Caucasus: An interview with Micael Bogar

This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.

logoWith three frozen conflicts and many ethnic fault lines, peace and stability in the South Caucasus often seems unreachable. After living and working in the the region for many years, Micael Bogar is now Projects Manager at the American University's Center for Social Media and speaks to Global Voices Online about the potential for new media tools to circumvent divisions and bring estranged neighbors together.

Micael works as the Projects Manager with the Center for Social Media. Just before starting her work at the CSM, Micael returned from a Fulbright Fellowship in the Republic of Georgia where she worked with artists from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey to create an artistic collective in the Caucasus. Her first experience in the Caucasus region began back in 2003 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Azerbaijan. After earning her degree in English from Willamette University in 2003, Micael has worked to create connections between arts communities on international as well as local levels. Micael is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree at American University’s School for International Service in International Peace and Conflict Resolution.

With telephone communication problematic between Armenia and Azerbaijan, countries still locked into an unresolved conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, the interview also references one held with Arzu Geybullayeva and touches upon the recent case of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two video bloggers recently detained in Baku, as well as peace-building and conflict-resolution initiatives in the South Caucasus. The interview can be listened to below.

This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.

8 comments

  • […] Himself a blogger, Woord was responsible for reporting on the situation of dozens of activists detained via Twitter and refers to the role new media can play in bringing youth activists in the region together. Background information can also be found in similar interviews held with Arzu Geybullayeva and Micael Bogar. […]

  • […] The full audio interview where comments can be left is available on Global Voices Online. […]

  • […] such tools as part of their own work in this area, as the American University's Micael Bogar hoped during an interview with Global Voices Online last year. More recently, BBC Azeri contacted Global Voices Online to […]

  • […] starting to use new and social media in their activities. This possibility was also discussed in a podcast interview with the American University's Micael Bogar last year alongside coverage of other projects in […]

  • […] Hər iki yazı haqqında öz fikrini bildirən Cənubi Qafqaz məsələləri üzrə təcrübəli mütəxəssis və Amerika Universitetində münaqişələrdə vətəndaş mediasından istifadəni yaxından izləyən keçmiş layihə rəhbəri Mikael Bogar bu yazıların regionda daha böyük bir hadisənin başlanğıcı olduğunu düşünür (Mikael Bogarın Global Voices ilə olan müsahibəsi buradadır). […]

  • […] And as that can’t be done at present online, it’s likely this will have to be by taking a holistic approach, using traditional and online means when appropriate dependent on the situation and the specific target group. In fact, this seems now to be the most important approach to take, combining efforts and approaches in order to reach the largest number of people possible if any tangible change is to occur. Indeed, even this is not new in itself and represents the need for both approaches to be combined, as Micael Bogar, then a project manager at the American University Center for Social Media pointed out in an interview for Global Voices. […]

  • […] at the American University examing the use of new media in conflict (interviewed by Global Voices here), wondered if they didn't represent the start of something larger in the […]

  • […] Onnik Krikorian’s interview with Micael Bogar A must-listen. I wonder how this conversation would be different if it took place today. (Onnik is the Caucasus Editor of Global Voices and he conducted a similar training as me in Tblisi just one month prior to me, in April 2012.) […]

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