The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State

5. The Ethnic Dimension of Civil Society

5 The Ethnic Dimension ofCivil Society "Between a brother and afriend . . .JJ We have argued, in other works, that ethnicityin Zaire needs to be conceptualized within a dynamic framework. It can be easily demonstrated that many of the cultural labels in common use today did not exist a century ago, or that some collective designations are applied to social aggregates whose boundaries are very difficult from what they once were. Early colonial administrators went astray by assuming that a single-dimensional cultural map existed, with discrete boundaries demarcating "tribes." In reality, no such chart has ever been plausible, either today or fifty years ago. Empirical cultural identities are multiple, shifting in response to context and situation. Not wishing to recapitulate what we have previously published on this subject, we will focus first on political aspects of ethnic change, then explore the interaction ofclass and ethnicity.I "Between a brother and a friend," declared President Mobutu before the United Nations on 4 October 1973, "the choice is clear."2 This poignant phrase was offered as justification for the surprise decision to rupture relations with Israel, a break which lasted until 1982. The fraternal imperatives ofMro-Arab solidarity had to eclipse the history of amicable relations with Israel, once the issue was sharply posed. In the months that followed the phrase recurred in countless conversations, in jesting reference to the pervasive yet elusive role ofethnicity in shaping and flavoring social and political interactions. What made the quotation so toothsome, extracted from its context, was its apparent contradiction ofthe official ideology ofthe New Regime. Denunciations of "tribalism" are de rigueur on formal occasions of presidential or party moral exhortation; regime spokesmen claim reduced levels ofethnic behavior in politics. Constant vigilance is required to detect tribalism , a sin invariably committed by others. While it has been officially exorcised , in many subtle, complex ways its continued presence is evident, flavoring social transactions and political perceptions. Pervasive, yet elu138 The Ethnic Dimension ofCivil Society 139 sive: the higher obligation to brother than friend may be clear, but the questions ofwho is brother in what circumstances, and what choice must be made in his favor, are far less self-evident. Thenanrreofedurici~ Ethnicity, in contrast to class, is defined by consciousness. It is rooted in a collective recognition of affinity, to which social and emotional meanings are attached. Its imputation of intimacy finds reflection in the frequency with which kinship metaphors are used to express it; a co-ethnic is a brother, not a mere friend. A given category ofethnic consciousness is founded upon a set ofcultural traits, integrated into acollective representation ofthe group. A shared speech code is a widespread (though not universal) marker of ethnos. So are shared rituals of daily life, shrines, and belief systems. Ethnos links itself to the past through legends of common ancestry, and to the future through a conviction of shared interests. These elements are woven together , in variant forms, in symbolic systems whereby a group comes to recognize its commonalities, and its sense of affinity is reproduced across generations. Like class, ethnicity is a relational concept. ''We'' assumes meaning in relationship to "they." The function of a symbolic structure attached to ethnos is not merely to delineate the self, but to demarcate the collective ''we'' from relevant others within the social field.3 ''We" and "they" are not simple equivalents, however; as Epstein argues, "the powerful emotional charge that appears to surround or to underlie so much of ethnic behavior " lies in the particular affective force associated with "weness."4 ''We'' normally attaches positive connotations to the cultural properties believed to define its identity; the sundry "they" groups found in its cognitive map frequendy have vaguely or even intensely negative characteristics and evoke condescending feelings or fear. Cultural maps within a given social field are not necessarily symmetrical . Particularly in the Mrican urban context, ''we'' is likely to simplify its mapping by reducing "they" to a finite, easily comprehensible number of others, grouping those who appear similar from the ''we'' perspective because ofbroadly similar languages, cultural practices, or regions oforigin.5 Ethnicity has both instrumental and primordial aspects.6 Instrumentally , ethnicity is asserted in the competitive pursuit ofscarce social goods and values. It becomes manifest when it is useful to a group in securing 140 The Ethnic Dimension ofCivil Society advantage or resisting deprivation. Its activation may also reflect the interest ofan ethnic elite in buttressing its claims...