Belonging, Identity, and Conflict in the Central African Republic
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A01=Gino Vlavonou
African statebuilding
anti-Balaka
Author_Gino Vlavonou
autochthony
Category=JHMC
Category=KCP
Category=NHH
Central African Republic
Christian-Muslim relations
civil war as social process
colonization and violence
conflict analysis
contemporary African politics
coup d'etat
discourse analysis
dynamics of civil war
economic competition
economic policy
elites and non-elites
eq_bestseller
eq_business-finance-law
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethnic nationalism
ethnicity and conflict
ethnography
Francois Bozize
identity and conflict
identity capital
identity formation
identity mobilization
institutional power
mining law
mining policies
peace and conflict studies
political and economic life
political competition
political exclusion
political power
political speech
political violence
postcolonial studies
postcolonial violence
postcolonialism
Seleka
state policy
violence in society
Product details
- ISBN 9780299345709
- Weight: 215g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 12 Dec 2023
- Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Political conflict in many parts of the world has been shaped by notions of who rightfully belongs to a place. The concept of autochthony—that a true, original people are born of a land and belong to it above all others—has animated struggles across postcolonial Africa. But is this sense of rootedness from time immemorial necessary to assertions of original being and thus political supremacy? Belonging, Identity, and Conflict in the Central African Republic examines how political conflict unfolds when the language of autochthony is detached from historical land claims.
Focusing on violent struggles in the Central African Republic between 2012 and 2019, Gino Vlavonou explores the social practices, discursive strategies, and government policies that emerged in the relentless project of African state building. Conflict pitted Christian-animist communities, loosely organized as vigilante groups under the name anti-Balaka, against Muslim rebels known as the SÉlÉka. Fighters of the anti-Balaka claimed that they were autochthonous, the “true Central Africans,” reframing their Muslim neighbors as foreigners to be expelled. While the country had previously witnessed episodes of violence, both peoples had lived together relatively peacefully and intermarried. The speed and ferocity with which identity was weaponized puzzled many observers. To understand this phenomenon, Vlavonou probes autochthony as a category of identity that differs from ethnicity in important ways. He argues that elites and ordinary citizens alike mobilize the language of original belonging as “identity capital,” a resource to be deployed. The value of that capital is lodged in what people say and do every day to give meaning to their identity, and its content changes across time and space.
Focusing on violent struggles in the Central African Republic between 2012 and 2019, Gino Vlavonou explores the social practices, discursive strategies, and government policies that emerged in the relentless project of African state building. Conflict pitted Christian-animist communities, loosely organized as vigilante groups under the name anti-Balaka, against Muslim rebels known as the SÉlÉka. Fighters of the anti-Balaka claimed that they were autochthonous, the “true Central Africans,” reframing their Muslim neighbors as foreigners to be expelled. While the country had previously witnessed episodes of violence, both peoples had lived together relatively peacefully and intermarried. The speed and ferocity with which identity was weaponized puzzled many observers. To understand this phenomenon, Vlavonou probes autochthony as a category of identity that differs from ethnicity in important ways. He argues that elites and ordinary citizens alike mobilize the language of original belonging as “identity capital,” a resource to be deployed. The value of that capital is lodged in what people say and do every day to give meaning to their identity, and its content changes across time and space.
Gino Vlavonou is a program officer at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC-CRSH).
