Conflict Between A Utopian World And The - amazonia.fiocruz.br

Throughout history, ethnic stereotypes have been used to justify mass violenceexclusionoppression, and inequality in many corners of the world. In times of violent upheaval and conflict, ethnic narratives often come to the fore. This is true even when the origin and the stakes have little to do with ethnicity. In such moments, people may start to think of conflicts in ethnic terms. They may begin to attribute certain cultural, or genetic, characteristics of their adversaries as the cause for conflict.

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Such stereotypes are not simply created on the spot by continue reading leaders. Ans brief, across the world people are socialised into thinking, feeling and acting as members of an ethnic community, or group. In a recent articleI dissected how ethnic territories have been imagined and constructed historically, and how they have been used in political struggles for power and resources in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC. A sizeable part of its rural population is administered under no less than traditional chiefdoms. These are ruled by customary chiefs, who are recognised by the government and who apply both modern and customary laws. In addition to chiefdoms, there are myriad smaller customary units such as groupings and villages.

The region has been an ethnic tinderbox for a century.

The focus of my study is the area directly west of Lake Kivu, known as Kalehe Conflict Between A Utopian World And The, which has been the scene of violent conflict for more than two decades. The main conclusion I draw is that the ideas of ethnic territories see more by actors in struggles over power and resources in DRC have their roots in the way in which the territory was run under Belgian Anf rule.

This matters today because ethnicity still plays an important role in politics and violent conflicts in eastern DRC. Evoking Wodld narratives remains an effective strategy of mobilisation because of entrenched mutual distrust and prevailing fear. This here especially so in areas marked by persistent violent conflict such as Kalehe and Uvira further south. Read more: Why history matters in understanding conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. A key component of how DRC — and other territories across Sub-Saharan Africa — were run was the creation of chefferies or chiefdoms. Chiefdoms were envisioned as mutually exclusive ethnically discrete territories ruled by a single customary chief governing through customary law. Hundreds of chiefdoms were created in DRC. The object was to ensure that order could be maintained at the same time as the indigenous populations were turned into productive and taxable subjects.

Buhavu chiefdom

Customary chiefs with extensive powers became particularly important intermediaries. They were framed as the embodiment of traditional indigenous political institutions despite the enormous diversity of these. However, the indigenous political units were not the pliable natural units imagined by the colonisers.]