Pub Date : 2021-04-01DOI: 10.1177/0002039720963287
A. Mohammad
This article explores processes of identity formation in Eritrean diaspora communities that have reverted to subnational patterns of identification grounded in the historical-political crises of their homeland. Refugees from Eritrea’s open-ended national service have ambivalent feelings towards their national identity: on the surface, they stress the cohesiveness of the Eritrean people, but in their daily lives they embrace ethnic or religious communities. I elaborate the dilemmas of identity formation in the transnational space between religious and ethnic affiliations and Eritrean nationalism. I analyse the expansion of ethnolinguistic and regional associations among diaspora communities and discuss their impact on identity formation. I link cleavages along ethnic and religious lines to collective memories and the government’s attempts to eradicate subnational identities. The study is based on long-term participant observation and semi-structured interviews with Eritreans in exile, and engages with relevant bodies of literature discussing identity formation in African and diaspora contexts.
{"title":"The Resurgence of Religious and Ethnic Identities among Eritrean Refugees: A Response to the Government’s Nationalist Ideology","authors":"A. Mohammad","doi":"10.1177/0002039720963287","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0002039720963287","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores processes of identity formation in Eritrean diaspora communities that have reverted to subnational patterns of identification grounded in the historical-political crises of their homeland. Refugees from Eritrea’s open-ended national service have ambivalent feelings towards their national identity: on the surface, they stress the cohesiveness of the Eritrean people, but in their daily lives they embrace ethnic or religious communities. I elaborate the dilemmas of identity formation in the transnational space between religious and ethnic affiliations and Eritrean nationalism. I analyse the expansion of ethnolinguistic and regional associations among diaspora communities and discuss their impact on identity formation. I link cleavages along ethnic and religious lines to collective memories and the government’s attempts to eradicate subnational identities. The study is based on long-term participant observation and semi-structured interviews with Eritreans in exile, and engages with relevant bodies of literature discussing identity formation in African and diaspora contexts.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"56 1","pages":"39 - 58"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0002039720963287","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45579223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-01DOI: 10.1177/00020397211003101
Milena Belloni
Can diaspora houses be used as a site to explore transnational citizenship? Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Eritrea, this article shows that different kinds of remittance houses reify different categories of transnational citizens with various sets of rights and duties. Drawing on studies on state–diaspora relations and remittance houses, I illustrate the key role that housing plays in the Eritrean state’s efforts to build a loyal diaspora. By looking at housing projects (state-led and individual) over the last thirty years, the article shows how different groups of emigrants – based on their relationship to the state of origin as well as their status in their country of residence – have been more or less able to realise their aspirations to build a house back home. By doing this, I show the importance of considering remittance houses as not only transnational cultural artefacts but also political claims to membership.
{"title":"Remittance Houses and Transnational Citizenship: Mapping Eritrea’s Diaspora–State Relationships","authors":"Milena Belloni","doi":"10.1177/00020397211003101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397211003101","url":null,"abstract":"Can diaspora houses be used as a site to explore transnational citizenship? Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Eritrea, this article shows that different kinds of remittance houses reify different categories of transnational citizens with various sets of rights and duties. Drawing on studies on state–diaspora relations and remittance houses, I illustrate the key role that housing plays in the Eritrean state’s efforts to build a loyal diaspora. By looking at housing projects (state-led and individual) over the last thirty years, the article shows how different groups of emigrants – based on their relationship to the state of origin as well as their status in their country of residence – have been more or less able to realise their aspirations to build a house back home. By doing this, I show the importance of considering remittance houses as not only transnational cultural artefacts but also political claims to membership.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"56 1","pages":"59 - 80"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00020397211003101","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44627319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-01DOI: 10.1177/0002039721990207
Thompson Gyedu Kwarkye
Local governance in many developing countries attracts several stakeholders who maintain a lot of significance in improving well-being, service delivery, accountability, and responsibility. The plural legal system where government structures exist side by side with customary structures in many countries south of the Sahara provides an opportunity to explore relationships, partnerships, and interactions among them. With ethnographic evidence from Kpandai District in Northern Ghana, this article explores customary structures not only as cultural and religious leaders with authority embedded in tradition but also as major stakeholders in local governance. The article argues that historical factors, coupled with limited government presence at the local levels, have positioned customary structures as an accessible channel to the people in the district. Customary structures have forged informal relationships and partnerships with government structures to bring the government closer to the people and to access basic services.
{"title":"Between Tradition and Modernity: Customary Structures as Agents in Local Governance in Ghana","authors":"Thompson Gyedu Kwarkye","doi":"10.1177/0002039721990207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0002039721990207","url":null,"abstract":"Local governance in many developing countries attracts several stakeholders who maintain a lot of significance in improving well-being, service delivery, accountability, and responsibility. The plural legal system where government structures exist side by side with customary structures in many countries south of the Sahara provides an opportunity to explore relationships, partnerships, and interactions among them. With ethnographic evidence from Kpandai District in Northern Ghana, this article explores customary structures not only as cultural and religious leaders with authority embedded in tradition but also as major stakeholders in local governance. The article argues that historical factors, coupled with limited government presence at the local levels, have positioned customary structures as an accessible channel to the people in the district. Customary structures have forged informal relationships and partnerships with government structures to bring the government closer to the people and to access basic services.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"56 1","pages":"100 - 118"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0002039721990207","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46392620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-01DOI: 10.1177/0002039720977495
Nicole Hirt
In the collective memory of Eritreans, the liberation struggle against Ethiopia symbolises the heroic fight of their fallen martyrs against oppression. After independence, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front created an autocratic regime, which is adored by many second-generation diaspora Eritreans living in democracies. I engage with bodies of literature exploring the political importance of collective trauma in post-conflict societies and apply two theoretical notions, “postmemory” and “chosen trauma,” to explain how the government’s narrative of Eritrean history produced a culture of nationalism through the glorification of the martyrs. This narrative and the trauma experienced by their parents created experiences of postmemory among the second-generation diaspora that have influenced their worldview. I demonstrate how Eritrean pro-government activists utilise US-born artists who recently discovered their Eritreanness, such as Tiffany Haddish, to instil long-distance nationalism. The article is based on a social media analysis, long-term observation of Eritrean diaspora communities, and recent fieldwork.
{"title":"Eritrea’s Chosen Trauma and the Legacy of the Martyrs: The Impact of Postmemory on Political Identity Formation of Second-Generation Diaspora Eritreans","authors":"Nicole Hirt","doi":"10.1177/0002039720977495","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0002039720977495","url":null,"abstract":"In the collective memory of Eritreans, the liberation struggle against Ethiopia symbolises the heroic fight of their fallen martyrs against oppression. After independence, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front created an autocratic regime, which is adored by many second-generation diaspora Eritreans living in democracies. I engage with bodies of literature exploring the political importance of collective trauma in post-conflict societies and apply two theoretical notions, “postmemory” and “chosen trauma,” to explain how the government’s narrative of Eritrean history produced a culture of nationalism through the glorification of the martyrs. This narrative and the trauma experienced by their parents created experiences of postmemory among the second-generation diaspora that have influenced their worldview. I demonstrate how Eritrean pro-government activists utilise US-born artists who recently discovered their Eritreanness, such as Tiffany Haddish, to instil long-distance nationalism. The article is based on a social media analysis, long-term observation of Eritrean diaspora communities, and recent fieldwork.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"56 1","pages":"19 - 38"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0002039720977495","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45720177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-01DOI: 10.1177/00020397211005472
Tanja R. Müller, Milena Belloni
This special focus section analyses state–diaspora relationships with a focus on the case of Eritrea, a paradigmatic example, as we show in this introduction, to elaborate on the following key questions: What determines loyalty between diaspora and the state? How can we understand the dynamics of co-optation, loyalty, and resistance that characterise many diaspora–state relationships? What is the role of historical events and memory in building alliances as well as divides among different generations and different groups in the diaspora? How do diaspora citizens interpret and enact their citizenship in everyday practices of engagement? By engaging with both citizenship and diaspora studies, this introduction shows the significance of analysing these questions through the lens of “transnational lived citizenship.” This concept enables a look at the intersections between formal aspects of citizenship as well as the emotional and practical aspects related to feelings of belonging, transnational attitudes, and circulation of material cultures.
{"title":"Transnational Lived Citizenship – The Case of the Eritrean Diaspora","authors":"Tanja R. Müller, Milena Belloni","doi":"10.1177/00020397211005472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397211005472","url":null,"abstract":"This special focus section analyses state–diaspora relationships with a focus on the case of Eritrea, a paradigmatic example, as we show in this introduction, to elaborate on the following key questions: What determines loyalty between diaspora and the state? How can we understand the dynamics of co-optation, loyalty, and resistance that characterise many diaspora–state relationships? What is the role of historical events and memory in building alliances as well as divides among different generations and different groups in the diaspora? How do diaspora citizens interpret and enact their citizenship in everyday practices of engagement? By engaging with both citizenship and diaspora studies, this introduction shows the significance of analysing these questions through the lens of “transnational lived citizenship.” This concept enables a look at the intersections between formal aspects of citizenship as well as the emotional and practical aspects related to feelings of belonging, transnational attitudes, and circulation of material cultures.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"56 1","pages":"3 - 18"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00020397211005472","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47234422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-01DOI: 10.1177/00020397211002940
M. Setrana
Issues of indigeneity and citizenship rights for second-generation pastoralist migrants across the West African States have received little to no attention in migration and pastoralist studies. This article explores this under-researched area in the field of migration studies and revisits the highly contested migration–citizenship nexus among Fulani herders in the Shai-Osu-Doku and Agogo traditional areas of Ghana. The article captures the crises of citizenship facing descendants of Fulani herders and families, particularly in relation to their integration into local host communities. I argue that second-generation migrants remain at the margins, spatially and socio-politically defined, of both development and society. While they do not have any ties with their ancestral “home countries,” they are also considered non-citizens and face growing hostility in the places they call home. Being a citizen is not simply a static legal position, but a status developed through routine practices, building relations, and shared experiences.
{"title":"Citizenship, Indigeneity, and the Experiences of 1.5- and Second-Generation Fulani Herders in Ghana","authors":"M. Setrana","doi":"10.1177/00020397211002940","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397211002940","url":null,"abstract":"Issues of indigeneity and citizenship rights for second-generation pastoralist migrants across the West African States have received little to no attention in migration and pastoralist studies. This article explores this under-researched area in the field of migration studies and revisits the highly contested migration–citizenship nexus among Fulani herders in the Shai-Osu-Doku and Agogo traditional areas of Ghana. The article captures the crises of citizenship facing descendants of Fulani herders and families, particularly in relation to their integration into local host communities. I argue that second-generation migrants remain at the margins, spatially and socio-politically defined, of both development and society. While they do not have any ties with their ancestral “home countries,” they are also considered non-citizens and face growing hostility in the places they call home. Being a citizen is not simply a static legal position, but a status developed through routine practices, building relations, and shared experiences.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"56 1","pages":"81 - 99"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00020397211002940","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48011785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-03-29DOI: 10.1177/00020397211003591
Detlef Müller-Mahn, Eric Kioko
This article focuses on the impact of COVID-19 in Africa, describes its effects for ongoing research, and asks how it may impact African studies. In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, the pandemic is changing the way people think about the future. The crisis gives rise to a feeling of uncertainty, while casting doubt on future orientations based on forecasts and planning. This scepticism does not concern the African continent alone, but it is here that the call to open a fresh perspective on the future is expressed most emphatically. COVID-19 reinvigorates the question of how African futures are imagined and shaped in relation to the world at large. Against this backdrop, this article suggests three areas where future-oriented African studies should be revised in response to the current crisis – namely, how to incorporate uncertainty, how to decolonise understandings of African futures, and how to translate these considerations into research practice.
{"title":"Rethinking African Futures after COVID-19","authors":"Detlef Müller-Mahn, Eric Kioko","doi":"10.1177/00020397211003591","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397211003591","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on the impact of COVID-19 in Africa, describes its effects for ongoing research, and asks how it may impact African studies. In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, the pandemic is changing the way people think about the future. The crisis gives rise to a feeling of uncertainty, while casting doubt on future orientations based on forecasts and planning. This scepticism does not concern the African continent alone, but it is here that the call to open a fresh perspective on the future is expressed most emphatically. COVID-19 reinvigorates the question of how African futures are imagined and shaped in relation to the world at large. Against this backdrop, this article suggests three areas where future-oriented African studies should be revised in response to the current crisis – namely, how to incorporate uncertainty, how to decolonise understandings of African futures, and how to translate these considerations into research practice.","PeriodicalId":45570,"journal":{"name":"Africa Spectrum","volume":"56 1","pages":"216 - 227"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/00020397211003591","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43569327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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