“This issue is the second special edition. What readers will find in this issue, are frank descriptions and discussions of the divisiveness and belligerency that may be caused or propagated by any obsession with identity. When leaders and followers have adopted a mindset of narrow minded loyalty to own cultural and/or ethnic identity, and of hostility to the identities of ‘others’, reciprocal intolerance, antagonism and conflict are bound to follow. The overall thrust of the concept article by Hagg and Kagwanja and the articles from the different country contexts is, however, that cultural and/or ethnic identity can also function constructively in resolving conflict and building a climate of peaceful coexistence. The mindset with regard to identity can become inclusive. It can at least begin to include others and their loyalties. It can harbour a sense of cultural and ethnic diversity. And from such a mindset change, a chain reaction of significant changes can flow. Widely accepted ways of dealing with conflict and resolving conflict could be modified to be more appropriate in cases of identity conflict.”
