Social Conflict and Peace-building: The Perceptions, Experiences, and Contributions of Leaders of Selected Community-Based Organizations in Winnipeg, Manitoba By KAWSER AHMED A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Peace and Conflict Studies University of Manitoba Winnipeg COPYRIGHT © 2017 BY KAWSER AHMED i Abstract People perceive social conflict and conflict issues in different ways. My research is directed at understanding how leaders from some of Winnipeg’s Community-Based Organizations (CBOs; faith and ethno-cultural NGOs) perceive and experience social conflict and to explore their contributions toward peace-building and conflict transformation. Historically, Winnipeg has been home to a plethora of faith-based, ethno-cultural community organizations, and NGOs whose mission is to provide crucial basic and spiritual needs to people. Their contribution to the nurturing of both the spiritual and social needs of their communities is also remarkable. This qualitative research is based on semi-structured interviews and participant observation as research instruments to observe social events related to conflict and peace-building. Critical ethnographic and grounded theory approaches inform the methodology while drawing necessary inferences from relevant quantitative data. From this research, several key findings become evident: 1) CBO leaders have a high level of personal motivation and employ a wide range of tools, such as the social capital of their organizations, to intervene in social conflict issues for the purpose of peace-building; 2) of the three types of CBO (faith, ethno-cultural and NGOs), the Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) are the most networked and involved in transforming social conflicts and contributing toward peace-building in Winnipeg; 3) some respondents seemed to indicate that not all projects are contributing equally in addressing social conflict issues; 4) social conflict issues appear to be rooted in an unjust social structure and a number of socio-economic- political and cultural policies; 5) research participants cited five complex, interrelated conflict issues in Winnipeg; 6) a grounded theoretical concept (Perception-Expectation-Frustration) was generated to explain social conflict; and 7) these everyday leaders are using a plethora of strategies as everyday peace-builders who are engaged global citizens, and citizen diplomats to ii create oases of peace in a society where people are struggling with social inequality, discrimination, and poverty in order to address people's immediate needs, promote awareness, and influence policy. In sum, the meso level CBO leaders perceive social conflict holistically and some of their peace-building projects may be contributing substantially towards a long-term process of social conflict transformation in Winnipeg. iii Acknowledgements I am grateful to my research participants in Winnipeg who believed in the practical value of this research. In particular, I sincerely appreciate the guidance and encouragement provided by Dr. Jessica Senehi, Dr. Emdad Haque, and Dr. Mashiur Rahman. I also acknowledge Dr. Sean Byrne for his unwavering support and direction of my research. I further acknowledge Dr. Mary Le Maitre’s support during the research fieldwork in Winnipeg. iv Dedication I dedicate this research to all those inspired Winnipeggers who live in this great city and wake up every morning with hope for a peaceful and just society. This is a city, which welcomes people of all races, colours, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and faiths with compassion, tolerance and love – the true face of Friendly Manitoba. Winnipeg welcomes everybody as Rumi did in the city of Konya, Turkey: Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times. Come, yet again, come, come. — JALALUDDIN MOHAMMAD RUMI, Masnavi v Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. iv Dedication ..................................................................................................................................v Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures............................................................................................................................x List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... xi Introduction...............................................................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................1 1.2 Guiding Questions and Objectives.................................................................................3 1.3 Significance of the Study ..............................................................................................6 1.4 Framework of the Study (Chapter Overviews) ............................................................. 11 1.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 13 Research Context .................................................................................................................... 14 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 14 2.2 Geography of the City, the History of Settlers and Immigrants (including refugees), and its Demography ............................................................................................................... 16 2.3 Peace-building Context of the Faith, Ethno-Cultural and Non-governmental Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) in Winnipeg ......................................................... 23 2.4 A Brief History of Social Conflicts, Social Justice, and Cross Cultural Events in Winnipeg ............................................................................................................................... 30 2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 34 Literature Review ................................................................................................................... 36 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 36 3.2 Complex Social Conflict in a Western Urban (Canadian) Context ............................... 37 3.2.1 Conflict Complexity and Intersectionality ................................................................ 37 3.2.2 Social Construction of Conflict and its Structural Nature ......................................... 42 vi 3.3 Community based Peace-building and Conflict Intervention ....................................... 49 3.3.1 Community Based (CB) Peace-building in Context ................................................. 63 3.3.2 Social Capital and an Asset-Based Approach to Peace-building (ABAP) ................. 66 3.3.3 Special role of FBOs in Peace-building and Conflict Intervention in Winnipeg ........ 69 3.3.4 Integrative Conflict Intervention through Transformative Dialogue (TD) ................. 72 3.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 74 Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 75 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 75 4.2 Detailed Description of the Research Approach, Strategy, and Method. ...................... 76 4.3 Research Participant’s Information.............................................................................. 82 4.4 Researcher’s Position and Role ................................................................................... 83 4.5 Ethical Aspects of the Study ........................................................................................ 85 4.6 Research Procedures ................................................................................................... 87 4.6.1 Selection of Participants .......................................................................................... 87 4.6.2 Sampling Procedure................................................................................................. 90 4.6.3 Data Gathering ........................................................................................................ 91 4.6.4 Data Analysis Procedures ........................................................................................ 91 4.6.5 Validation and Reliability ........................................................................................ 93 4.7 Limitations of the Study .............................................................................................