Tracing temporal conflicts in transitional Myanmar

Life History Diagrams as Methodological Tool

Bibliographic Data

ID5680804
AuthorsJenny Hedström (0000-0002-9535-3276, Swedish Defence University, corresponding author), Elisabeth Olivius (0000-0002-2400-9144, Umeå University)
Year2022
Volume22
Issue5
Pages495-515
Publication date2022-09-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueConflict Security and Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1467-8802 • E-ISSN: 1478-1174
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14678802.2022.2124847
OpenAlexW4297002145
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited50

This article adds to the emerging ‘temporal turn’ in peace studies by addressing methodological questions about how temporality can be captured and explored in empirical studies. Developing our methodological tools for exploring time and temporality, we argue, is critical to move beyond the supposed linear temporality of peace processes, and make visible alternative temporal frameworks that shape everyday experiences and contestations around peace in conflict-affected contexts. Drawing on a study of two conflict-affected areas in Myanmar, we contribute towards this aim through a discussion of how life history diagrams helped us trace temporal conflicts between overarching narratives of political transition and everyday experiences of insecurity. This facilitated a deeper understanding of how relationships between war and peace, and between past, present and future, were manifested and made sense of in people’s everyday lives. Our use of life history diagrams revealed temporal conflicts between the dominant, linear temporality of the Myanmar transition, and more complex and cyclical temporal frameworks people used to describe their realities. Life history diagrams also facilitated narratives that troubled an events-based temporality focused on macro-political shifts such as ceasefire agreements and elections, and instead foregrounded everyday experiences of continuous insecurity and struggle

Epistemology · Everyday life · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Temporality · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security

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