The book illuminates key aspects of how, historically, the dynamics of power and identity interact in the African context, generating the kind of political structures and collective actions that have often appeared characteristic for the continent. It examines some salient dimensions of the broader frameworks of hegemony and power imposed upon African societies in the context of larger geopolitical and historical processes. Power and identity are two key concepts which can be applied in describing African realities. The interaction and connections between the two concepts are, moreover, of key importance in the African context, as their studies demonstrate.

In common with other scholars in this area of study, the authors acknowledge that underlying their work is a compelling fascination with the continent’s evolving social and cultural forms. Their insight into African social reality reflects a fragile and fragmented continent capable of bringing forth a great variety of agents and actors in the interplay of social and political power: power vested in a variety of groups, ethnicities, religions or classes, with potential to impose on the identity of others.

About the authors
Martin Doornbos (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands, and Visiting Professor of Development Studies, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda. His research interests have broadly focused on the dynamics of state-society relations in Africa and India, on the institutional dimensions of conflict and collaboration, the politics of resource allocation, and on questions of state collapse and post-conflict reconstruction.

Wim van Binsbergen is an anthropologist, presently working on the theory and method of research on cultural globalisation, especially in connection with virtuality, Information and Communication Technology, ethnicity and religion. His project on ‘Africa’s Contribution to Global Systems of Knowledge: An Epistemology for African Studies in the Twenty-First Century’, provides a link between his research at the ASC and his chair in Foundations of Intercultural Philosophy at Erasmus University, Rotterdam.

Contents:
PART I
INCORPORATION AND POLITICAL PENETRATION 51
Part Introduction 53
1 ‘Big-man’ and his big brother: Some notes on incorporation by Martin Doornbos 59
2 The post-colonial state, ‘state penetration’ and the Nkoya experience in Western Central Zambia by Wim van Binsbergen 71
3 Recurring penetration strategies in East Africa by Martin Doornbos 105
4 Aspects of modern state penetration in Africa by Wim van Binsbergen 125

PART II
ETHNICITY AND IDENTITY: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? 155
Part introduction 157
5 Some conceptual problems concerning ethnicity in integration analysis by Martin Doornbos 162
6 From tribe to ethnicity in Western Zambia: The unit of study as an ideological problem by Wim van Binsbergen 199
7 Kumanyana and Rwenzururu: Two responses to ethnic inequality in Uganda by Martin Doornbos 261
8 The Kazanga festival: Ethnicity as cultural mediation and transformation in Western Central Zambia by Wim van Binsbergen 329
9 Rwenzururu protest songs by Martin Doornbos and Peter Cooke 385
10 Nkoya royal chiefs and the Kazanga cultural association in Western Central Zambia today: Resilience, decline, or folklorisation? by Wim van Binsbergen 425
11 The Ankole kingship question: Stalemate and Implications by Martin Doornbos 477

PART III
RELIGION AND STATE: AMBIGUOUS RELATIONSHIPS 513
Part introduction 515
12 Fortunes and failures in state formation: Contrasting the jihads of Usman dan Fodio and Mohammed Abdulle Hassan by Martin Doornbos 521
13 Religious innovation and political conflict in Zambia: The Lumpa rising by Wim van Binsbergen 563
14 Church and state in Eastern Africa: Some unresolved questions Martin Doornbos 328
15 African Independent churches and the state in Botswana Wim van Binsbergen 337

PART IV CONSTRUCTING NATIONAL POLITICS 359
Introduction to Part IV 361
16 Form and ideology in first-generation constitutional preambles: Some francophone African examples Martin Doornbos, Wim van Binsbergen & Gerti Hesseling 364
17 Aspects of democracy and democratisation in Zambia and Botswana: Exploring African political culture at the grassroots Wim van Binsbergen 389
18 Enquiring into African statehood, conflict and legitimacy, with particular reference to Somalia and Uganda Martin Doornbos 414

PART V CONCLUSION 431
19 Conclusion

Wim van Binsbergen & Martin Doornbos 433
Notes 448
Cumulative bibliography 482
Index 529

Book details

• Researching Power and Identity in African State Formation: Comparative Perspectives by Martin Doornbos, Wim van Binsbergen
  EAN: 9783643908520
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