The Political Logic of Cultural Revival Ethnic Visibility, Linked Fate, and Electoral Politics in Africa

by Robinson, Amanda Lea

• ISBN13: 9780198909712
• ISBN10: 0198909713
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780198909736
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2025-02-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Since 2008, prominent members of the Lhomwe ethnic group - a large but politically marginalized community in Malawi - have waged an aggressive campaign to revive their lost cultural heritage, including their language, names, foods, and dances. Existing research has linked such processes of “inventing tradition” to the strategic actions of political elites who benefit from mobilizing members of marginalized ethnic communities for political ends. Yet, because existing research has focused primarily on elite incentives, we know less about how such elite-led efforts translate into lasting cultural change and active political support among regular people.

The Political Logic of Cultural Revival, through an in-depth study of the Lhomwe revival, argues that political elites invest in such revivals when doing so will bear political returns via increased ethnic visibility. Ethnopolitical leaders benefit from having the identity of their group members easily visible to others, because such visibility ties those individuals' fate to that of the larger group. Elite-led cultural revivals serve as a powerful tool for reifying distinctive group characteristics and incentivizing the adoption of related ethnic markers by (1) engendering demand for cultural distinctiveness by stoking group-based pride and (2) supplying the means to achieve it through explicit cultural instruction. Using a plethora of original data sources, The Political Logic of Cultural Revival provides a deep description of the (re)invention of a lost culture, as well as a general theory about how ethnic visibility is related to the practice of ethnic politics.

Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations is a series for scholars and students working on African politics and International Relations and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on contemporary developments in African political science, political economy, and International Relations, such as electoral politics, democratization, decentralization, gender and political representation, the political impact of natural resources, the dynamics and consequences of conflict, comparative political thought, and the nature of the continent's engagement with the East and West. Comparative and mixed methods work is particularly encouraged, as is interdisciplinary research and work that considers ethical issues relating to the study of Africa. Case studies are welcomed but should demonstrate the broader theoretical and empirical implications of the study and its wider relevance to contemporary debates. The focus of the series is on sub-Saharan Africa, although proposals that explain how the region engages with North Africa and other parts of the world are of interest.

Series Editors: Nic Cheeseman (University of Birmingham), Peace Medie (University of Bristol), and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira (University of Oxford).

Author Biography

Amanda Robinson, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Ohio State University

Amanda Lea Robinson (PhD, Stanford University, 2013) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Ohio State University. Her research focuses on the interactions between culture and politics in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular emphasis on Malawi. Her past research has addressed the political causes and consequences of ethnic and national group identification in sub-Saharan Africa, and on how group identification impacts interethnic trust and cooperation in diverse settings. She is currently pursuing several lines of research, including the political implications of cultural revival in Malawi, African immigrant assimilation and political participation in the United States, and gendered constraints on political engagement across Africa.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction2. The Political Returns to Cultural RevivalPART I: (In)Visible Ethnicity3. The Lhomwe in Context: Ethnicity and Politics in Malawi4. Hidden Members: Variation in Ethnic Visibility5. Ethnic Visibility, Linked Fate, and VotingPART II: Cultural Revival6. 'We Are Here': The Lhomwe Cultural Revival7. Group-based Pride and the Adoption of Ethnic Markers8. Beyond Visiblity9. Conclusion