Papers by Matt Schissler
Journal of Genocide Research, 2024
The case of the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar has increasingly come to illustrate the maximum evil... more The case of the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar has increasingly come to illustrate the maximum evil of Facebook and its parent company, Meta. Yet most analyses of this case share a distinctive feature that radically narrows the scope of the problem: the focus is only on content that negatively characterizes the Rohingya, whether through hate speech, misinformation, or other efforts to construct them in ways that may be used to justify genocide. Such content is an important matter of concern. It warrants action, independent of causal effect. But the question of what conduct and content on Facebook may help cause violence must include analysis of a broader potential range that extends beyond characterizations of the victims. To specify some of this range, the article turns to scholarship from the field of genocide studies. In particular, it looks to the process of “in-group policing,” which involves constructing not just victims of genocide but also those who are supposed to support it. The bulk of the article then analyzes in-group policing in Myanmar and on Facebook, by offering new interpretations of publicly available evidence and drawing on observations from work in Myanmar during the five years before large-scale military attacks on the Rohingya in 2016–17. The article concludes by discussing the implications of its findings for ongoing efforts to pursue restitution and accountability for the Rohingya genocide, and proposing concrete questions with broad relevance for scholars and practitioners.
Mass Atrocities in the Digital Era (MADE) Working Paper #5, Genocide Studies Program, Yale University, 2023
For the broad public increasingly critical of technology companies, the Rohingya genocide in Myan... more For the broad public increasingly critical of technology companies, the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar has come to illustrate the evils of Facebook and its parent company, Meta. At the same time, the Myanmar case has become an influential template for understanding the dangers of social media, past, present, and future, as well as developing solutions. Yet this template is strikingly narrow: it has been limited to content that negatively characterizes the victim group, such as through hate speech and misinformation. As a result, most extant analysis has excluded other processes that scholarship on genocide has also shown to be significant: practices aimed at constructing not the victims of genocide but those who are supposed to support it. This paper therefore analyzes some of these practices as they involved Facebook in Myanmar, offering new interpretations of publicly available evidence and drawing on observations from work in Myanmar during 2012-15. It then concludes by discussing the relevance of these initial findings for ongoing efforts to pursue restitution and accountability and proposes concrete questions that could be taken up in these efforts as well as by scholars and practitioners.
Myanmar has been the site of serious violence between Buddhist and Muslim communities. This artic... more Myanmar has been the site of serious violence between Buddhist and Muslim communities. This article presents findings from a research project convened to better understand the production of this violence. Based on interviews with 78 residents of six cities, we find a narrative that presents Islam in general and Muslims in Myanmar as an existential threat to “race and religion” and a personal threat to individuals and communities. This narrative is reinforced by three inter-related sets of arguments that refer to international events, events within Myanmar, and personal experiences. Drawing on these findings, we explore the ways in which Muslims in Myanmar are constructed as a “fearsome Other,” thus justifying discrimination and violence. However, we also identify alternative narratives that contest the production of violence. These narratives are generated through articulated senses of contradiction between contemporary antagonisms and memories of inter-religious co-existence. We argue that understanding these narratives is one necessary part of much larger efforts to promote peace and reconciliation.
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Collective violence between Buddhists and Muslims has taken place in nearly every state and regio... more Collective violence between Buddhists and Muslims has taken place in nearly every state and region of Myanmar over the last five years. Yet, such violence has not occurred in the overwhelming majority of towns and villages across the country. Research on the production of collective violence suggests that there is much to be learned by examining times and places where the warning signs for riotous violence are present yet conflict does not escalate. This paper presents four such case studies, situations in which inter-religious riots were expected or feared but then did not occur. While we do not seek to conclusively demonstrate the counterfactual that actions by individuals in these cases prevented riots from breaking out, we believe that even partial descriptions of each case can help us to identify some shared characteristics and important insights for those working to prevent inter-religious violence and build peace in Myanmar.
Pre-publication draft of chapter in Conflict in Myanmar: War, Politics, Religion, edited by Nick ... more Pre-publication draft of chapter in Conflict in Myanmar: War, Politics, Religion, edited by Nick Cheesman, Nicholas Farrelly, and Trevor Wilson. Singapore: Forthcoming 2016, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
M.MAS Working Paper 1:1, Jul 2015
Myanmar has been the site of serious conflicts between Buddhist and Muslim communities since June... more Myanmar has been the site of serious conflicts between Buddhist and Muslim communities since June 2012. This working paper presents findings from a research project we convened to better understand the production of this violence, and to use this understanding to support local groups working for peace. Based on interviews with 78 local residents of six cities, we find a narrative that presents Islam as an existential threat to race and religion and Muslims in Myanmar as a potential personal threat to individuals and communities. This narrative is reinforced by three inter-related sets of arguments that make reference to international events, events within Myanmar, and personal experiences. Drawing on these findings, we present conclusions that question the current focus on ‘rumours’ and ‘hate speech’ and identify important parallels between discourse in Myanmar and rhetoric connected to the Global War on Terror. We also raise pressing questions for future consideration that deal with the construction of historical memory and the role of the state and other authorities in either challenging or reinforcing images of Muslims as a threat. We believe that a better understanding of the production of violence within Myanmar can help inform more effective responses to religious conflict.
Full paper available here:
https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/m.mas_working_paper_1.1_-_threat_and_virtuous_defence_-_july_2015.pdf
in Melissa Crouch (ed) Islam and the State in Myanmar: Muslim-Buddhist Relations and the Politics of Belonging (forthcoming Oxford University Press 2015)
This chapter was prompted by concern for Buddhist-Muslim violence in Myanmar. Drawing methodologi... more This chapter was prompted by concern for Buddhist-Muslim violence in Myanmar. Drawing methodological inspiration from a study into the significance of mobile phones in India (Jeffrey and Doron 2013; 2012), the chapter asks: What are established communication practices in Myanmar that might be disrupted – or align particularly powerfully – with the growing use of new technologies and media that will arrive along with telecommunications networks? The chapter seeks to answer this question using an approach of ‘observant participation’ (Vargas, in Hale & Calhoun 2008), drawing from experiences living in western Yangon and participating in activist networks seeking to disrupt anti-Muslim violence. After a section (I) detailing technological change under way in Myanmar, the chapter turns to a discussion of those established practices (habitus; metis) developed to communicate during life under authoritarian rule (section II). The section following then explores everyday narratives regarding Islam as they are currently produced by organized political forces and circulate online and through everyday life in western Yangon (section III). The final section (IV) discusses potential alignments between new technologies and established practices, situated in the context of these narratives.
Nick Cheesman & Htoo Kyaw Win (ed.), Communal Violence in Myanmar, Myanmar Knowledge Society, Yangon, Jul 2015
Media Articles by Matt Schissler
The Diplomat, Aug 6, 2015
New Mandala, Aug 14, 2015
Myanmar flood response, Facebook communities, and Buddhist-Muslim violence
New Mandala, Mar 10, 2015
Students' demonstrations, violence, and social media in Myanmar.
New Mandala, May 17, 2014
New Mandala, Jan 20, 2014
New Mandala, Oct 16, 2013
New Mandala, Mar 27, 2013
Edited stuff by Matt Schissler
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Papers by Matt Schissler
Free downloads:
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/xZggUUy7C2nApf7taGzS/full
Full paper available here:
https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/m.mas_working_paper_1.1_-_threat_and_virtuous_defence_-_july_2015.pdf
Media Articles by Matt Schissler
Edited stuff by Matt Schissler
Bilingual (English & Burmese) publication of papers from the Myanmar Update Research Colloquium held in Yangon, March 2014
https://www.routledge.com/Interpreting-Communal-Violence-in-Myanmar/Cheesman/p/book/9781138504448
Free downloads:
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/xZggUUy7C2nApf7taGzS/full
Full paper available here:
https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/m.mas_working_paper_1.1_-_threat_and_virtuous_defence_-_july_2015.pdf
Bilingual (English & Burmese) publication of papers from the Myanmar Update Research Colloquium held in Yangon, March 2014
https://www.routledge.com/Interpreting-Communal-Violence-in-Myanmar/Cheesman/p/book/9781138504448