Politics of Origin in Africa

Morten Bøås is senior researcher at Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies in Oslo. His recent publications include Global Institutions and Development: Framing the world? (with Desmond McNeill, 2004), New and Critical Security and Regionalism: Beyond the nation state (with James J. Hentz, 2003), African Guerrillas: Raging against the machine (with Kevin Dunn, 2007) and, most recently, International Development, Volumes I-IV (with Benedicte Bull, 2010).Kevin C. Dunn is an associate professor of political science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, USA. His publications include Imagining the Congo: The international relations of identity (2003), Africa’s Challenge to International Relations Theory (with Timothy M. Shaw, 2001), Identity and Global Politics: Theoretical and empirical elaborations (with Patricia Goff, 2004) and African Guerrillas: Raging against the machine (with Morten Bøås, 2007).

Empirically rich and beautifully written, this book's account of the rise of an exclusionary autochtony discourse in Africa in the legitimization of political violence is paradigm-busting. It shows how and why conventional arguments focusing on natural resources, environmental scarcity, or even ethnicity miss the mark entirely and instead how the disruptions of economic liberalization, decentralization, and political liberalization have exacerbated melancholic uncertainty and nervousness about belonging and its inextricable tie to land and citizenship rights -- with parallels throughout the world. It is a must read for anyone interested in civil war, its cycles of recurrence, the potential for civil war, and the need for change in current policies of peace-building.

• 1. Introduction: conflict, land scarcity and tales of origin2. Autochthony, melancholy and uncertainty in contemporary African politics3. Liberia: civil war and the 'Mandingo question'4. Kenya: majimboism, indigenous land claims and electoral violence5. Democratic Republic of Congo: 'dead certainty' in North Kivu6. Côte d'Ivoire: production and the politics of belonging7. Conclusion