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Author: Séverine Awenengo Dalberto
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000380084
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 389
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Book Description
In the context of a global biometric turn, this book investigates processes of legal identification in Africa ‘from below,’ asking what this means for the relationship between citizens and the state. Almost half of the population of the African continent is thought to lack a legal identity, and many states see biometric technology as a reliable and efficient solution to the problem. However, this book shows that biometrics, far from securing identities and avoiding fraud or political distrust, can even participate in reinforcing exclusion and polarizing debates on citizenship and national belonging. It highlights the social and political embedding of legal identities and the resilience of the documentary state. Drawing on empirical research conducted across 14 countries, the book documents the processes, practices, and meanings of legal identification in Africa from the 1950s right up to the biometric boom. Beyond the classic opposition between surveillance and recognition, it demonstrates how analysing the social uses of IDs and tools of identification can give a fresh account of the state at work, the practices of citizenship, and the role of bureaucracy in the writing of the self in African societies. This book will be of an important reference for students and scholars of African studies, politics, human security, and anthropology and the sociology of the state.
Author: Jideofor Adibe
Publisher: Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 1909112917
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241
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Book Description
Who is an African? At face value, the answer seems obvious. Surely, everyone knows who the African is, it would seem. But the answer becomes less obvious once other probing qualifiers are added to the question. How is the African identity constructed in the face of the mosaic of identities that people of African ancestry living within and beyond the continent bear? Do all categorised as Africans or as having an African pedigree perceive themselves as Africans? Are all who perceive themselves as Africans accepted as such? Are there levels of "e;Africanness"e;, and are some more African than others? How does African identity interface with other levels of identity and citizenship in Africa? And what are the implications of the contentious nature of African identity and citizenship for the projects of pan-Africanism, the making of the Africa-nation, and Africa's development trajectories? Contributors to the volume, including Ali Mazrui, Kwesi Prah, Gamal Nkrumah, Helmi Sharawy and Marcel Kitissou, address these questions and more. They examine the issues of African identity and citizenship, the politics spurned by the co-existence of peoples of different Africanities in the same country, and the prospects of constructing an Africa-Nation in which Africans of all hues are as sentimentally attached to, as say, the Europeans are attached to Europe. Though the projects of pan-Africanism and the making of the Africa-nation have not achieved the desired levels of success, some of the contributors found sufficient grounds for optimism: These grounds include the deepening democratic ethos in the continent, which is believed will unleash a love of freedom that will supersede the fissiparous tendencies that underlie the various notions of Africanity; and the rise of new economic powers such as India and China, which are increasingly looking towards Africa as the next big destination. The emergence of Barrack Obama, whose father is Kenyan, as the President of the United States of America, also appears to be unleashing a new wave of can-do attitude. It is argued that for many Africans, Obama is both an African name they can relate to, and a metaphor expressing that anything is possible if you strive hard for it with the 'right attitude.' This 'right attitude' is an attitude that is post-chauvinism, for it is only by being post-racial and a reconciler that a Blackman, with an African Muslim father, who was not born into privilege, could emerge president of the most powerful country in the world. This lesson is not lost on Africans and it is a powerful boost to the African unity project.
Author: Séverine Awenengo Dalberto
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000380084
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 389
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Book Description
In the context of a global biometric turn, this book investigates processes of legal identification in Africa ‘from below,’ asking what this means for the relationship between citizens and the state. Almost half of the population of the African continent is thought to lack a legal identity, and many states see biometric technology as a reliable and efficient solution to the problem. However, this book shows that biometrics, far from securing identities and avoiding fraud or political distrust, can even participate in reinforcing exclusion and polarizing debates on citizenship and national belonging. It highlights the social and political embedding of legal identities and the resilience of the documentary state. Drawing on empirical research conducted across 14 countries, the book documents the processes, practices, and meanings of legal identification in Africa from the 1950s right up to the biometric boom. Beyond the classic opposition between surveillance and recognition, it demonstrates how analysing the social uses of IDs and tools of identification can give a fresh account of the state at work, the practices of citizenship, and the role of bureaucracy in the writing of the self in African societies. This book will be of an important reference for students and scholars of African studies, politics, human security, and anthropology and the sociology of the state.
Author: Bronwen Manby
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1848133537
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209
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Book Description
Hundreds of thousands of people living in Africa find themselves non-persons in the only state they have ever known. Because they are not recognised as citizens, they cannot get their children registered at birth or entered in school or university; they cannot access state health services; they cannot obtain travel documents, or employment without a work permit; and if they leave the country they may not be able to return. Most of all, they cannot vote, stand for office, or work for state institutions. Ultimately such policies can lead to economic and political disaster, or even war. The conflicts in both Côte d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo have had at their hearts the very right of one part of the national population to share with others on equal terms the rights and duties of citizenship. This book brings together new material from across Africa of the most egregious examples of citizenship discrimination, and makes the case for urgent reform of the law.
Author: Bronwen Manby
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 150992079X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 416
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Book Description
Citizenship in Africa provides a comprehensive exploration of nationality laws in Africa, placing them in their theoretical and historical context. It offers the first serious attempt to analyse the impact of nationality law on politics and society in different African states from a trans-continental comparative perspective. Taking a four-part approach, Parts I and II set the book within the framework of existing scholarship on citizenship, from both sociological and legal perspectives, and examine the history of nationality laws in Africa from the colonial period to the present day. Part III considers case studies which illustrate the application and misapplication of the law in practice, and the relationship of legal and political developments in each country. Finally, Part IV explores the impact of the law on politics, and its relevance for questions of identity and 'belonging' today, concluding with a set of issues for further research. Ambitious in scope and compelling in analysis, this is an important new work on citizenship in Africa.
Author: Edmond J. Keller
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781306481441
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 222
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Book Description
Reflecting on the processes of nation-building and citizenship formation in Africa, Edmond J. Keller believes that although some deep parochial identities have eroded, they have not disappeared and may be more assertive than previously thought, especially in instances of political conflict. Keller reconsiders how national identity has been understood in Africa and presents new approaches to identity politics, intergroup relations, state-society relations, and notions of national citizenship and citizenship rights. Focusing on Nigeria, Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, and Rwanda, he lays the foundation for a new understanding of political transition in contemporary Africa.
Author: Vivian Ojong
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 9956554987
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 112
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Book Description
“Migration and the politics of belonging has become buzzwords in the last quarter of the Twentieth and the first decades of Twenty-first Century. Countries and human beings, the world over are on the move. Government institutions in Africa, Europe and elsewhere are investing billions of their currencies to check migration flows. Those who navigate and crossed the international borders are scrutinized with derogatory terminologies. Taking South Africa as a case study and with the use of an interdisciplinary approach, the authors of this book have carved out yet another new fillip which adds to the budding scholarship. The authors have done justice to the topic. The inescapable attraction of this volume is the erudite verve/vitality, scintillating language and the engaging style which they employ to tell a complex story in a very simple way.” Associate Professor Walter Gam Nkwi, Institute of History, University of Leiden, The Netherlands This book approaches the issues of belonging from several perspectives. Utilising an historical approach and policy review to understand the past and current dynamics of belonging, the book provides a basis for understanding the contemporary picture of belonging and citizenship for African migrants in South Africa. Firstly, the historical development of the discourse of citizenship from the pre-apartheid era in South Africa is discussed, highlighting major shifts in perceptions towards African migrants in South Africa. Secondly, the book analyses access to citizenship and how it has implications for the belonging of African migrants in the country. Utilising ethnographic fieldwork, the book makes use of narratives and experiences of African migrants in selected spaces to gain an understanding of how issues of citizenship have structured their relationship with place and space in their migration destinations. It is a major observation that issues of citizenship and belonging are complex and subject to various processes which bring together both the migrants and host communities. On the side of host communities, it is evident that issues of legality structure access to citizenship, and legality is used as an important tool of inclusion and exclusion of foreign African migrants. The second important aspect is the interaction between migrants and the hosts which brings out a discourse of inclusion and exclusion based on identities and competition over access to resources and space. Citizenship and belonging are therefore not clear-cut processes but create complex situations in terms of theorising and managing the practicalities of migration. These complexities stem from the ambiguous processes of inclusion and exclusion of African migrants in South Africa. The tools which are meant to guarantee management of who belongs and who does not are incapable of functioning properly due to human innovativeness, which results in different forms of access mediated by social networks and other extra-legal means.
Author: Aquiline S. J. Tarimo
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 9956579998
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 162
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Book Description
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.
Author: Katariina Holma
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000732428
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322
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Book Description
Practices of Citizenship in East Africa uses insights from philosophical pragmatism to explore how to strengthen citizenship within developing countries. Using a bottom-up approach, the book investigates the various everyday practices in which citizenship habits are formed and reformulated. In particular, the book reflects on the challenges of implementing the ideals of transformative and critical learning in the attempts to promote active citizenship. Drawing on extensive empirical research from rural Uganda and Tanzania and bringing forward the voices of African researchers and academics, the book highlights the importance of context in defining how habits and practices of citizenship are constructed and understood within communities. The book demonstrates how conceptualizations derived from philosophical pragmatism facilitate identification of the dynamics of incremental change in citizenship. It also provides a definition of learning as reformulation of habits, which helps to understand the difficulties in promoting change. This book will be of interest to scholars within the fields of development, governance, and educational philosophy. Practitioners and policy-makers working on inclusive citizenship and interventions to strengthen civil society will also find the concepts explored in this book useful to their work. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429279171, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license
Author: Sarah Rich Dorman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004157905
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295
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Book Description
This book explores the instrumental manipulation of citizenship and narrowing definitions of national-belonging which refract political struggles in Zimbabwe, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Somalia, Tanzania, and South Africa, where conflicts are legitimated through claims of exclusionary nationhood and redefinitions of citizenship.
Author: Richard Banégas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192697781
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353
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Book Description
Identity documents provide rights to citizenship and social inclusion. They can also generate violence and conflicts. This book explores Côte d'Ivoire's 'ID war' as a paradigmatic case of a citizenship crisis, centered on the access to national identity cards and certificates. Using ethnographic and historical data, it shows how the documentary struggle for citizenship has continued in the post-crisis reconstruction, affecting the new policies of identification and registration based upon biometrics and new technologies. It describes how the latter have been overturned and reframed by the Ivorian society. Focusing on the production and negotiation of legal identities, the book delves into the social life of IDs and biometrics and describes the clandestine world of the 'margouillats', the corrupt brokers of the civil registry, the forms of documentary falsification aimed at taming legal and bureaucratic principles with the requirements of ordinary social life, the hidden practices of state apparatuses of identification and the local machinery of biometric registration, and the self-made censuses and systems of identification used by minorities seeking recognition in the public space. Through these ethnographic descriptions with a specific approach 'from below', the book shows that actual reforms supposed to depoliticize - and in the case of biometric technologies, to de-socialize - identification do not erase its constitutively political dimension. From a comparative perspective, the case of Côte d'Ivoire reveals the unprecedented revenge of the documentary state on the biometric state and encourages us to rethink their dyadic opposition in a more complex triangulation of identification, debt and recognition. Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations is a series for scholars and students working on African politics and International Relations and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on contemporary developments in African political science, political economy, and International Relations, such as electoral politics, democratization, decentralization, the political impact of natural resources, the dynamics and consequences of conflict, and the nature of the continent's engagement with the East and West. Comparative and mixed methods work is particularly encouraged. Case studies are welcomed but should demonstrate the broader theoretical and empirical implications of the study and its wider relevance to contemporary debates. The series focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, although proposals that explain how the region engages with North Africa and other parts of the world are of interest. General Editors Nic Cheeseman, Peace Medie, and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira.
