Displacement Risks in Africa (review)

The editors of this collection estimate there are between thirty-two million and thirty-seven million displaced people worldwide. With disproportionate numbers in and from Africa, there is evident justification for a critical and empirically informed volume such as this. The book begins with two ambitious goals: to analyze the causes of population displacement in Africa and to find similarities and differences among the continent's displaced people. Unlike many texts of this sort, the editors do not focus exclusively on refugees, internally displaced persons, or those uprooted by development projects. Instead, they include all of these and more within an expansive definition of displacement to include "all forms of disruptions due to forced uprooting of people from their physical, economic, social, cultural, and psychological placement" (1). There certainly are reasons to question a comparison of so many subgroups of people, including those who are not forced to move geographically, but the editors adequately outline the potential payoffs of doing so. Although they do not fully capitalize on the comparisons, this is nevertheless an impressive compilation bringing together established and emerging scholars who document many aspects and instances of displacement. It is all the more remarkable for including authors from Europe and North America, Africa, and—most surprisingly for Anglophone readers—Japan. That so many of them detail their research methods itself represents an important advance in the social scientific study of displacement. Indeed, the book's primary epistemological claim is that displacement in Africa demands systematic, critical, and theoretically informed study.

The effort to integrate displacement within African societies and politics has at least two important implications. Most obviously, it suggests that energies spent in developing new conventions, laws, and protocols on the rights of displaced persons are likely to be wasted. The authors conclude, rightly, that preventing or addressing displacement demands far more fundamental changes than law can effect. Second, this effort highlights the futility of studying refugees and displaced populations apart from their communities of origin and residence. Displaced populations are both a consequence of and contributor to local, national, and global processes, and they must be analyzed in these terms. Moreover, given the prevalence of displacement in Africa, no account of the continent's politics or economy is complete if it does not consider displacement.

While the editors' introduction argues the importance of integrating the studies of displacement more generally into African politics and societies, few of the substantive chapters treat the displaced as anything but an anomalous category. Hansen, Willems, Cernea and others maintain that displaced people are active participants in the societies in which they live, but their analyses largely alienate the displaced while failing to draw on more general Africanist literature. Perhaps this stems from the inherent difficulty of including a comprehensive sociopolitical analysis while still saying something worthwhile about the subgroup of interest. However, this limitation is more likely due to the activist agenda informing most writing (and writers) on displacement. Treating the displaced as variables in broader social processes also means partially surrendering the ability to highlight the plight of the displaced and advocate on their behalf.

As with any edited collection, the quality of the chapters is uneven. There is also an evident tension in trying to push the boundaries of displacement studies while also offering an introductory overview. Although the volume largely succeeds as a good (if incomplete) primer, it will be considerably less satisfying to those familiar with the subject. The case studies often offer strong accounts of displacement, but they are inconsistent in their theoretical framing and are only loosely integrated, and Cernea's stultifying chapter retraces a deeply worn path. He has made a significant contribution to the study of displacement, but little more needs to be said about his model. Were the text revised, the editors should afford additional space to more innovative perspectives or...