Identity Construction and Ethno-National Violence: The Case of Georgia

The aim of this Ph.D. research is to provide an in-depth study on the relationship between identity construction and violence. I will try to determine whether there is any positive correlation between ethnic identity construction and ethno-nationalist vio lence. This issue will be examined by focusing on violent conflicts that erupted in Georgia?s two autonomous territories?Abkhazia and South Ossetia?in the early 1990s. The general question that this study will address is: - What role (if any) did ethnic i dentity construction play in the outbreak of violence in Georgia? In other words, I am interested in the process of identity construction and would like to address this question more explicitly and examine in greater detail how are antagonistic ethnic ide ntities constructed and when and under what conditions do they turn violent. The ultimate goal of my research is twofold. First, to shed more light on the events that unfolded in Georgia in the last years and immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union and to provide an accurate account of those events, so many of which are still cloaked with obscurity. Without understanding that violence in Georgia was not inevitable and that alternative courses were available at different moments it would be imp ossible to avoid making the very same mistakes again. However, equally important I believe is to examine the process during which antagonistic ethnic identities were engineered in Georgia. In this way, I want to once again highlight the fluidity and larg ely imaginary nature of a nation and to raise awareness about the dangers of naturalising national and ethnic identities. This is particularly important in multi-ethnic societies like Georgia in order to provide what Habermas (1998) calls 'difference-sens itive inclusion'; in other words, to ensure the peaceful coexistence of different ethnic, language, and religious communities.