by: diffusion,
acculturation, assimilation)
• Cultural Ecology: the geographic study of human environmental
relationships
• Sequent Occupancy: refers to such cultural succession and its
lasting imprint (Derwent Whittlesey)
Something to remember:
• Language and religion are two of the most
powerful forces shaping the geography of
culture. As much as language and religion can
serve to unify and conserve a culture, when
differences between cultures (or even within a
culture) surface, the result is often
devastatingly destructive conflict.
Sources of Conflict
• Interfaith boundaries: the boundaries between the
world’s major faiths.
Many countries that lie on or near interfaith
boundaries are subject to a greater potential for
conflict caused by any religious difference that
arises.
such as….
Nigeria
• Remember, Nigeria is a polyglot state, it also
happens to lie on an interfaith boundary. The north
is Muslim(Hausa-Fulani) and the south is Christian
and Animist (Yoruba, Ibo).
• The north is calling for an “Islamic Republic” and
pres. has permitted admittance into ICO
• Fundamentalism is increasing… consequences?
– Cultural significance
– OPEC producer #4
– Loss of a model of cooperation = far-reaching
implications
Sudan
• Muslim north and Christian south interfaith
boundary
• 60% of total pop live in north and are non-Arab
Muslim
• Long-standing ethnic and religion-based civil war…
very, very brutal.
• Government imposed sharia law destroying
potential for compromise or easy solutions. Result:
– Refugees
– Genocide
– Regional political tension and conflict
janjaweed
Sudanese refugees in Chad
The Horn of Africa
• Ethiopia’s complicated spot on the interfaith
boundary line has resulted in revolution in the
1990s. As a result, Muslim Somalia and Eritrea
were created.
• Somalia is a governmentless no-man’s land. (think
wild west, only with landmines, assult riffles, and
RPGs… and starvation is used as a weapon)
Coptic Christianity (Ethiopian Highlands)
Downtown Mogadishu
South Asia
• The end of WWII marked the end of British colonial
rule in the ‘subcontinent.’ That opportunity for
political independence created another problem:
• There is an interfaith boundary cutting through the
vast region which became a political boundary
creating Pakistan. The creation of an Islamic
Pakistan (and Bangladesh) produced one of the
greatest mass migrations in modern times as
Hindus moved out of the newly-created Pakistan
and Muslims moved out of India toward the new
Islamic states. Ever since, fighting has been ongoing
over land and resource ownership disputes.
S. Asia, Points of Tension:
• Contested territories: Jammu and Kashmir (mixed
population of Hindus and Muslims)
• Sikh demand for an independent state (Khalistan) in
the Punjab (N.W. India) became violent in the 80s
and continues.
• Shrine at Ayodhya (sacred to both Hindus and
Muslims) became (and still is) a battleground
• “Save Hinduism” marches produce a Hindu
militancy that hasn’t been seen in centuries (Hindu
Fundamentalism)
Kashmir
Kashmir
Former USSR
• The creation of the Soviet Union brought under one
flag hundreds of regional ethnic groups, many of
which participated in the revolution.
• Even under the Czar, the empire was fractured
religiously with E. Orthodox in the west and Islam in
the steppes of the east and south.
• As the Soviet Union gathered territories in the
Caucasus region (Armenia and Azerbaijan) and in
the “stan” region of central Asia, they controlled
some VERY strongly religious groups.
• Communist ideology supported no religion, in fact,
they were attempting to create an atheistic state
and took measures to do just that.
Collapse of the USSR
• The collapse in 1989 meant that the individual republics
would become independent states, which many thought
would be wonderful… it turned out to be really really hard
work. Here’s why:
• The soviets had created regional “state” governments that
crossed over ethnic and religious lines (intentionally) and
encouraged (sometimes forced) people to move into
another territory creating enclaves. When the Union
collapsed, so did the power authority. It led to almost
instant fighting.
• As soviet control lifted, so did bans on religion. All sides
went back to their religious traditions which also led to,
and continues to lead to fighting.
St. Basil’s Cathedral
E. Orthodox
Islam: Former USSR
• Central Asia
The Balkans: Former Yugoslavia
• The former Ottoman Empire brought Islam to the region
and there’s been large pockets of Muslims ever since,
creating many Interfaith boundaries around Bosnia
(Sarajevo), Kosovo (in Serbia) and in Macedonia.
• Furthermore, there was also an intrafaith boundary
between the Serbian Orthodox and the Catholic churches
with Muslims caught in the middle.
• When Yugoslavia fell apart, the region descended into
violent clashes fueled by ethno-national territorial
aspirations. BUT, in order to make your own ethnic
country, you’ve got to get rid of anyone who aren’t part of
your ethnic group … the term “ethnic cleansing” is born.
Sri Lanka
• The large island has been predominately Buddhist for
centuries, however, recently a growing population of Tamilspeaking Hindus have developed in the north and n.east.
• Since 1984 this group, led by a force called the “Tamil
Tigers” have fought a war of secession… and its gotten very
violent.
• Buddhist shrines were targeted and Hindu sites were
attacked in retaliation.
• When India tried to negotiate peace (supporting the
Buddhist gov.) Indian P.M. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated.
• In 2002 there were peace negotiations resulting in truce.
• The peace didn’t last and by 2008 the 25 yr old civil war
moved into it next phase with an all-out assult on the
Hindu North by the Sri Lankan government forces. The
Tamil Tigers were nearly decimated. They’re rebounding!
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (S.W. Asia)
• After WWI (1919) the newly-created League of
Nations (the 1st UN) gave control of the former
Ottoman Empire (loser) to the British (winner).
• The Jews of Europe sided with the Brits during the
war. With British control of the holyland, the Jews
were in a position to ask for a huge favor… the
creation of Palestine, a national homeland for the
Jews (zionism). The League of Nations agreed.
• As European Jews streamed into Palestine, the
fighting erupted almost immediately. The Ethnic
Palestinians had been waiting for centuries to shake
off Ottoman rule so that THEY could have their own
state… and now it was filling with European Jews.
Just before the
post-war influx
UN Partition Plan &
war for independence
1967 Six-Days War
Jewish Settlements
in disputed territory
• After WWII (and the Holocaust) many more Jews flooded
into the region. In the postwar negotiations, the UN voted
to partition the region into two states, Israel and Palestine…
one for each.
• The surrounding Arab states responded with violence and
attacked… The Jewish state survived and even gained
territory. (Israeli Independence) Palestinians flee into Arab
borders and set up Refugee camps in Gaza Strip and
W.Bank
• 1967 Six-Days War… Israeli preemptive strike, they take:
Sinai Pen., Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, W.Bank. Refugee
camps fall to Israeli control: tensions rise.
• Liberation/terrorist organizations have developed in an
attempt to oust Israeli control: PLO, Hamas, Hezbolah
• Israeli gov. has permitted the building of Jewish settlements
in the disputed territories taken in 1967, which has led to
further violence.
No End in Sight…
• Despite numerous peace negotiations (that fail due
to renig, assassination, or violence), the conflict
continues. Key terms:
PLO, Yassir Arafat
Resolution #242 (Land for Peace)
Camp David Accords
Intifada (1&2)
Jewish settlements
checkpoint
Palestinian Authority
Hamas & Hezbolah
The development of Israel in Palestine has led
to the creation of the most hotly contested
and most violent interfaith boundary on the
planet. This place is the hearth of three of the
world’s most influential faiths… each fighting
for control of a land that, in their mind, was
given to them by their God.
… solutions for this complex problem are
incredibly difficult to find.
Intrafaith Boundaries
• As you have already learned, religions often
(over time) fracture into separate branches,
denominations, or sects. When these groups
occupy territory adjacent to one another, it
creates an intrafaith boundary.
…here are a few:
Northern Ireland
• For centuries Britain tried to occupy, and otherwise
acculturate Ireland… especially religiously. During
that colonial period many British Protestants
immigrated into the Catholic island. The Irish
resisted but there wasn’t much they could do about
it.
• In 1922 British colonialism in Ireland ceased… then
the trouble began. There remained a 2/3
Protestant majority in N. Ireland who leveraged
regional control politically and economically over
the Catholic minority… this didn’t sit well with the
rest of Ireland. Acts of terrorism against Protestant
targets began and have escalated ever since.
The Irish Republican Army (IRA)
The Islamic Realm
The Sunni-Shiite Split:
The Conflict:
• Even though they’re only 12% of the total Muslim
population, Shiite Muslims are VERY militant in their
beliefs. They proclaim to be the TRUE followers of
Muhammad and see the Sunni as blasphemers. The
mix is a violent one:
• The Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s
• Post Persian Gulf War in southern Iraq
• Lebanon shirmishes
• Violence during the hajj to Mecca