In this Book
- Bondage of Boundaries and Identity Politics in Postcolonial Africa: The ëNorthern Problemí and Ethno-Futures
- Book
- 2013
- Published by: Africa Institute of South Africa
summary
What has confounded African efforts to create cohesive, prosperous and just states in postcolonial Africa? What has been the long-term impact of the Berlin Conference of 1884-5 on African unity and African statehood? Why is postcolonial Africa haunted by various ethno national conflicts? Is secession and irredentism the solution? Can we talk of ethno-futures for Africa? These are the kinds of fundamental questions that this important book addresses. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Brilliant Mhlangaís book introduces the metaphor of the ënorthern problemí to dramatise the fact that there is no major African postcolonial state that does not enclose within its borders a disgruntled minority that is complaining of marginalization, domination and suppression. The irony is that in 1963 at the formation of the OAU, postcolonial African leaders embraced the boundaries arbitrarily drawn by European colonialists and institutionalised the principle of inviolability of ëbondage of boundariesí thereby contributing to the problem of ethno-national conflicts. The successful struggle for independence of the Eritrean people and the secession of South Sudan in 2011 have encouraged other dominated and marginalised groups throughout Africa to view secession as an option. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Mhlanga successfully assembled competent African scholars to deal exhaustively with various empirical cases of ethno-national conflicts throughout the African continent as well as engaging with such pertinent issues as Pan-Africanism as a panacea to these problems. This important book delves deeper into complex issues of space, languages, conflict, security, nation-building, war on terror, secession, migration, citizenship, militias, liberation, violence and Pan-Africanism.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page, Copyright
- pp. 2-3
- Acknowledgements
- pp. v-6
- Notes on contributors
- pp. vi-xii
- PART I - Space, boundaries and countours of the ‘northern problem’
- PART 2 - Autochthons, minorities and politics of secession
- PART 3 - Migration, conflict, citizenship and violence
- PART 4 - Territorial nationalism, regionalism and pan-Africanism
- References
- pp. 341-382
- Back Cover
- p. 387
Additional Information
ISBN
9780798304061
Related ISBN(s)
9780798303910
MARC Record
OCLC
870684318
Pages
398
Launched on MUSE
2014-02-18
Language
English
Open Access
No