Surface diplomacy and conferences that skirt core issues have jaded peace talks between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria, says a PhD student investigating ways to facilitate effective dialogue.
Father Gerald Musa, both a Catholic priest and PhD candidate at the School of Journalism and Communication at The University of Queensland, is due to complete his three-year thesis Dialogue as communication: Challenges and prospects of Christian-Muslim dialogue in Nigeria.
His research focuses on the Kaduna State in Nigeria, a state characterised by over two decades of conflict between Christians and Muslims.
“Many of these groups are jaded by the existing dialogue process,” says Father Musa.
“Their experience of dialogue is all-expenses-paid conferences and seminars held by international non-governmental organisations where religious and political leaders have tea and lunch without really discussing core issues.
“There is traditionally a culture of silence and surface diplomacy captured in the local term ‘taron shan shayi da tafi’, meaning dialogue is only a meeting where people meet, clap, drink tea and then go away.
“This is because dialogue has been, until now, a top-down approach between religious leaders in the Inter-religious Council only. Grassroots dialogue with active multi-stakeholder participation can be used to address the concerns of different groups as well as root causes of the conflicts.
Father Musa’s thesis considers the root causes of the ethno-religious conflicts and proposes authentic and honest dialogue as the path towards mitigating violent conflicts.
“The research recommends a dialogue which is not just based on theological discourse but also embraces the daily realities of ethno-political social life and economic life, a dialogue that promotes collaborative action towards the empowerment of the poorest of the poor,” he said.
His thesis focuses heavily on the Kaduna State in Nigeria, which is characterised by over two decades of conflict between Christians and Muslims that, he says, has claimed the lives of many innocent victims and deprived many people of their means of livelihood.
“Nigeria, with a population of 140 million, is a tripartite religious state in which African traditional religions, Islam and Christianity, are the common religious groups,” he says.
“Among these, Christians and Muslims form an equally-divided majority of the population and have a mixed history of peaceful co-existence and ethno-religious violent conflicts.
“I am exploring interreligious dialogue with a focus on the local context as well as intercultural communication and dialogical communication. The works of prominent philosophers of dialogue such as Martin Buber and Paulo Freire provided me with a theoretical framework. I also incorporated the local concept of Zamantakewa, a word in Hausa language which means ‘the art of co-existence’,” he says.
Despite the old adage about sticks and stones, Musa found that derogatory words could inflame conflict with words such as kafir (infidel) used by Muslims to refer to non-Muslims, and a Christian religious leader refusing to speak with a Muslim, considering him ‘the son of a wild ass’.”
Father Musa’s research also looks at channels of communication.
“Mass media has often been blamed for causing trouble but I see that new media can just be as vicious, for example recent bloody conflict was facilitated through the use of text messages from cellphones.”
Father Musa conducted his pilot study in a town called Gidan Yawa, a village in Katsina State, which had no record of any major ethnic or religious conflict, largely due to the fact that, within most families, there were both Christian and Muslim members.
Father Musa completed his final thesis review milestone in April, an event that marks the end for the long three year journey.
Media: Siena Perry, Centre for Communication and Social Change (07 3346 3465 or siena.perry@uq.edu.au).
