Violence & Belonging

The Quest for Identity in Postcolonial Africa

Vigdis Broch-Due

 

Synopsis

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.

Review

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

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.