Africa Health and Development International (AHADI) will convene a regional conference on the opportunities and challenges of ethnic diversity in eastern Africa on 15-17th October 2009. The Conference is supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. The Coordinator is Prof. Kimani Njogu, a linguistic and cultural theorist currently with AHADI and Twaweza Communications, Nairobi. Kimani did his Ph.D. at Yale University and returned to teach at Kenyatta University, before moving on to work within civil society.

The conference will bring together participants from academic and civil society institutions in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Burundi and Rwanda. The aim is to create a space for candid discussions on ethnicity as an identity and ways in which diversity can be made a viable resource for political, economic and social well-being. Some of the issues to be discussed at the Conference include the following:

1. What is the nature of ethnicity in contemporary Africa? By discussing ethnicity as a form of identity, participants will attempt to understand how it plays out within politics, the economy, social and cultural life. Significantly, they will explore ways in which nation-states are addressing this form of identity through processes of ‘inclusion’ in governance, representation, resource allocation and distribution.
2. How is ethnicity a political and social construct? Identities are not fixed but are constantly shifted, negotiated and contested. They can also be deconstructed and reconstructed and there are many examples of how ethnic branding and re-branding have been undertaken or attempted, including a recent (2005) effort by the British government to re-name ethnic minorities. In many African countries, ethnic identities are a consequence of political and social engineering and that is how communities such as the Kalenjin, Luhya, Tutsi, Hutu and Yoruba came into being. The colonial partition of Africa set in motion a number of events and early colonial ideas about African communities incorporated late 19th century evolutionist arguments and European concepts of ‘nation’. Starting from the premise that Africans belonged to a single ‘tribe’ which was distinct in its physiological, linguistic and cultural manifestations and inhabited a particular territory which was governed by a Council of Elders or a Chief, colonial officers proceeded to ‘map’ communities and the realignment of identities and jurisdiction. The assumption was that families combined to form ‘clans’, and many ‘clans’ made’ tribes’ which together constituted the ‘nation’. Meanwhile, missionaries needed a systematic linguistic access to communities and through translation of the Bible, re-writing of the catechism and standardization and codification of dialects and grammars they created larger categories of ethnic consciousness. These new ethnic identities later became the objects of struggle in the cultural politics of defining ‘proper’ identity and behaviour. The Conference will draw examples from a number of countries to show that ‘ethnic’ identity is transitory and malleable and that fixation on ethnic identity can be challenged.
3. How can ethnic diversity be turned into a resource for political, economic and social development? In most of Africa, there is evidence of politicized inter-ethnic rivalry and ethnic mobilization to acquire, maintain or monopolize power. ‘Political ethnicity’ (differentiated from ‘moral ethnicity’) has also been viewed as a major barrier to human and economic development although ethnically bound welfare organizations do influence the economic and social life of citizens especially in the rural areas. In most of Africa, it is through ethnic identification that competition for influence in the state and in the allocation of resources becomes apparent. Occasionally, governments have sought to address this challenge through ‘ethnic and regional balancing’ in political appointments; a form of ‘hegemonial exchange’. But the exchange does not always work and rebellion ensures as citizens feel marginalized from centres of power. In order to address ethnic rivalry at the political arena, it is important to have candid discussions about ethnicity and political representation.

In other words, conversations about ethnicity must of necessity explore political and economic needs of citizens. This is because ethnicity by itself is not a problem: it is the way it is used for political and economic survival and concealment of exploitative practices as well as its tendency to exclude. Used positively, it has functioned as a resource and engine of development in rural areas through mobilization of resources and maximization of opportunities within the nation-state or beyond.

The conference will explore the following issues:

• How can ethnic diversity contribute to the development and strengthening of democratic institutions? How can systems of governance and accountability found in communities be re-activating and shared?
• Which innovative approaches and strategies exist for creating, generating, and disseminating knowledge to enhance positive ethnicity and inter-ethnic collaboration where political ethnicity is common?
• Considering that land, environmental degradation and climate change are important causes of inter-ethnic tensions, what models of land allocation and use could foster and strengthen multi-ethnic ownership and utilization in the region?
• How can Kiswahili, the lingua franca of eastern Africa, be promoted as the core vehicle for the suppression of negative ethnicity and stereotyping and in promoting positive ethnicity and diversity?
• What models of educational experiences at various levels of education are capable of promoting positive ethnicity and functioning multiculturalism?
• How can ethnic diversity contribute to a creative economy without the commodification and stereotyping of communities?

(4) How can a peaceful multi-ethnic nation be built? As an ideology, nationalism could be viewed as a claim that a given human population has a natural solidarity based on shared history (such as that of a colonial experience) and a common destiny. This collective identity as a historically constituted ‘people’ entails the right to form an independent political community. Nationalism is also linked to the doctrine of popular sovereignty; that the ultimate source of authority lies in the people who may cede some of their power to their representatives but still retain ‘residual’ power over them. As many African countries gained independence, the new leaders set to legitimize the nation-state and ‘nation-building’ was viewed as an important imperative. Through the educational system, national rituals of state formation, the national anthem and the flag, as well as national identity cards the concept of ‘one nation’ was promoted. A territorial national consciousness became part of popular culture and has tended to co-exist with a pan-African identity. We will discuss how a strong national identity can co-exist with the ethnic identity through a deliberate identification of common bonds.

OBJECTIVES OF THE CONFERENCE

• To facilitate regional reflections on ethnic diversity as a resource for eastern Africa
• To explore the opportunities and challenges that multiculturalism presents to African nations
• To discuss ways in which a national identity can be cultivated and enhanced in a multi-ethnic situation;
• To publish the deliberations for wider dissemination in the region and the diaspora.

The Conference will be held between 15th-17th October 2009.
Participation will be by invitation only.