Joined: 07 Feb 2007 {Posts: 1301 } Location: Lookin DC Metro, Feelin Geneva
Posted: Wed 14 Mar 2007 16:34 Post subject: Africa and Ethnic Diversity
There has never been a country as diverse as America in recorded history, but America did not start off as very diverse, well not the original British Colonies. Often we seem to forget that. Even the idea of Irish and German immigrants greatly bothered some of the founding fathers. Natives were often pushed off into the hinterland and the only real diversity was between black slaves and English, Welsh, Irish, or Scots. There were a handful of Dutch in the north and some French as well, but they were regionally isolated for the most part.
I'm in the process of trying to get admitted to a Ph.D. program and I'm thinking about dissertation topics.
I am highly interested in economic development and I have been curious as to how beneficial diversity is to development. From what I have seen the more diverse a country that is poor the more unstable it is or the more clannish people are, neither are conducive to a flexible market. In Africa it seems the most diverse countries are the most unstable.
Westerns criticize Africa a great deal but the truth is most Western nations were formed due to war and particularly forced assimilation or genocide. There are many European ethnicities that existed in the Greek and Roman classical periods that no longer exist today. Today genocide and forced assimilation are unfashionable but that was not the case even 150 years ago. Europe consolidated into nation states by the sword and gun, something Africa’s artificial states can no longer do, without facing the wrath of the international community, they are so dependent on for aid and trade. If we look at some of the economically successful countries that have come out of colonization or near universal poverty in the last 200 years, most of them are in Asia, and a handful in Latin America, almost all of them are culturally and ethnically homogenous…this is especially true in Asia. All of these countries have a majority ethnic group that is over 50%, usually over 80% of the population…the few minorities are trivial and hardly a destabilizing factor. Countries that have seen destabilization are usually the more homogenous, such as Indonesia. China has also, to be fair, but this was not due to ethnicity as much as political upheaval. I believe the trend generally holds that ethnically homogenous societies are more stable and develop economically much more efficiently.
Back to Africa, I wonder what the future is for a country like Nigeria that has over 200 languages spoken in a country about 1/3 as big as the United States, where there is no real majority ethnic group. The only other examples of Western nations where I have seen this are Switzerland and Belgium, but Switzerland especially are so politically devolved they are barely nation-states as we know them in the modern sense, they are truly federations, to the point they have no head of state. Can a country the size of Nigeria really operate with such weak sovereignty, especially in a nation with abundant natural resources that draw great wealth?
Posted: Wed 30 May 2007 23:23 Post subject: africa and ethnic diversity
I have just been reading the lists and took exception to this post. We discuss these issues with so little real scholarship. Ethnic identities are manufactured Whiteness was manufactured just as English is manufactured. The Cornish Welsh Lancastrians all had separate identities whereas the Welsh continue while the Cornish is largely subterranean now. The romantic notion of race and blood was an invention. The Civil War in Nigeria created 'Nigerians' as the population finally decided to accept the newly created identity. German identity is manufactured from Prussian and various other identities in 19th C. The lists talks about race as if it were 'real'. A white person can become African and an African can become English. How the host community responds is a secondary issue. Italians have a secret split between north and south with northerners thinking southerners are not the same race! In a war the black soldier could be in the US British, Polish or South African army! The concept of 'European' was very weak but the EU is trying to strengthen it. I have come across people who are totally white but who cannot accept that identity and insist on their africanness -- one was from south africa and offically passed for white but could not live that identity. The discussion allows the hosts community response too much power ... the hosts community response is practically important but not determinant.
Posted: Thu 31 May 2007 13:51 Post subject: Re: africa and ethnic diversity
napata wrote:
I have just been reading the lists and took exception to this post. We discuss these issues with so little real scholarship. Ethnic identities are manufactured Whiteness was manufactured just as English is manufactured.
That may be true, but that has no bearing on the fact that people who accept these identities have an investment in them and see them as real and grounds for excluding or including people like themselves.
napata wrote:
The Civil War in Nigeria created 'Nigerians' as the population finally decided to accept the newly created identity.
The attempt by the Ibo to succeed from the rest of Nigeria led to the civil war. Prior to that, attempts were made by the British to create a Nigeria culled together from various ethnic/cultural groups, all of whom were different, so arguably, it was the British who attempted to create Nigerians.
The civil war was an attempt to keep Nigeria unified, in spite of its cultural diversity. Today many Nigerians may see themselves as Nigerian as far as their nationality is concerned, but most still see themselves as part of an ethnicity first, and that is how they primarily organize their lives. In fact, since the Biafran War, there have been several instances of violence fueled by ethnic and ethic/religious tensions. Furthermore, ethnic competition has fueled Nigeria’s political system since that time; political parties are primarily ethnic based. The fact that these identities are manufactured hasn’t staved off ethnic conflict in that country.
Quote:
The discussion allows the hosts community response too much power ... the hosts community response is practically important but not determinant.
I’m not sure what this has to do with Dragon Horse’s main theme: cultural diversity may be a hindrance to economic development in Nigeria and other ethically/culturally diverse regions in Africa and elsewhere.
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