The Perils of Belonging

by Geschiere, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780226289656
• ISBN10: 0226289656
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-30
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Despite being told that we now live in a cosmopolitan world, more and more people have begun to assert their identities in ways that are deeply rooted in the local. These claims of autochthonymeaning "born from the soil"seek to establish an irrefutable, primordial right to belong and are often employed in politically charged attempts to exclude outsiders. InThe Perils of Belonging, Peter Geschiere traces the concept of autochthony back to the classical period and incisively explores the idea in two very different contexts: Cameroon and the Netherlands. In both countries, the momentous economic and political changes following the end of the cold war fostered anxiety over migration. For Cameroonians, the question of who belongs where rises to the fore in political struggles between different tribes, while the Dutch invoke autochthony in fierce debates over the integration of immigrants. This fascinating comparative perspective allows Geschiere to examine the emotional appeal of autochthonyas well as its dubious historical basisand to shed light on a range of important issues, such as multiculturalism, national citizenship, and migration.

Author Biography

Peter Geschiere is professor of African anthropology at the University of Amsterdam and the author of The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Autochthony-the Flip Side of Globalization?	p. I
A Primordial yet Global Form of Belonging?	p. 2
Autochthony's Genealogy: Some Elements	p. 6
Autochthony Now: Globalization and the Neoliberal Turn	p. 16
Autochthony and the Tenacity of the Nation-State	p. 21
Historical Construction, Political Manipulation and Emotional Power	p. 26
Approach: From Identity to Subjectivation and Aesthetics	p. 31
Chapter Overview	p. 35
Cameroon: Autochthony, Democratization, and New Struggles over Citizenship	p. 39
Belonging to a Nonexistent Province	p. 41
Elite Associations and Autochthony: Different Degrees of Citizenship?	p. 43
The "Sea People" Protected by the New Constitution	p. 49
Debates in the Cameroonian Press	p. 53
Autochthony's "Naturalness": The Funeral as a Final Test for Belonging	p. 55
A Tortuous History	p. 57
An Empty Discourse with Segmentary Implications	p. 63
Conclusion	p. 64
Cameroon: Decentralization and Belonging	p. 66
The East and the New Importance of the Forest	p. 69
The New Forest Law	p. 72
Participation in Practice	p. 74
The Elusive Community	p. 76
The Community as Stakeholder: Belonging and Exclusion	p. 81
Village or Grande Famille?	p. 83
The Halfhearted Belonging of the External Elites	p. 86
Discovering Allogenes at Ever Closer Range	p. 89
Conclusion	p. 94
African Trajectories	p. 97
Ivory Coast: Identification and Exclusion	p. 98
Elsewhere in Africa	p. 117
"Pygmy" Predicaments: Can Only Citizens Qualify as Autochthons?	p. 124
Autochthony in Europe: The Dutch Turn	p. 130
The Dutch Switch: From Multiculturalism to Cultural Integration	p. 134
Overview: How the Netherlands Became an "Immigration Country"	p. 137
National Consensus and Its History-the Dutch Way	p. 139
Alternative Solutions	p. 142
A More Forceful Integration	p. 144
Allochtonen: A New Term on the Dutch Scene	p. 147
Elusive Autochthony	p. 153
History and Culture	p. 155
Comparisons	p. 162
Cameroon: Nation-Building and Autochthony as Processes of Subjectivation	p. 169
Nation-Building as an Everyday Reality	p. 172
Rituals of Belonging: The Funeral at Home as a Celebration of Autochthony	p. 190
Epilogue: Can the Land Lie? Autochthony's Uncertainties in Africa and Europe	p. 212
Varying Patterns of Nation-Building in Africa and Their Implications	p. 213
Autochthony and the Search for Ritual in Europe	p. 218
Notes	p. 225
Bibliography	p. 263
Index	p. 279
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