Synopses & Reviews
In times of globalization, the study of the local has gained relevance. The production of locality has come under scrutiny, the result of historical and social change reproduced in everyday interaction. In recent years, African history and anthropology deconstructed many of their core strategies and concepts: ethnicity, community, and the state. Constructions of Belonging applies new approaches to the study of a small, densely populated region of West Africa, integrating them into a regional history that analyses interactions between localities and the modern state. This work demonstrates that local communities reacted with a mix of resistance and creative adaptation to the pressures from the state and other forces of modernity. While primarily a contribution to the historical and anthropological study of Africa, the book also provides lessons for students of African politics and development. Axel Harneit-Sievers is a research fellow at the Center for Modern Oriental Studies, and director of the Nigeria Office of the Heinrich Bvll Foundation in Lagos.
Synopsis
Constructions of Belonging provides a history of local communities living in Southeastern Nigeria since the late nineteenth century, examining the processes that have defined, changed, and re-produced these communities. Harneit-Sievers explores both the meanings and the uses that the community members have given to their particular areas, while also looking at the processes that have shaped local communities, and have made them work and continue to be relevant, in a world dominated by the modern territorial state and by worldwide flows of people, goods, and ideas. Axel Harneit-Sievers is a research fellow at the Center for Modern Oriental Studies, and director of the Nigeria Office of the Heinrich Boll Foundation in Lagos.
Synopsis
Applies new approaches to the study of a small, densely populated region of West Africa, integrating them into a regional history that analyzes interactions between localities and the modern state.
Constructions of Belonging provides a history of local communities living in Southeastern Nigeria since the late nineteenth century, examining the processes that have defined, changed, and re-produced these communities. Harneit-Sievers explores both the meanings and the uses that the community members have given to their particular areas, while also looking at the processes that have shaped local communities, and have made them work and continue tobe relevant, in a world dominated by the modern territorial state and by worldwide flows of people, goods, and ideas.
Axel Harneit-Sievers is a Research Fellow at the Center for Modern Oriental Studies, and Director ofthe Nigeria Office of the Heinrich B ll Foundation in Lagos.