Rethinking Violence in Africa

In discourses of violence, Africa -- whether as a geography, a concept, or a racialized entity -- is a familiar context. The long histories and legacies of slaveries and colonialisms have ensured that the subject of violence and conflict readily suggests itself whenever the idea of Africa is invoked...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Peace review (Palo Alto, Calif.) Calif.), 2017-07, Vol.29 (3), p.275-281
Main Authors: Adesola, Ademola, Anyaduba, Chigbo Arthur
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Colonialism
Conflict
Discourse analysis
Geography
Slavery
Violence
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Summary:In discourses of violence, Africa -- whether as a geography, a concept, or a racialized entity -- is a familiar context. The long histories and legacies of slaveries and colonialisms have ensured that the subject of violence and conflict readily suggests itself whenever the idea of Africa is invoked. The continent's familiarity with the subject of violence is also the result of a legacy of Western misrepresentations of realities on the continent and a result of manufactured conditions of violence discussed subsequently in this essay. To ask about violent conflicts in Africa has become a kind of anachronism for describing what philosopher Achille Mbembe describes in his book, On the Postcolony, as "a never-ending process of brutalization" constituting a singular force of history on the continent. The subjects and realities of violence in Africa are, so to speak, not new.
ISSN:1040-2659
1469-9982
DOI:10.1080/10402659.2017.1344526