By Peter G. Forster, Michael Hitchcock, Francis F. Lyimo
Race and ethnicity stay very important if unwelcome elements in sleek politics. this can be obtrusive in East Africa: the ethnic issue is usually dominant in multi-party elections, whereas in Rwanda and Burundi bloodshed and genocidal assaults were associated with ethnic distinction. This e-book examines the phenomena of race and ethnicity mostly, yet with specific connection with Africa, in particular the East. The impression of non-indigenous teams is taken into account, including ethnic transformations among Africans. The relevance of tourism and faith is usually tested.
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Example text
But some measure of difference in culture can exist side by side with many values held in common, or with a particular set of values seen as appropriate in inter-ethnic contacts. There are all sorts of ways apart from prejudice by which such differences can be managed. Yet again, some see ethnic nationalism as a legitimate response to oppression by a majority culture. The boundaries between race and ethnicity have already been acknowledged to be blurred, and some would defend movements like the Black Panthers, who gained some prominence in the United States in the late 1960s, on the same basis.
The view that ethnicity is primordial is supported by Geertz (1963). He sees ethnic identity as derived from being born into a particular community, where an individual learns its religion and cultural values, customs, and language. There is a feeling of being bound to other members of the same ethnic group not through choice, tactics, or common or reciprocal interest, but 22 Race and Ethnicity in East Africa through some ‘absolute import attributed to the very tie itself’ (Geertz 1963: 109). The bonds in question are similar to those of kinship, and are felt to involve behavioural expectations that are somehow sacred.
The missionaries for their part welcomed the idea of colonialism and felt that it would make them more effective. The aim of such an exercise was expected to be mutual benefit; there was no notion of incompatibility of interest between the colonizer and the colonized. The impetus towards political annexation was strengthened by competition between colonial powers, and the Berlin West African Conference of 1884–5 was the most ambitious of a number of exercises designed to ensure that conflicts over African interests would not fan the flames of potential disputes between major European powers.