On 1st and 2nd December 2010, International Alert hosted a meeting of political analysts, sociologists, journalists, bloggers and civil society activists from the Caucasus to begin to design a new research project examining how to address myths and stereotypes that feed into conflict dynamics in the region.
The idea behind the research project originally came about during the August 2008 five-day Russian-Georgian war that started in South Ossetia and quickly spread to Abkhazia and had resounding impact both regionally and globally. One of the main features of this conflict was the extent to which the war was – and continues to be – accompanied by an information war, choreographed by public relations agencies, politicians and state controlled media, and escalated through informal information dissemination networks including social media.
Participants in the meeting shared with each other their analysis in order to establish a baseline for new research, the purpose of which should be to examine how myths are formed and maintained, and to challenge negative stereotyping. Participants discussed a range of topics including: an analysis of Georgian, Russian and western media around the August 2008 war; the conscious and unconscious factors behind mythmaking, and their social and psychological utility; the positive value of myth as a coping mechanism; the phenomenon of social media such as blogging, Facebook and Twitter, and how these tools are already being used to challenge stereotypes; and history textbooks in schools and how a nation’s ”core narratives” are communicated to children at an early age.
The results of the new research to be conducted within the framework of this project should be oriented towards breaking down old stereotypes and encouraging a critical reading of media reports, while stimulating discussion on perceptions of the conflicts with diverse target groups across the region. The underlying principle is to provide some alternative perspectives on the conflicts and deepen understanding on what continues to fuel them even during the non-violent stages. By bringing together a diverse multi-disciplinary team of researchers and practitioners from across conflict-divides within the region, Alert aims to create a platform for further debate and discussion on these issues and to strengthen the voice of the peacebuilding sector in the South Caucasus.
After the one-year collaborative study, the researchers gathered in Brussels on 12th December 2011 for the conference “Myths, Manipulation & Media: the Case of the South Caucasian Conflicts” [4] to present their key findings to each other, as well as to institutions and civil society representatives from Europe and the South Caucasus.
This particular research project is part of the ‘South Caucasus Mediation & Dialogue Initiative’ funded by the European Union.