Essay · 2019
Ethnic Diversity in Africa Is Not the Cause of Conflict
Africa is often described as the world's most ethnically diverse continent, and its civil wars are frequently reported as tribal or ethnic in nature. This essay pushes back on that shorthand, arguing that ethnic diversity itself is not the cause of conflict. Drawing on the three dominant theories of ethnic identity, primordialism, constructivism and instrumentalism, it uses the Nigerian Biafran War as a case study to show how colonial borders, unequal access to power, religion and competition over resources like oil combined to produce violence. It closes with a reading of contemporary Nigeria, where corruption, marginalisation and insurgency continue to expose the structural, rather than ancestral, roots of conflict across many African states.
By Yemisi Johnson · Essay · PDF
Summary
Africa is often described as the world's most ethnically diverse continent, and its civil wars are frequently reported as tribal or ethnic in nature. This essay pushes back on that shorthand, arguing that ethnic diversity itself is not the cause of conflict. Drawing on the three dominant theories of ethnic identity, primordialism, constructivism and instrumentalism, it uses the Nigerian Biafran War as a case study to show how colonial borders, unequal access to power, religion and competition over resources like oil combined to produce violence. It closes with a reading of contemporary Nigeria, where corruption, marginalisation and insurgency continue to expose the structural, rather than ancestral, roots of conflict across many African states.
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