Description
Book SynopsisThis volume throws light on the ways in which violence, political culture and development have interacted in African history.Africa has witnessed a number of transitions to democracy in recent years. Coinciding with this upsurge in democratic transitions there also have been spectacular experiences of social disintegration. An alternative to discourses of the 'failed' and 'collapsed' state in Africa is an approach that takes seriously the complexity of historical processes, on which the political development of individual nation states was based. The chapters in this volumerun in a continuum from discussions of 'warlord politics' to an understanding of the 'new wars' in Africa as outcomes of fundamental changes in social solidarity. Wars and violent conflicts in Africa can thus be understood as responses to economic emergencies and political problems which are real, have histories, and can be engaged with constructively through both intellectual and practical efforts. Preben Kaarsholm is Associate Professor of International Development Studies at Roskilde Contributors include: WILLIAM RENO on state insurgencies, KOEN VLASSENROOT on eastern Congo; NIGEL ELTRINGHAM on Rwanda; DOUGLAS H. JOHNSON on Darfur; JOCELYN ALEXANDER on Matabeleland; ALESSANDRO TRIULZI on Ethiopia; PREBEN KAARSHOLM on KwaZulu-Natal; MATS UTAS on Liberia and PAUL RICHARDS on Sierra Leone. North America: Ohio U Press
Trade Review...I gained an insight into the role of the media and communication in Africa in times of conflict and increased my understanding of conflict and its impact on all levels of African society. - -- Sarah Heery * FOCUS *
An excellent book. An extremely valuable collection of essays that provides significant insights into the roots, meanings, and uses of violence in practice as well as discourse. * AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW *
[A] deeply interesting contribution to the controversial debate on the roots of conflict and violence and the contradictions of development in Africa....Contains a multitude of useful insights and key information that will be useful to anybody engaging with conflicts in any of the countries mentioned. * DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: states of failure or societies in collapse? Dynamics of violent conflict in Africa by Preben Kaarsholm - Insurgencies in the shadow of state collapse by William Reno - Conflict and militia formation in eastern Congo: a societal view on violence and war by Koen Vlassenroot - Debating the Rwanda genocide: strengthening the U.N. Genocide convention by Nigel Eltringham - Darfur, peace, genocide and crimes against humanity in Sudan by Douglas H. Johnson - Legacies of violence in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe by Jocelyn Alexander - The past as contested terrain: commemorating new sites of memory in wartorn Ethiopia by Alessandro Triulzi - Violence as signifier: politics and generational struggle in KwaZulu-Natal by Preben Kaarsholm - War, violence and videotapes: the use of media in the Liberian civil war by Mats Utas - Beyond violence: the anthropology of new wars in Africa by Paul Richards.
