War & the politics of identity in Ethiopia : making enemies & allies in the Horn of Africa / Kjetil Tronvoll.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tronvoll, Kjetil, author.

Series:

Eastern African studies (London, England)

Eastern Africa series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Eritrean-Ethiopian War, 1998-2000.

Group identity--Political aspects--Ethiopia.

Group identity.

Ethnicity--Ethiopia.

Ethnicity.

War and society--Ethiopia.

War and society.

Ethiopia--Politics and government--1991-.

Ethiopia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 239 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

War & the Politics of Identity in Ethiopia

Place of Publication:

Suffolk : Boydell & Brewer, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Images of war, narratives of suffering and notions of ethnicity are intrinsically linked to Western perceptions of Africa. Filtered through a mostly international media the information of African wars is confined to narrow categories of explanation emerging from and adapted to a Western history and political culture. This book aims at reversing this process; to look at war and suffering from the point of view of those who fight it and suffer through it. In doing so it reveals that the simplistic models explaining contemporary wars in Africa which are reproduced in a Western discourse are basically false. This book examines the understanding of war and the impact of warfare on the formation and conceptualisation of identities in Ethiopia. Building on historical trajectories of enemy images, the recent Eritean-Ethiopian war [1998-2000] is used as an empirical backdrop to explore war's formative impact, by analysing politics of identity and shifting perceptions of enemies and allies. KJETIL TRONVOLL is Professor in Human Rights, Peace and Conflict Studies at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo. His other publications include 'Brothers at War: Making Sense of the Eritrean-Ethiopian War' (co-author; James Currey/Ohio University Press, 2000) and 'The Ethiopian Red Terror Trials: Transitional Justice Challenged' (co-editor; James Currey 2009).

Contents:

Making Enemies & Allies

Land, Hierarchy & Alliances in Highland Ethiopia

Historical Trajectories of enemy images

Alternating Enemies & Allies : Ethnicity in Play

War Behind the Front Lines : Individual Approaches

Reconstructing 'Ethiopianness' : Competing Nationalisms

Ethiopia & its Malcontents : Purifying the Nation

Arresting Ethiopian Nationalism

Postscript : After War, New Enemies.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 220-231) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-98823-9

9786612988233

1-84615-776-5

OCLC:

701053860