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- Convenor:
-
Katharina Newbery
Send message to Convenor
- Stream:
- Politics and International Relations
- Location:
- Appleton Tower, Seminar Room 2.14
- Sessions:
- Thursday 13 June, -, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Building on an understanding of the state as an ongoing and contested performance, this panel explores how national narratives are created, transformed and contested, to uphold or disrupt what the state stands for in different political contexts across the African continent.
Long Abstract:
The idea of the state remains contested in many parts of the African continent: Political elites, opposition parties, rebel groups, and 'the international community' can tell radically different stories of what a specific political community stands for or should become. Building on an understanding of the state as an ongoing and contested performance, this panel explores the politics of national narratives in Africa. National narratives are inherently political. They are used to connect images of a political community's past, present and future, and to provide a sense of continuity and purpose, silencing events and representations that threaten the foundational narratives of the state. They are drawn upon to legitimise domestic policies and can shape how a state engages with its international environment. At the same time, dominant narratives are always open to contestation and can be a site of political struggle. This panel will bring together papers that explore how dominant national narratives - and counter-narratives - are constituted and contested in African politics, and what they make possible; the forms of governance and international engagement they legitimise, challenge, and/or seek to naturalise. It invites papers that critically engage with the idea of 'the African state'. They can focus either on contemporary politics or historical perspectives.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 13 June, 2019, -Matthew Gordon (SOAS, University of London)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores how national narrative emerges when a bottom-up social contract of coexistence exists in place of state sovereignty. It argues that such a narrative, which is defined by contingency, indeterminacy and relationality, offers alternatives approaches to political praxis and justice.
Paper long abstract:
In 1991, following the rupture of civil war, in which the historical trajectory of Somalia as a nation ground to a halt, the 'Republic of Somaliland' emerged from the rubble. Amongst the contingency and singularity of an evental moment, northern Somali communities reclaimed a long-forgotten identity as the basis for the creation of a new polity, and 'Somaliland' emerged from the wilderness as a self-determination project lacking future direction or sovereign legitimacy. This paper will look at the atypical form of national narrative that emerged within the context of this unusual experiment in state-building, in which the polity formed through social contract, experimentation, relative international isolation and the absence of sovereignty. It will demonstrate that, rather than an organised, top-down process aimed at creating a coherent story of unity through the instruments of governance and culture, Somaliland's national narrative formation instead emerged in a bottom-up and pre-figurative fashion, in which abandoned past political possibilities arose in the consciousness of ordinary citizens as a political programme of hope and justice, with memory serving as a political force binding groups to peaceful coexistence. In short, what materialised was less a 'national narrative' than what Walter Benjamin called a 'weak messianic power', in which the past imposes itself on the present, opening up new political avenues and normative possibilities towards the future—one that annihilates liberal-universalist narratives of linear history. It will draw from Benjamin's alternative conception of history to demonstrate the uniqueness of Somaliland's political relationship to its history, one that is bottom-up, contingent, indeterminate, relational and concrete.
Cyrielle Maingraud-Martinaud (Sciences Po Bordeaux )
Paper short abstract:
This paper will analyse the contemporary reconfigurations of CCM's nationalism: built around the political langage of « peace and stability », this dominant national narrative has largely sustained the regime's authoritarian rule by maintaining its ability to shape the perceptions of the nation.
Paper long abstract:
Since the war against Uganda and the abandonment the socialist policies in the 70s-80s, the Tanzanian ruling elite has growingly relied on nationalism to justify its continuity in power. After the return to multipartism in 1992, the actors of the « de facto one-party State » (Makulilo 2006) have heavily mobilized the political langage (Martin 1998) of « peace and stability » whose words, images and arguments have remodeled Tanzanian nationalism in the post-socialist context (Fouéré 2011). This contemporary dominant national narrative has insisted on the necessity to protect national unity at all cost, against the centrifugal dynamics of racialism, tribalism and religious sectarianism but also of political pluralism.
Drawing from data collected for my PhD between 2013 and 2016, this paper will show how this political langage is performed in the Tanzanian political field and how it has been performed and has translated into legislation and practices that shape the imaginary of the nation. Secondly, it will evaluate the role of numerous non-political actors, such as mainstream religious leaders and intellectuals, who have been instrumental in its diffusion and legitimation. Finally, this paper will analyse how this political langage has been used by the ruling party CCM in a more general « politics of anxiety » to sustain its authoritarian governance. Despite some partially alternative narratives offered by the opposition, the CCM's continuity in power and its limited use of physical violence (in Tanzania mainland) can, indeed, largely be explained by its ability to shape perceptions of the nation.
John Clark (Florida International University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores how the foreign policies of African states track elite narratives about national liberation and national development over time; narratives about development have become more important over time and have guided changes the foreign policies of several African states.
Paper long abstract:
Emergent African elites in the 1950s and 1960s achieved the liberation of their respective nations through either armed struggle, (mostly) non-violent political struggle, or amiable dialogues about what post-colonial arrangements would be most amenable to both sides. These elites developed distinctive narratives for the popular consumption of their national constituents corresponding to these modes of national liberation. After independence, these narratives persisted in the national political dialogues of various countries, and largely served as the ideological foundation of the foreign policies of African states. As the case of Guinea-Conakry illustrates so well, these narratives often trumped existential national economic needs in foreign policy orientations. In opposite cases, like that of Côte d'Ivoire, cooperative narratives of liberation led to dependent, even subservient, international relationships with former metropoles. As "founding" national regimes were supplanted over time through the death of national leaders, coups d'état, and (rarely) national elections, liberation narratives were gradually replaced by narratives about national development. These follow-on discourses had an equally powerful influence over foreign policies as did liberation discourses; many African countries completely re-oriented their foreign policies in keeping with these new discourses. The re-emergence of China as a major player on the African continent, and as an alternative model of development, has more recently led to yet another round of "discourse reorientation" and corresponding changes in African foreign policies. This paper traces the changes in select African national narratives and foreign policies over time.
Katharina Newbery
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores how the Ethiopian government has (re)formulated, maintained and adapted dominant narratives of the Ethiopian state since the mid-1990s, and how these narratives have shaped its foreign policy of active engagement to 'stabilise' the Horn of Africa.
Paper long abstract:
Past and present political struggles to define a dominant narrative of the Ethiopian state are not only relevant to domestic politics and successive state-building projects, but also to Ethiopia's international relations. This paper explores the relationship between the post-1991 Ethiopian government's dominant biographical narrative of peace and development and its foreign policy of active engagement to 'stabilise' the Horn of Africa. In this context, it highlights the role that dominant national narratives play in seeking ontological security for the Ethiopian state as a distinct polity. The paper explores how the EPRDF-led Ethiopian government's narrative of peace and development was formulated in the 1990s, and how it defined Ethiopia's relationship with 'the region' by projecting Ethiopia as an international 'force for peace' and creating existential boundaries of the Ethiopian state that necessitate a foreign policy of active engagement to shape developments beyond its territorial borders in the Horn of Africa; a foreign policy outlook that was consolidated after the Ethio-Eritrean war. It further explores how the Ethiopian government has responded to challenges to its identification as an international 'force for peace' in the context of its military engagement in Somalia, drawing attention to sustained political efforts to maintain a discursive link between this core self-conception of the Ethiopian state and its international engagement. The paper builds on a discourse analysis of Ethiopian government representations since the mid-1990s and is based on newspaper archives and interview data collected during a year of fieldwork in Addis Ababa.
Teresa Almeida Cravo (University of Coimbra)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores the dual narratives which have long permeated Guinea-Bissau's politics and remain prevalent today: that of a nation which inherited Amílcar Cabral's deeds and mission, and that of a state which continuously fails to meet those raised hopes.
Paper long abstract:
Once known as the tiny nation which, at the hands of Amílcar Cabral, fought a successful liberation war against Europe's last imperial power, Guinea-Bissau quickly acquired the label of failed state and, most recently, that of "narco-state". These contrasting epithets do not only play out in the international sphere, but also domestically. The narrative surrounding Amílcar Cabral - and the pride and hope it evokes - appears to function internally, as well as externally, as a shadow over the precarious state of the country, purposefully mobilised to serve particular political goals. This paper explores the dual narratives which have long permeated Guinea-Bissau's politics and remain prevalent today - that of a nation which inherited Amílcar Cabral's deeds and mission, and that of a state which continuously fails to meet those raised hopes - in order to understand the role they play as sites of political struggle.
Kathrin Knodel (German Research Foundation (DFG))
Paper short abstract:
After the Burkinabe insurrection 2014 an expectable rearrangement of the political scene took place. This contribution sheds light on a national specificity: the politicisation of fashion in public and private contexts that can be understood as a statement and rewriting of the political narrative.
Paper long abstract:
History is always written backwards whereas disruptive events mark the turning of the page. Burkina Faso has been a much discussed example of a relatively peaceful and relatively successful insurrection and regime change since the corresponding events in 2014. Since then a rearrangement of the political scene has taken place as well as a rewriting of the national history. Part of this rewriting is the repositioning towards the former regime, its president and his predecessor. As such the country serves as a very enlightening example of politics, nation building and citizen identity as a process and on-going performance. Within an ever changing political context different aspects of history are highlighted, others are concealed.
Besides universal aspects of national narratives this contemporary anthropological contribution sheds light on a Burkinabe specificity: the politicisation of fashion in public and private contexts. The above mentioned processes of retelling the national narrative are materialized in a remarkable change in clothing and fashion. Dress style as part of everyday lifestyle has become highly political. Different actors and societal groups invented a fashion code that makes a statement about their understanding of the political past and their vision about the future. Namely, the groups that will be discussed in this paper are politicians of the recent government, urban youths and artists that all have their own way to perform the new state. While authorities prefer a specific type of hand-made clothes, urban youths and artists go for a sportive Burkinabe brand that stands for a certain patriotism.
Renzo Baas (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
Paper short abstract:
Because of Namibia's violent history, Government sees it as its responsibility to and reproduce its role in liberating Namibia through monuments and state narratives. This allows disruptions and ruptures as artists, authors, and the general public engage with history production.
Paper long abstract:
With the emergence of a culture of (post-colonial) monumentalisation of memory, the state has official authority of how and where history is retold. Heroes Acre, Independence Museum and Sam Nujoma Statues all point to the state's interest in maintaining its version of its "birth" while trying to absorb or undermine other histories. This happens although a number of colonial and apartheid monuments have remained within cityscapes, now being negotiated and made visible through engagement by artists, writers and activists. Besides the Reiterdenkmal, which was in fact relocated, many older tokens of Namibia's colonial history are under protection or have been remodeled or renamed.
Beginning with literary examples of how a nation can narrate itself into being (autobiography and fiction), and moving onto artistic as well as state interventions, this paper will trace how the state is constantly forced to re-tell and re-justify the validity of the power of its narrative. The token production of history (monuments, streets, memorials) facilitate this re-telling, but also allows for ruptures and disruptions in which meaning and signification are negotiated, contested, and reexamined. With this in mind, questions of how the state is able to reproduce itself on a consistent basis and how this becomes a metanarrative will be examined from a literary as well as political science perspective. The visibility of monuments simultaneously anchors the narrative in a visual manner while also creating the ultimate space to reflect on their status as episodes and their emphasis on telling the story of the state.