Displacing the state : religion and conflict in neoliberal Africa / edited by James Howard Smith and Rosalind I. J. Hackett ; foreword by R. Scott Appleby.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Smith, James Howard.

Hackett, Rosalind I. J.

Appleby, R. Scott, 1956-

Series:

Kroc Institute series on religion, conflict, and peace building.

Kroc Institute series on religion, conflict, and peace building

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social conflict--Africa--Religious aspects.

Social conflict.

Religion and state--Africa.

Religion and state.

Peace-building--Africa--Religious aspects.

Peace-building.

Africa--Religious life and customs.

Africa.

Physical Description:

xi, 299 p.

Place of Publication:

Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In colonial Africa, Christianity has often supported, sustained, and legitimated a violent process of governance. More recently, however, following decades of violence and oppression, churches and religious organizations have mobilized African publics against corrupt and abusive regimes and facilitated new forms of reconciliation and cooperation. It is the purpose of Displacing the State: Religion and Conflict in Neoliberal Africa to illustrate the nature of religion's ambivalent power in Africa while suggesting new directions in the study of religion, conflict, and peace studies, with a specific focus on sub-Saharan Africa. As the editors make clear, most of the literature on conflict and peacebuilding in Africa has been concerned with dramatic conflicts such as genocide and war. In these studies, "conflict"usually means a violent clash between parties with opposing interests, while "peace" implies reconciliation and cooperation between these parties, usually with a view to achieving a social order predicated on the idea of the sovereign national state whose hegemony is viewed as normative. The contributors argue that this perspective is inadequate for understanding the nature, depth, and persistence of conflict in Africa. In contrast, the chapters in this volume adopt an ethnographic approach, often focusing on mundane manifestations of both conflict and peace, and in so doing draw attention to the ambiguities and ambivalences of conflict and peace in everyday life. The volume therefore focuses our attention on the extent to which everyday conflict contributes to subsequently larger and more highly visible clashes. Displacing the State makes two important contributions to the study of religion, conflict, and peacebuilding. First, it shows how peace is conceptualized and negotiated in daily life, often in ways that are counterintuitive and anything but peaceful. Second, the volume uses African case studies to confront assumptions about the nature of the relationships among religion, conflict, and peace.

Contents:

Religious dimensions of conflict and peace in a neoliberal Africa: an introduction / James Howard Smith

Forgiveness with consequences: scriptures, Qené, and traditions of restorative justice in nineteenth-century Ethiopia / Charles Schaefer

Making peace with the devil: the political life of devil worship rumors in Kenya / James Howard Smith

The Mungiki movement: a source of religio-political conflict in Kenya / Grace Nyatugah Wamue-Ngare

Magic as identity maker: conflict and militia formation in eastern Congo / Koen Vlassenroot

Religion, politics, and gender in Zimbabwe: the Masowe apostles and Chimurenga religion / Isabel Mukonyora

"Devil bustin' satellites": how media liberalization in Africa generates religious intolerance and conflict / Rosalind I. J. Hackett

Mediating armageddon: popular Christian video films as a source of conflict in Nigeria / Asonzeh F.-K. Ukah

"The domestic relations bill" and inter-religious conflict in Uganda: a Muslim reading of personal law and religious pluralism in a postcolonial society / Abasi Kiyimba.

Notes:

"The volume has its remote origins in an international conference held in Jinja, Uganda, from March 31 to April 3, 2004, and sponsored by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame"--Foreword.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780268092771

026809277X

OCLC:

793012612