Workshop focuses on impact of multilingualism on conflict

How multilingualism affects the risk of conflict as well as the potential path to conflict resolution was the focus of a special workshop in Uganda led by University of Essex academics.

The Essex team travelled to Kampala for the workshop as part of a major £2.4 million project into the potential impact of shared language in preventing violent conflict.

The research team want to investigate whether having access to a shared language or shared languages amongst different groups in a conflict can lead to common ties and overcome social divisions in ways that can prevent situations resorting to violence and help settle ongoing armed conflict.

The ambitious project brings together political science and linguistics expertise from the UK and Africa to develop a deeper understanding of how multilingual skills and practices affect the risk of conflict and prospects for conflict resolution.

The recent workshop in Uganda was an opportunity for everyone involved in the project to share insights from the five countries which are the focus of the project - Uganda, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Cameroon - as well as to plan for the next stages of data collection, analysis and engagement.

Project leader Professor Kristian Gleditsch, from our Department of Government, explained: “Our meeting in Kampala was extraordinarily helpful in bringing together different lines of work in the project so far. There are many challenges in combining comparative and country-specific work in a large team spanning countries, especially when many of the members have not previously met in person. Our discussion helped bring out insights from comparing different countries, and firm up plans for our survey, specific publications, and how to engage with stakeholders.”

Professor Hannah Gibson, from our Department of Language and Linguistics, added: “The meeting in Kampala was an invaluable opportunity to meet in person. We have regular meetings amongst the Essex team, and regular online meetings of the whole team. But is so different to meet in person, to be able to discuss the details of the work as well as to get to know each other better. This is crucial to the success of such a large project. We also talked about the next stages in the research, including engaging our impact partners and the launch of the surveys in 2026.”

The central focus of the project is Africa due to its high number of multilingual citizens and the fact is has seen extensive violent conflict in different countries. In 2021, nearly half of all the armed conflicts in the world took place on the continent.

This project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), is the first comparative, large scale analysis of the practice of multilingualism in reshaping violent conflict and harnessing conflict resolution in Africa.

The project team based at Essex are:

• Professor Kristian Gleditsch (PI) – Department of Government
• Professor Hannah Gibson – Department of Language and Linguistics
• Dr Florian Kern – Department of Government
• Dr Tracey Costley – Department of Language and Linguistics
• Dr Brian Phillips – Department of Government
• Dr Angiachi Demetris – Department of Language and Linguistics
• Dr Omomayowa Abati – Department of Government