"Tribalism" is the name that has been given to the tendency of African politicians to favor members of their ethnic groups to the detriment of all others. This has been recently brought home not only by the claims of this article but also by the recent civil war in Libya which Gaddafi's otherwise intelligent son promised would be fought on ethnic basis. The purpose of this brief piece is simply to unveil two lies on which this ethnic favoritism is based.
First, an ethnic group is a fiction. This does not mean that an ethnic group does not exist; there are many ethnic groups all over the world and many people have died on the basis of ethnic differences. Telling people in Rwanda or the former Yugoslavia that ethinicity is a fiction would not make much sense to them because they know people who have been killed on the basis of ethnicity. Ethnic groups or groups that have the impression that they are of the same ethnicity do exist. But these groups are usually more diverse than they may admit. Ethnic groups usually hold the false belief that they have the same ancestral background. But this is not true of any ethnic group. Most people who believe that they are members of the same ethnic group are people who actually came from different places to live together in one place. Take the example of the Babungo people of Cameroon. They call themselves Vengo, which means "of the same family." This gives the impression that Bagungo people have the same ancestral background. But that is in fact not true. The history of the Vengo people shows how they came from different places to dwell in their current location in the the north west province of Cameroon. Even in the last one hundred years or so, many people have come from other regions in Cameroon to make Bagungo their home. They are now thoroughly immersed in the Babungo tradition. Stories like this abound all over Africa and they have been pointed out by scholars of African studies. The case of how Tutsis and Hutus developed mixed identity in Rwanda is well known.
This mixedness of identity and ethnicity in Africa has not stopped uncrupulous politicians from deceiving people with rhetoric of ethnic idenity. From southern to northern Africa fake ethnic identies have been ossified to weep up sentiment and win votes for politicians who do not even care about the people they claim to be members of their ethnic groups. And herein lies the second lie. Members of the the so-called ethnic groups to which an opportunistic politician come, are made to believe that they have a stake in defending a politician from that ethnic group. However, many of these people live in desperate poverty. Take the Beti people in Cameroon. Paul Biya has deceived them into believing that they have a stake in defending the Biya regime. And many of them have fallen for it. However, most of them are desperately poor. Theirs is one of the least developed region in Cameroon. The only one benefiting from this ethnic illusion is Paul Biya.
One of the most impotant jobs that Cameroonians in particular and Africans in general can do for each other is to help each other understand just how fake this idea of ethnicity is and how politicians have been using this fake idea to make themselves rich at the expense of everyone else. We are far more related to each other than our politicians care to tell us. Our shared goal should be to throw out those who want to use the fake idea of ethnicity against us. This lie of ethnicity is standing in the way of much that we could do.
First, an ethnic group is a fiction. This does not mean that an ethnic group does not exist; there are many ethnic groups all over the world and many people have died on the basis of ethnic differences. Telling people in Rwanda or the former Yugoslavia that ethinicity is a fiction would not make much sense to them because they know people who have been killed on the basis of ethnicity. Ethnic groups or groups that have the impression that they are of the same ethnicity do exist. But these groups are usually more diverse than they may admit. Ethnic groups usually hold the false belief that they have the same ancestral background. But this is not true of any ethnic group. Most people who believe that they are members of the same ethnic group are people who actually came from different places to live together in one place. Take the example of the Babungo people of Cameroon. They call themselves Vengo, which means "of the same family." This gives the impression that Bagungo people have the same ancestral background. But that is in fact not true. The history of the Vengo people shows how they came from different places to dwell in their current location in the the north west province of Cameroon. Even in the last one hundred years or so, many people have come from other regions in Cameroon to make Bagungo their home. They are now thoroughly immersed in the Babungo tradition. Stories like this abound all over Africa and they have been pointed out by scholars of African studies. The case of how Tutsis and Hutus developed mixed identity in Rwanda is well known.
This mixedness of identity and ethnicity in Africa has not stopped uncrupulous politicians from deceiving people with rhetoric of ethnic idenity. From southern to northern Africa fake ethnic identies have been ossified to weep up sentiment and win votes for politicians who do not even care about the people they claim to be members of their ethnic groups. And herein lies the second lie. Members of the the so-called ethnic groups to which an opportunistic politician come, are made to believe that they have a stake in defending a politician from that ethnic group. However, many of these people live in desperate poverty. Take the Beti people in Cameroon. Paul Biya has deceived them into believing that they have a stake in defending the Biya regime. And many of them have fallen for it. However, most of them are desperately poor. Theirs is one of the least developed region in Cameroon. The only one benefiting from this ethnic illusion is Paul Biya.
One of the most impotant jobs that Cameroonians in particular and Africans in general can do for each other is to help each other understand just how fake this idea of ethnicity is and how politicians have been using this fake idea to make themselves rich at the expense of everyone else. We are far more related to each other than our politicians care to tell us. Our shared goal should be to throw out those who want to use the fake idea of ethnicity against us. This lie of ethnicity is standing in the way of much that we could do.
1 comment:
I think your view on ethnicity is so interesting. I've read before that ethnicity is a thing that was made up by Europeans but I never really gave it much thought. But really it makes so much since that ethnicity is just something that is made up. It seems that ethnicity doesn't really become a problem until outside forces start to point out differences or make up differences between those of different ethnic groups. For instance, like I addressed in my paper over the Hutu and Tutsi's, there really was no problem between the two groups until Europeans (Germains and Belgiums) stressed a difference between the two groups and made the fluidity between the two stop, causing ethnic conflict.
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