February 2024 MBR The International Studies Shelf

The International Studies Shelf

Belonging, Identity, and Conflict in the Central African Republic
Gino Vlavonou
University of Wisconsin Press
www.uwpress.wisc.edu
9780299345709, $89.95, HC, 256pp

https://www.amazon.com/Belonging-Identity-Conflict-Central-Republic/dp/0299=
34570X

Synopsis: Political conflict in many parts of the world has been shaped by =
notions of who rightfully belongs to a place. The concept of autochthony (t=
hat a true, original people are born of a land and belong to it above all o=
thers) has animated struggles across post-colonial Africa. But is this sens=
e of rootedness from time immemorial necessary to assertions of original be=
ing and thus political supremacy?

With the publication of "Belonging, Identity, and Conflict in the Central A=
frican Republic" by Gino Vlavonou (a Program Officer at the Social Sciences=
 and Humanities Research Council of Canada) deftly examines how political c=
onflict unfolds when the language of autochthony is detached from historica=
l land claims.

Focusing on violent struggles in the Central African Republic between 2012 =
and 2019, Vlavonou explores the social practices, discursive strategies, an=
d government policies that emerged in the relentless project of African sta=
te building.

Conflict and power struggles pitted Christian-animist communities, loosely =
organized as vigilante groups under the name anti-Balaka, against Muslim re=
bels known as the Seleka. Fighters of the anti-Balaka claimed that they wer=
e autochthonous, the "true Central Africans," reframing their Muslim neighb=
ors as foreigners to be expelled.

While the country had previously witnessed episodes of violence, both peopl=
es had lived together relatively peacefully and intermarried. The speed and=
 ferocity with which identity was weaponized puzzled many observers.

To understand this phenomenon, Vlavonou probes autochthony as a category of=
 identity that differs from ethnicity in important ways. He argues that eli=
tes and ordinary citizens alike mobilize the language of original belonging=
 as "identity capital," a resource to be deployed. The value of that capita=
l is lodged in what people say and do every day to give meaning to their id=
entity, and its content changes across time and space.

Critique: An impressively original, seminal, and ground-breaking work of ex=
haustive research and meticulous scholarship, Gino Vlavadnou's "Belonging, =
Identity, and Conflict in the Central African Republic" from the University=
 of Wisconsin Press also includes a number of figures and tables, as well a=
s eighteen pages of Notes, a twenty-two page listing of Resources, and an e=
ighteen page Index. Of special and particular value to readers with an inte=
rest in 20th & 21st Century national building in Central Africa, "Belonging=
, Identity, and Conflict in the Central African Republic" is a welcome and =
exceptionally informative contribution to personal, professional, and colle=
ge/university library Central African International Studies collections and=
 supplemental curriculum studies lists.

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