Experiences in Researching Conflict and Violence by Rivas Althea-Maria Browne Brendan Ciarán

Author:Rivas, Althea-Maria, Browne, Brendan Ciarán [Rivas, Althea-Maria, Browne, Brendan Ciarán]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science
ISBN: 9781447337713
Publisher: Policy Press
Published: 2018-01-17T05:00:00+00:00

Researching youth radicalisation in the coastal region of Kenya

Research on youth radicalisation involved interviewing participants on al-Shabaab radical ideologies, which were considered to be a sensitive issue in the coastal region due to the high rate of surveillance by the security forces. Here, the target population involved youth who ascribed to radical Islamist beliefs (al-Shabaab radicalisation). Therefore, the study described a radical in line with al-Shabaab radicalisation in the coastal region of Kenya. This labelled radicalised group only formed a minority group within a dominant cultural group of Muslims. Within the dominant group, this target group of radical Islamists is an unknown, condemned, hidden and often lived among the marginalised1 communities. As expressed by one participant:

'This group of so-called radicals or extremists [al-Shabaab] live within our communities [coastal Muslim population]. We don't know who is who. It's not shown in their face, maybe sometimes their behaviour. They know how to hide from us and the police. Unfortunately they say they are Muslims. But we Muslims condemn their behaviour. They are not real Muslims. (Interview 2, 6 November 2015)

These hidden groups have learned to create a 'hidden way of life', hiding their thoughts, behaviours, attitudes and emotions, while adopting the norms and beliefs of the dominant society of the Muslim community. This hidden and inaccessible discourse creates confusion on researching the radical, as these members feel the need to protect themselves and their group members in order to defend their hidden community identity from outsiders, especially from the other 'Muslims' from the dominant cultural group (field notes, 16 January 2016). Apart from this hidden exposure, the lack of identification and definition further complicated the study of this group. For example, how do you identify or define an al-Shabaab radical or an extremist? What about sympathisers? A participant pointed out that:

'… there are times that when a person expresses sympathy on what is going on among Muslims youth who are detained, tortured, or harassed by the police on counter terrorism practices, the tendency is to automatically classify the person as a radical. This creates a context where people fear to express themselves in terms of rights for the fear of labelling. We have many youth labelled as radicals. Not all of them are radicals subscribing to the al-Shabaab ideology.' (Interview 6, 21 November 2015)

In an attempt to understand the radical narrative of al-Shabaab it is important to dissect the localised narratives of marginalisation and oppression in the coastal region from the al-Shabaab ideology. In my interviews, one of the ways in which this localised narrative of marginalisation and oppression was apparent was through exploring the category of al-Shabaab radical belief. Here, radical belief is meant to be 'the justification of use of violence, when their religion or the Muslim ummah [community] or their territory is at stake' (al-Shabaab magazine, Gaidi Mtaani). This type of radical belief seemingly became a source of strength among some of my respondents. For some, this belief of an Islamic land (Somalia) enabled them to envision a place

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