Ethnicity And The State In Eastern Africa

This volume, from an Africa perspective, examines the relationship between ethnicity and citizenship within the framework of nation-state. Its objective and scope engage relational aspects of political integration, awaken public conscience, and motivate civic engagement. It provides a platform that could be considered prerequisite for political transformation. Such a framework is indispensable not only for challenging the politics of exclusion and marginalization, but also for reconstructing fractured social relationships. The test of its validity and relevancy is not whether it accounts for particular traditions, but whether it provides a framework through which we can comprehend the dynamics of ethnic identities as an avenue for promoting participatory governance and democratic accountability. An interdisciplinary study of this kind brings forth practical and theoretical contributions to the evolving concepts of ethnicity and citizenship.

Part I: Narratives of ethnicity

A prologue to ethnic diversity in Eastern Africa /Kimani Njogu --Ethnic pluralism and national governance in Africa : a survey /Michael Chege --What do we share? : from the local to the global, and back again /Mineke Schipper --Production of ethnic identity in Kenya /Karega-Munene --Links between African proverbs and sayings and ethnic diversity /Joseph G. Healey --(Over)riding the rainbow : ethnic diversity and the Kenyan creative economy /Joy Mboya --Leveraging Africa's diversity for an improved image and branding /Mary W. Kimonye --Ethnic diversity, democratization, and nation-building in Ghana /Kenneth Agyemong Attafuah --Ethnic diversity in East Africa : the Tanzanian case and the role of Kiswahili language as a unifying factor /Huruma Luhovilo Sigalla --Critical reflections on the challenges and prospects of ethnic diversity management in democratization /Eric Aseka --Media and national identity : should national media be relegated to the backseat? /Nassanga Goretti Linda --Ethnic diversity background and issues : the case of Rwanda /James Vuningoma --The challenges of ethnicity, multiparty democracy and state building in multiethnic states in Africa : experiences from Kenya /Paul N. Mbatia, Kennedy Bikuri & Peter Nderitu --A political economy of land reform in Kenya : the limits and possibilities of resolving persistent ethnic conflicts /Nicholas O. Odoyo --Epilogue -- emerging issues in managing the challenges and opportunities of ethnic diversity in East Africa : is good governance the destiny? /Ngeta Kabiri.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1976.

Focussing on the mechanics of social change and the interaction between ethnic groups, cultures, structures and value systems the background questions of ecology, demography and history are also examined and the process of urbanization and rural revolution described. Trends in marriage and family life, education and religious ideas are also discussed and case studies from each country included. First published in 1974.

Race and ethnicity continue to be important if unwelcome factors in modern politics. This is evident in East Africa, where the ethnic factor is often dominant in multi-party elections and in Rwanda and Burundi bloodshed and genocidal attacks have been linked to ethnic difference. This book examines the phenomena of race and ethnicity in general, but with particular reference to East Africa. The impact of non-indigenous groups is considered, along with ethnic differences between Africans and the relevance of tourism and religion.

This book is more than just a study of ethnic politics in Kenya and Nigeria. The two countries are a microcosm of the entire continent: the problems it faces, its successes and failures, and the hope and despair of hundreds of millions of its people whose aspirations have been frustrated by decades of corrupt leadership that has skilfully exploited one of Africa's biggest weaknesses -- tribalism. But the people themselves are also responsible for that. They have allowed tribalism to flourish and destroy the countries. And they have allowed unscrupulous politicians to use and abuse them -- without storming the Bastille. What they are not responsible for is dictatorship African leaders instituted to perpetuate themselves in office by exploiting tribalism. These despots have been so good at it, and have done it for so long since independence, that many African countries are now on the brink of collapse, with the people at war against themselves.