Modernization in Africa has created new problems as well as new freedoms. Multiparty democracy, resource privatization and changing wealth relationships, have not always created stable and prosperous communities, and violence continues to be endemic in many areas of African life - from civil war and political strife to violent clashes between genders, generations, classes and ethnic groups.
Violence and Belonging explores the crucial formative role of violence in shaping people's ideas of who they are in uncertain postcolonial contexts where, as resources dwindle and wealth is contested, identities and ideas of belonging become a focal area of conflict and negotiation. Focusing on fieldwork from across the continent, its case studies consider how routine everyday violence ties in with wider regional and political upheavals, and how individuals experience and legitimize violence in its different forms. The Zimbabwean and Sudanese civil wars, Kenyan Kikuyu domestic conflicts, Rwandan massacres and South African Truth and Reconciliation processes, are among the contexts explored.

About the Author
Vigdis Broch-Due is a professor in the Centre for International Poverty Research, University of Bergen, Norway. She has taught at the universities of Washington, Oslo, Cambridge and London, as well as at Rutgers University.

Reviews

'Essential reading not only for Africanists but for anyone else interested in understanding the woeful state of today's world.' - Ethnos

Book Information
ISBN 9780415290074
Author Vigdis Broch-Due
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 418g