Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Diversity and Ethnicity
- Colonialism
- Ethnicity = social construction
- not an absolute
- way of gaining control
- used to establish African identity
- means of gaining authority
- emphasised tribal affiliation and
ethnic identity as highly
important
- Formation of the state
- related to power structures
- Ethnicity and Conflict
- Debates over whether ethnicity = root of conflict
- i.e. Rwanda
- Ethnic identity in itself doesn't cause any problems
- Concepts of Ethnicity
- Primordialism
- FIXED
- traditional, fundamental, static identity
- view during colonial period
- Constructivism
- FLUID
- relational concept
- people have multiple identities
- not absolute
- about how use identity
- balance needed between
understanding importance
of ethnicity and becoming
obsessed with it
- Instrumental Approach
- Useful in bringing people together
- may be unimportant on day-to-day basis
- different identities used at different times
- confront oppression
- Wilmsen (1996)
- "confirm collective status of
identity in the face of
threatening economic,
political or social forces"
- may not always be about ethnicity
- Liberia
- clashes between ethnic groups
- violence
- different politicians
from different ethnic
groups
- about political dynamics
- ethnicity is easy way of organising it
- ethnicity = broad label - doesn't mean much
- other identities
- Indigenous
- Saugestad (2008)
- "with the ... diversity of the
African continent,... it may
seem futile to single out some
ethnic groups as being more
indigenous than others"
- All Africans are indigenous
- why is there the notion of some being more so?
- lighter skin --> queries about ethnicity
- considered indigenous if..
- descendants of those living in area before colonization
- maintained own institutions since colonization
- social
- economic
- cultural
- politicall
- maintained culture and still here
- may be under threat now
- Indigenous have moral superiority
- got there first
- embedded in issues of racism/resource use
- Indigenous Movements
- some use title to
improve rights and gain
recognition
- redress marginalisation/discrimination
- remove discriminatory laws/practices
- embedded in global movements; not national
- 1990s - UN - Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- African organisations
- challenging notions
- work to transmit knowledge,
values, skills to younger
generations
- Being indigenous in today's world
- Is development good for these people?
- development > change
- can they still be indigenous?
- depends on extent of change
- Kaunga (2008)
- "ability to draw on both
modern and indigenous
skills"
- combination of both
- interact
- not one or the other
- Literacy
- much of modern world = literate
- needed
- indigenous
societies have oral
traditions
- these need keeping up too
- communicate with illiterate family members
- Marginalisation and Exclusion
- alienated and made
vulnerable by
colonialism/post-colonialism
- lot of conflict in past over resources
- Kaunga (2008)
- recognises himself as indigenous
- injustices need recognising
- displacement
- dispossession
- oppression
- domination
- social exclusion
- Botswana
- Indigenous Mobilization
- language of 'first peoples'
- Background
- 1966 Constitution
- Khoisan /San
- hunter/gatherer livelihoods
- seen as 'backward'
- many living on handouts
in townships
- refuses to recognise cultures/traditions/languages
- 50 000 people
- displacement and assimilation
- majority set
- Pastoralism
- Between 17 and 50 million in SSA
- varying estimates
- census = difficult
- contribute 10% to Africa's GDP
- Indigenous
- don't see themselves as so
- not always part of movement
- Masai of Ngorongoro
- lobby for active
participation in
development
- political empowerment
- shedding discriminatory stereotypes
- contradiction
- tourism = important for economy in area
- tourism relies on stereotypes
- recognise knowledge, language, practices
- right to participate
- language under threat
- Swahili not taught in schools
- not written
- women and girls live in villages
- go to school etc
- boys and men go off to hunt
- more restrictions
- pastoralists are 'disturbing the habitat'
- Colonialism
- territorial boundaries establishes
which ignored pastoralists
- irrigated cultivation expanded onto land they used
- pastoralists seen as
racially inferior
- pacification policies
- bring under state control
- seen as yielding little or no revenue for colony
- low quality land; leave them to it
- changed minds
- do they need all that land?
- Forms of Pastoralism
- Diversified way of living
- Pastoral Systems
- Transhumant
- Nomadic; Transhumant
- moving around
- Transfer of livestock
from one grazing
ground to another, as
from lowlands to
highlands, with the
changing of seasons.
- Transhumant; Sedentary
- staying in one place
- Agro-Pastoral
- various ways of adapting to changes in environment
- changing attitudes to pastoralism
- Discrimination
- Continuation of earlier politics of
assimilation and isolation
- Political and Economic Marginalisation
- seen as outmoded way of life
- traditional land rights under threat
- lack of basic services
- slow to get access
- static - don't move with them
- Conflict
- political resistance movements
- Sacking of Land
- land taken away
- Eviction
- Conservation
- Hunting Reserves
- Discourses
- Davies (2008)
- "becoming easier
to demonstrate
success in pastoral
development"
- "pastoralism is
compatible with
and indispensible
to sustainable
development
- Rass (2006)
- questions whether it is
better to invest in pastoral
development or design
ways out for pastoralists
- Markakis (2004)
- "more than a mode of production"
- way of life
- If just see it as a way of
surviving we are
missing out a lot