Justin Pearce
My book, Political Identity and Conflict in Central Angola 1975-2002, was published in 2015 in the Cambridge University Press African Studies Series. The paperback can now be ordered:
http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/african-government-politics-and-policy/political-identity-and-conflict-central-angola-19752002?format=PB&isbn=9781107438934#WkDZxkzlH7syru7T.97
My current role is as a research officer on the Leverhulme-funded project Global Soldiers, conducting research on the making of soldiers in southern Africa's liberation struggles, with a particular focus on Angola and South Africa.
Previously I was an ESRC postdoctoral fellow at SOAS and a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Cambridge, studying the roots and the character of political legitimacy in contemporary southern Africa, using a comparative case study of Angola and Mozambique. I have lectured at Cambridge on conflict and peacebuilding and on African politics.
My broader research interests include the politics and history of Lusophone Africa and of southern Africa, with a thematic interest in civil conflict, peace making, the continuities between wartime and peacetime politics, and the politics of memory and memorialisation. My approach to research puts a strong priority on gathering interviews in order to examine popular as well as elite discourses on power and identity. I worked as a journalist in southern Africa before commencing my DPhil at Oxford, which was awarded in 2011 My thesis is on political mobilisation and political identity in the Angolan Civil War, and forms the basis for my recent book.
http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/african-government-politics-and-policy/political-identity-and-conflict-central-angola-19752002?format=PB&isbn=9781107438934#WkDZxkzlH7syru7T.97
My current role is as a research officer on the Leverhulme-funded project Global Soldiers, conducting research on the making of soldiers in southern Africa's liberation struggles, with a particular focus on Angola and South Africa.
Previously I was an ESRC postdoctoral fellow at SOAS and a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Cambridge, studying the roots and the character of political legitimacy in contemporary southern Africa, using a comparative case study of Angola and Mozambique. I have lectured at Cambridge on conflict and peacebuilding and on African politics.
My broader research interests include the politics and history of Lusophone Africa and of southern Africa, with a thematic interest in civil conflict, peace making, the continuities between wartime and peacetime politics, and the politics of memory and memorialisation. My approach to research puts a strong priority on gathering interviews in order to examine popular as well as elite discourses on power and identity. I worked as a journalist in southern Africa before commencing my DPhil at Oxford, which was awarded in 2011 My thesis is on political mobilisation and political identity in the Angolan Civil War, and forms the basis for my recent book.
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Book by Justin Pearce
Reviews
'This book, based on difficult and path-breaking fieldwork and acute analytical skills, gives a jolt to much of the literature on violent conflicts and on politics in, especially, Africa: it brings questions of political identity, how it is formed and sustained, how it evolves, how it relates to violent conflict, back into the foreground and it refreshes ideas of national identity at the same time.'
Christopher Cramer - School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
'This book is exceptional because of the hundreds of interviews Justin Pearce conducted with peasants loyal to both warring parties. Moreover, he is unique because he does not show a scintilla of preference between the MPLA and UNITA. Furthermore, he covers an interesting interregnum between the end of the war in 2002 and today.'
Gerald Bender - Associate Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California
'An essential reading for scholars and anyone interested in modern Angola. In this timely contribution, Justin Pearce’s penetrating analysis of nationalism and identity among the Ovimbundu from 1975 to 2002 shifts the focus from the conflict between MPLA and UNITA to how the population in the urban and rural areas of the central regions perceived their own interests and acted on them.'
Linda Heywood - Boston University
'Justin Pearce’s book sheds new light on the complexity of the stakes of the Angolan postcolonial civil war. It shows, convincingly, how the intertwining of political and ideological identities, communitarian and individual stakes, as well as Cold War proxy interests, fuelled, in a very complex way, this long conflict.'
Jean-Michel Mabeko-Tali - Howard University, Washington DC
'This is an exceptional book. Not only is this the finest study available on the politics of allegiance during the Angolan civil war, one of Africa’s deadliest and longest, and also least understood; it is also a pivotal contribution to the study of conflict, nation building, and identity formation in the post-Cold War period.'
Ricardo Soares de Oliveira - University of Oxford
'Studies on identity are not rare in Angola. Urban identity, or Angolanidade, has been the source of a number of scholarly undertakings. What is highly commendable in Pearce’s book is his treatment of another form of identity that has received less attention: rural identity. This book is particularly concerned with the motivations of those who joined and fought for UNITA. The outcome is, then, a discussion on political identity that avoids the traps of ethnic essentialism and embraces a concept of identity that is contingent and strategic. In this regard, this book is about the agency of those who fought for UNITA.'
António Tomás - University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
'Justin Pearce’s work on political identity adds to the group of recent books on Angola that have broken new ground and shed new light on conflict, politics, identity and the dynamics of rule in Angola.'
Source: Africa - News and Analysis (africajournalismtheworld.com)
Articles by Justin Pearce
This article considers the politics of memory and memorialisation in Angola today in the light of existing scholarship on this theme elsewhere in southern Africa. I examine young anti-government activists' preoccupation with history, and argue that this can be understood only with reference to the MPLA government's own renewed concern with history since the end of the civil war in 2002, and its attempts to recast the nationalist narratives of the pre-1990 era. Since 2002, the government has sought to contain the threat posed by democratic opposition by claiming an exclusive role for the MPLA as the defender of the nation and by silencing critical discussion of events from the one-party era: most notably the mass killings of May 1977. For opposition activists, the assertion of an alternative history serves not so much to attract the support of others as to provide evidence of the government's dishonesty, and thus to reinforce the activists' belief in the rightness of their own cause. As has happened elsewhere in the region, the Angolan government's insistence on asserting a particular view of history does little to gather support, and serves above all to open up a space for contestation.
Reviews of my book by Justin Pearce
My reviews of other books by Justin Pearce
Papers by Justin Pearce
Reviews
'This book, based on difficult and path-breaking fieldwork and acute analytical skills, gives a jolt to much of the literature on violent conflicts and on politics in, especially, Africa: it brings questions of political identity, how it is formed and sustained, how it evolves, how it relates to violent conflict, back into the foreground and it refreshes ideas of national identity at the same time.'
Christopher Cramer - School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
'This book is exceptional because of the hundreds of interviews Justin Pearce conducted with peasants loyal to both warring parties. Moreover, he is unique because he does not show a scintilla of preference between the MPLA and UNITA. Furthermore, he covers an interesting interregnum between the end of the war in 2002 and today.'
Gerald Bender - Associate Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California
'An essential reading for scholars and anyone interested in modern Angola. In this timely contribution, Justin Pearce’s penetrating analysis of nationalism and identity among the Ovimbundu from 1975 to 2002 shifts the focus from the conflict between MPLA and UNITA to how the population in the urban and rural areas of the central regions perceived their own interests and acted on them.'
Linda Heywood - Boston University
'Justin Pearce’s book sheds new light on the complexity of the stakes of the Angolan postcolonial civil war. It shows, convincingly, how the intertwining of political and ideological identities, communitarian and individual stakes, as well as Cold War proxy interests, fuelled, in a very complex way, this long conflict.'
Jean-Michel Mabeko-Tali - Howard University, Washington DC
'This is an exceptional book. Not only is this the finest study available on the politics of allegiance during the Angolan civil war, one of Africa’s deadliest and longest, and also least understood; it is also a pivotal contribution to the study of conflict, nation building, and identity formation in the post-Cold War period.'
Ricardo Soares de Oliveira - University of Oxford
'Studies on identity are not rare in Angola. Urban identity, or Angolanidade, has been the source of a number of scholarly undertakings. What is highly commendable in Pearce’s book is his treatment of another form of identity that has received less attention: rural identity. This book is particularly concerned with the motivations of those who joined and fought for UNITA. The outcome is, then, a discussion on political identity that avoids the traps of ethnic essentialism and embraces a concept of identity that is contingent and strategic. In this regard, this book is about the agency of those who fought for UNITA.'
António Tomás - University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
'Justin Pearce’s work on political identity adds to the group of recent books on Angola that have broken new ground and shed new light on conflict, politics, identity and the dynamics of rule in Angola.'
Source: Africa - News and Analysis (africajournalismtheworld.com)
This article considers the politics of memory and memorialisation in Angola today in the light of existing scholarship on this theme elsewhere in southern Africa. I examine young anti-government activists' preoccupation with history, and argue that this can be understood only with reference to the MPLA government's own renewed concern with history since the end of the civil war in 2002, and its attempts to recast the nationalist narratives of the pre-1990 era. Since 2002, the government has sought to contain the threat posed by democratic opposition by claiming an exclusive role for the MPLA as the defender of the nation and by silencing critical discussion of events from the one-party era: most notably the mass killings of May 1977. For opposition activists, the assertion of an alternative history serves not so much to attract the support of others as to provide evidence of the government's dishonesty, and thus to reinforce the activists' belief in the rightness of their own cause. As has happened elsewhere in the region, the Angolan government's insistence on asserting a particular view of history does little to gather support, and serves above all to open up a space for contestation.
What is happening in Mozambique is not exactly a popular uprising. It was ignited by Dhlakama’s desire for a share of political power, and its associated wealth, in a situation where the state is synonymous with Frelimo. The Rome Accord deserves some blame for centralising politics while allowing an opposition movement to retain access to the means of violence: 20 years later, Dhlakama realised his soldiers were the only asset he had left. Nevertheless, the recent uprising could not have happened without popular support – support that Renamo mobilised by presenting ideas about history and democracy in a way that resonated with real grievances.