Ethnic Conflicts

Among the deficiencies demonstrated by the world financial crisis of 2008–9, one was the limited capacity of G-8 to provide for global economic governance. The developed economies quickly realised that they should seek joint solutions and coordinated policies in cooperation with the leading emerging-market economies. As a result, the G-20 turned into the main forum for managing the crisis. This in fact pointed to an early institutional acknowledgement that important changes were underway in the global distribution of power. These changes derive from the substantially higher growth rates of the emerging-market economies in comparison with those of the developed economies, a trend named ‘the rise of the rest’ (Zakaria, 2008, pp. 2–3).

According to the " Waffle " model of the Belgian Linguistic Conflict (Klein et al., 2012), this conflict centres around two main dimensions: One concerns the use of language across the territory and the second concerns the distribution of resources between the two main linguistic communities, Dutch-speakers and French-speakers. The model suggests that the two groups adhere to different justice principles regarding these issues and that these disagreements are a function of the intensity of the conflict. With respect to the first dimension, Dutch-speakers are expected to adhere more to a principle of linguistic territoriality than French-speakers who should be more in favor of a free choice of one's idiom across the territory. With respect to the second dimension, the model posits that Dutch-speakers will adhere more to an equity principle whereas French-speakers should adhere more to a need principle. We tested these hypotheses in the context of a large-scale survey involving two waves: in May 2011 in the middle of a political crisis, and in June 2014, when the conflict was appeased. The pattern of " disagreements " in a subsample that participated in both waves of the survey (N = 378) is consistent with the Waffle model and, as expected, more severe at the heart of the conflict (in 2011) than after pacification (in 2014). However, differences were driven mostly by supporters of the Flemish nationalist party N-VA. Moreover, endorsement of principles on both dimensions are predictive of separatist attitudes in the Dutch-speaking sample whereas only the first dimension plays a role for the French speaking sample.

This article examines whether there is a steady pattern of celebrity engagement with humanitarian issues through a study of the involvement of U2 and Angelina Jolie in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The activism of these two celebrities was limited in both time and content and developed at different phases of the country’s recent history. The article notes that their involvement was idiosyncratic and was not developed at certain ‘turning points’ or ‘critical junctures’ of the conflict. It also argues that their activism was primarily motivated by personal networks: the decision of U2 and Jolie to get involved was prompted by their acquaintance with people who knew and cared about Bosnia. Therefore, the article highlights the role of intermediaries and underlines the need to study the personal networks that initiate and/or facilitate celebrity involvement in social causes.

This short conference paper re-examines claims made in 1996 and 2003, by Canadian historian, the late Peter Hart, that in the early 1920s southern Ireland experienced the forced migration of tens of thousands of native Protestants.

Perpetrated by Roman Catholics and the IRA, this terrible event followed protracted sectarian violence Hart likened to “ethnic cleansing”.

Hart’s analysis rested on the premise, that between 1911 and 1926 “nearly all” of 100,000 decline in the southern Protestant population happened amid the revolutionary turmoil of 1921-24. Hart’s “mass exodus” foreshadowed the ethnic conflict thesis developed in his 1998 book, The IRA and its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork 1916-1923 (Oxford). Recent scholarship casts doubt on the veracity of Hart’s analysis.

Statistical premises can radically reshape our historical memory. To better understand their powerful influence, Hart’s revision is compared with another premise in Michael A. Bellesiles’ revisionist monograph, Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture (New York, 2000). In 1996 and 2000, Bellesiles advanced what later proved to be inaccurate statistics identifying unprecedented low levels of gun ownership in the early America Republic.

False statistical premises are most potent, and most invisible, where they articulate prejudices held by their host communities. This problem becomes acute, where relativists mobilise inaccurate historical information in contemporary political debates about, for example, gun control or republican terrorism.

If this epistemological problem is to be avoided, a greater awareness of false statistical premises is useful.

Conflict and its escalation in the present-day world demands and commands our attention, as well as our commitment to understanding and addressing it. Therefore, how should the media cover conflict? The debate is widespread and still ongoing both between media professionals and conflict resolution practitioners. These questions and others are what this paper answered. It assessed the hurl of criticism being thrown at the media especially since the outbreak of the protracted Jos conflict and thereafter content analyzed the Nigerian newspapers’ coverage of the conflict. The major objectives of the study are to: examine the extent of newspaper coverage of the Jos conflict, determine how the coverage of the protracted conflict has been framed by the print media, and investigate the level of compliance of Nigerian newspapers with conflict sensitive journalism practice. The paper also discussed how the media should cover conflict, and the stages of conflict. Aside theories of conflict used, the work rests on two approaches of media scholars: the Libertarian and Radical approaches. The findings showed that locational factor determines the level of attention given to conflicts by newspapers. However, the newspapers were partially conflict sensitive and reflect plurality about the conflict as substantial sources of their facts were based on journalists’ observation and views of one party in the conflict.

This paper seeks to explain the varying reactions of Tamils and Tutsis to the policies of post-independence governments in Sri Lanka and Rwanda respectively. I speculate that the different experiences of these two ethnic groups from the independence onwards explain this difference: After being expelled from Rwanda, Tutsis gathered significant war experience in Uganda. Tamils, after being expelled from Sri Lanka, did not gather such an experience in India.

Africa’s economic development is attributed greatly to China’s investments with the latter’s global branding strategy drawing the attention of global affairs and geopolitics. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as part of the China-Africa public diplomacy intensifies the South-South axis versus the North-South. Moreover, China’s business-as-usual approach offers favorable terms than Europe and the US. Ethiopia is China’s geostrategic ally in the BRI and one of the world’s fastest growing economies - its GDP reaches since the new millennium a steady average of 8% due to mega infrastructure and construction projects financed by the Chinese government. Moreover, its agriculture-based economy transforms into a manufacturing hub financed by Chinese foreign direct investments. Contrariwise, like many African economies, Ethiopia’s growth brand is accompanied by severe poverty, ethnic conflicts, violence and displacements. Remarkably, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize fairly by negotiating peace in the Horn of Africa setting a brand example for the whole African continent. However, federalism and domestic conflicts remain still a challenge for the country’s competitive identity. The diverse ethnic groups demand more access to power and growth. Given China’s view on equal China-Africa relations, how does Ethiopia benefit from the BRI and which are its brand implications? How is Ethiopia’s community included in its growth brand identity? This article attempts to shed light on the China-Africa partnership by examining Ethiopia’s challenges through its development brand strategy as a transition economy. The article conceptualizes win-win branding approaches and contributes thus to the interdisciplinary discussion on China-Ethiopia public diplomacy.

This paper analyses the main theories of ethnic conflict. It argues that, from an epistemological point of view, the unique nature of these theories are useful in comprehending the factors behind ethnic conflicts. When it comes to the resolution of ethnic conflicts, however, the need arises to utilise these theories in a comprehensive and eclectic way, rather than in isolation from one another.

Somalia is generally thought of as a homogenous society, with a common Arabic ancestry, a shared culture of nomadism and one Somali mother tongue. This study challenges this myth. Using the Jareer/Bantu as a case study, the book shows how the Negroid physical features of this ethnic group has become the basis for ethnic marginalization, stigma, social exclusion and apartheid in Somalia. The book is another contribution to the recent deconstruction of the perceived Somali homogeneity and self-same assertions. It argues that the Somalis, just like most societies, employ multiple levels of social and ethnic distinctions, one of which is the Jareer versus Jileec divide. Dr. Eno successfully portrays another Somalia, in which a mythical homogeneity masks the oppression and social exclusion suffered by some ethnic groups in the country

From October 6–8, 2014, following a call by the pro-Kurdish party to protest against the Turkish government’s alleged indifference to the situation in Kobani, protests and violent clashes took place in many provinces of Turkey. In order to contribute to the understanding of the long-running ethnic conflict in Turkey, this paper addresses the contesting political discourses on the Kurdish question by focusing on those events. It comparatively analyzes the selected speeches of the leaders during and immediately after the Kobani events. Applying critical discourse analysis as a conceptual and analytical framework, it concludes that the Kurdish political movement builds its discourse on the ethnic difference and reinforces it with resistance against alleged state pressure and discrimination against the Kurds, while the AK Party’s discourse prioritizes a Muslim fellowship and supports it with promises of social and economic progress.

Key words: Turkey; ethnicity; identity; discourse; Kurdish question

First published in the American Chronicle, Buzzle and AfroArticles on 2nd May 2010

Republished in the portal of the exiled Oromo Parliamentarians

https://www.oromoparliamentarians.org/English/News_Archive/Oromo%20Action%20Plan%20for%20the%20Liberation%20of%20Oromia.htm

The present article is not an original, new text; it consists in the merge of eight articles first published in 2008. The text has been slightly modified, edited and updated. As the series was not completed, I will further expand in forthcoming articles in order to extensively describe the types of actions needed to be undertaken by independent average Oromos in view of the liberation of Oromia and the ultimate destruction of the monstrous colonial tyranny of Abyssinia, the world´s most racist and inhuman state. The present article consists of 21 units, as per below:

1. The Search for Oromo Leadership

2. A New Oromo Leadership: A Global First

3. Weaknesses of the Traditional Political Leadership

4. Identification of the Oromo Nation in 2010

5. Who is the enemy of the Oromos?

6. Local – Regional-level Foes

7. Authentic Oromos and Fabricated Amharas; the Total Opposition

8. Direct and Indirect Colonialism

9. Differentiation among Colonial Rulers

10. Anglo - French Colonial Establishment: Arch-enemy of the Oromo Nation

11. Millions of Oromo Leaders Organized in Independent Groups

12. Present Oromo "Leaderships" and their Inertia

13. Key Figures to Be Considered by All the Oromos

14. Biyya Oromo Independent – Whose Work Is It?

15. Groups of Oromo Liberation Activity – GOLA

16. Ground work

17. GOLA Security – Impenetrability

18. GOLA – Commitment

19. GOLA – Function

20. Basic Directions for GOLA Projects and Endeavours

21. Collection of Information Pertaining to the Oromo Nation

Dos suizos, dos libros, una única obsesión: la explotación del “oro negro” de la selva amazónica, en la época del auge cauchero en el Oriente de Bolivia. Con apenas unos meses de diferencia, Franz Ritz y Ernst Leutenegger trabajaron en la misma barraca gomera durante la primera década del siglo XX, y ambos publicaron luego sus recuerdos en su país natal. Son estos relatos que, traducidos por primera vez al español, nos propone descubrir aquí Lorena Córdoba. La mirada más entusiasta de Ritz y la visión más melancólica de Leutenegger evocan ambas tópicos de la fiebre cauchera en la selva boliviana: la dura vida en las barracas; la ley del más fuerte en un mundo donde el Estado está ausente; los enganches tramposos, las deudas hereditarias, la explotación de los indígenas. Sin embargo, estos relatos permiten ir más allá de los clichés y matizar en gran parte las visiones en blanco y negro sobre esta época crucial para la economía boliviana, la paulatina incorporación del Oriente al país y el destino también de los pueblos indígenas amazónicos. Con su lectura, la Historia gana en humanidad, en matices enriquecedores, en profundidad y credibilidad.

Для большинства постсоветских государств, включая современную Россию, особую актуальность представляют институциональные задачи по конструированию устойчивой национальной государственности. Их решение осложняется не только незавершенностью экономических, культурных и политических транзиций, но и неопределенностью, сложностью и многогранностью этногенезисных процессов в трансформационном социально-политическом пространстве. Учитывая важность понимания институционального воспроизводства процессов этногенеза для социального знания и социально-политической практики в российских условиях с целью создания надежных социальных мер превентивного практического воздействия против распространения этносепаратизма и этнорелигиозного экстремизма, автор восполняет существующие в социальных науках пробелы. Монография адресована социологам, философам, этнологам, преподавателям гуманитарных и социальных наук и всем, кто интересуется проблемами этничности и этногенеза в современном обществе. Второе издание подготовлено при финансовой поддержке РФФИ (грант №13-06-00834 "Социокультурная динамика воспроизводства этноидентичностей в локальных сообществах: социальная диагностика и институциональное моделирование").

The 6 million people forming the Laotian population are officially divided into 49 ethnic groups. How can we explain this huge diversity of people ? How do they live together ? How does the State manage this diversity ? Based on the existing literature and on personal field research, I am presenting in this paper a general and synthetic perspective of the ethnic question in Laos. In doing so, I defend the idea that ethnicity should be conceived not as a given, but as a product resulting from a particular process that I will clarify here. This analysis will allow me to propose a socio-political perspective on ethnic and cultural issues.

This article critically examines territorial strategies adopted by the Indian state to accommodate territorially concentrated minority groups in two very recent cases: the formation of Telangana (2014) and the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) (2003). We situate both cases within the broader context of linguistic state reorganization in India since the 1950s. We argue that while the formation of states on the basis of linguistic principle was necessary given the long history of demand for linguistic states in India, it is, as Telangana and BTC clearly bear out, not sufficient to accommodate minorities. This is especially the case when, inter alia, language is: (1) appropriated by the dominant group within a state (or states) as a vehicle to perpetuate political majoritarianism, (2) supplemented by weak power-sharing arrangement, and (3) occasioned by longstanding popular perceptions of historical injustices and relative deprivation.

Although scholars of Somali Studies have engaged themselves in examining the Somali society from several perspectives, colonial and early Somali writers mainly observed the Somali people as homogenous, egalitarian and nomadic pastoral. Themes on multi-ethnicity, multiculturalism, and linguistic diversity were ignored as topics that sully the myth of the selfsame ideology colorfully embroidered in the official historiography. The notion also deluded pioneering Somali scholars from critically studying their people and analyzing colonial writing; at least not beyond the western scholars' knowledge boundary. Accordingly, the Horn of Africa was exemplified as a unique African nation where citizens enjoy equality and share an all-in-one identity: culturally, ethnically, historically, and linguistically. Contrary to that notion, though, the everyday social situation makes the primordial ideology of selfsameness unsustainable. To establish the evidence, this essay discusses about how the Bantu Jareer agrarian community, a section among the different groups of subalterns in the country, views its environment and social space within the boundary of deeply offensive segregation by an extremely suppressive Somali society.

This policy report examines the symbolic contests that take place over flags in Northern Ireland. It looks at the background to the use of official flags on local Council buildings and to the flying of flags on lampposts and other 'street furniture' at particular periods of the year. It examines the attitudes by use of a pole from LucidTalk and uses interviews from key individuals. The report looks at policy options including the development of new legislation and the development of local guidelines.

This work questions the effectiveness of the dialogue-based peacebuilding initiatives in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to identify the strengths and limitations. Findings, based on in-depth interviews with 23 persons, show that friendship is a strong positive asset of the dialogue initiatives, whereas lack of cooperation, the inefficiency of the follow-up projects, funding, and lack of institutional support.

The past two and a half decades in the South Caucasus leave little hope to entertain for the eventual integration of the region. So far the fragmentation of the South Caucasus into different blocks is the only reality. The different integrational processes and transnational alliances that the South Caucasus countries have engaged in surely contribute to the creation of new spaces for cooperation, but also to the perpetuation of the conflicts in the region. In fact, often conflicts have been defining the design and implementation of these transnational alliances and integrational processes. With this reality, regional transnational integration as an avenue for conflict resolution seems to be part of a vicious circle since conflict resolution is often seen as a precondition for regional integration. This is not only due to the conflicts within and among the countries, but also to the complex and sometimes strained relations with the big neighbors – Turkey, Iran, and Russia.

This paper aims to explore economic options for inserting a wedge in this vicious circle. Convinced that regional economic cooperation could be an important step towards conflict transformation in the South Caucasus, this paper suggests that the prospects of such integration be considered. Be it in the form of exploring opportunities in the different integrational paths that the countries of the South Caucasus have taken or challenging the isolationist economic policies that have outlived their goals and utility, this paper offers all stakeholders to look at economic cooperation with rather than against each other as the option that could lead to the resolution of conflicts in the region.

Ruslar, merkezi Kuzey Kafkasya’ya hakim oldukları XVIII. yüzyıldan itibaren bölgeyi kendi devlet sistemlerine adapte etmek için pek çok idari yapılanma modeli uygulamışlardır. Fakat belirledikleri politikalarda sıklıkla bölgedeki etnik ve siyasi durumu göz ardı etmeleri, yerel halklar arasında günümüze kadar uzanan çok sayıda anlaşmazlığın ortaya çıkmasına neden olmuştur. Bu anlaşmazlıklardan bir tanesi bugün Rusya Federasyonu’na bağlı İnguşetya ve Kuzey Osetya - Alanya özerk cumhuriyetleri arasında yaşanmaktadır. 1992 sonbaharında silahlı çatışmaya dönüşen anlaşmazlık, İnguşetya’nın Kuzey Osetya’ya bağlı Prigorod bölgesi, Mozdok koridoru ve Vladikavkaz şehrinin bir kısmı (Terek nehrinin sağ tarafı) üzerinde hak iddia etmesinden kaynaklanmaktadır. Bu toprakların tarihi ve hukuki olarak esasen kime ait olduğu ve bugün kimin idaresi altında bulunması gerektiği meselesi, tartışmanın merkezindedir. Söz konusu çalışma İnguş – Oset çatışmasının ortaya çıkış sebebinde Rus idari politikalarının rolünü incelemektedir.

The Russians have applied many administrative structuring models to adapt the region to their own state system since the XVIII century when they ruled over the central North Caucasus. However, the frequent ruling of the ethnic and political circumstances in the region by the policies determined resulted in many conflicts between the local peoples which extend over to our day. One of these conflicts is being experienced between the autonomous republics of the Ingush and North Ossetia – Alania responsible for the Russian Federation today. The conflict, which transformed into an armed conflict in the fall of 1992, arises from Ingushetia’s claiming possession of the Prigorod area, Mozdok pass, and part of the city of Vladikavkaz (right side of River Terek) responsible to North Ossetia. This study examines the role of Russian administrative policies in the emergence of the Ingush –Ossetian conflict.

SUMMARY The concept of " silence " is used to examine the everyday experience of lived violence in the prolonged ethnic conflict in Northern Ireland. I analyze silence as coercion, cultural censorship, embodied, and an integral component of identity and consciousness affected by a diaspora. Silence is intrinsic to the symbolic violence that is enacted in commemorations. This is a silencing of alternative histories and memories, and the ethnic identities in which these are rooted. It is also a silencing of place and an attempt to create new kinds of territorial belongings. I explore the multiple ways through which violence is manifested both symbolically and physically, penetrates the ordinary, as well as the pivotal role of borders in the creation and maintenance of boundaries. I examine how border crossing opens up a liminal space of possibilities. I argue that border regimes are not restricted to the periphery. Rather, they penetrate deep into the center into the informal spaces of the everyday. I argue that silence is a culturally learned strategy through which fear, experienced socially, can be normalized, routinized, and negotiated. I question the efficacy of truth and reconciliation commissions, as well as the drive to " speak " violence. Although the bulk of this essay relates to the production of silence during the Troubles, I extend this analysis to the present era. [ethnicity, Northern Ireland, silence, violence]

"This book is one of the best examples of interdisciplinary work. Discursive and Visual Semiotics, Critical textual analysis and historiographical research come together to approach the work of the distinguished Andean author of sixteenth-century Peru, don Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala. Quispe-Agnoli observes the author's obsession with the Spanish script and how it affects the recording and transmission of information in the Andean world. The analysis of Guaman Poma's use of alphabetic writing in his verbal and iconic reflections of the Spanish-Andean colonial world follows. The book concludes with a reflection on the political and economic power of alphabetic writing , and the colonization of Andean record-keeping system by the Spanish script in Guaman Poma's times."

" La presente investigación de Quispe-Agnoli se centra en la creatividad de uno de los más destacados escritores indígenas y andinos coloniales: don Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala. A través de cinco capítulos, este trabajo observa y analiza su respuesta al enfrentamiento cultural entre Europa y los Andes, que se traduce en el surgimiento de nuevas formas de comunicar y actuar sobre la sociedad, su reapropiación y reelaboración desde el lado oral-tradicional, pero también nativo-gráfico, reflexivo y deliberante con sus propias posibilidades de comunicación. Dicha creatividad tiene como resultado un tipo de texto que integra una formación cultural hispano-andina, cuyo estudio está en pleno desarrollo."

Reviews of this book can be found in:
~Song No, Revista Iberoamericana LXXIV.25 (2008):1163-1167.
~Marcel Velázquez Noticias del Fondo Editorial: Galaxia Guamán Poma de Ayala. (Agosto 15, 2006)
http://unmsmnoticiasfondoeditorial.blogspot.com/2006/08/galaxia-guamn-poma_15.html
~Rafael Ojeda. "Guamán Poma y la escritura." El Peruano. Página Editorial. 25 de Agosto de 2006. p. 12.
http://www.editoraperu.com.pe/edc/2006/08/25/opi.asp
~Dimas Arrieta. "Guamán Poma e identidades" Identidades 12. Reflexión, Arte y Cultura Peruana. 25-31 de agosto de 2007. p. 22-23.
~Omar Vásquez Dávila. Patio de Letras 3.1 (2006)
http://sisbib.unmsm.edu.pe/BibVirtual/Publicaciones/patio_letras/v03_n1/contenido.htm
~Abelardo Oquendo, Diario La República (Lima, Noviembre 2006)
http://www.larepublica.com.pe/content/view/138019/
~Giancarlo Stagnaro
http://www.librosperuanos.com/autores/quispe-agnoli2.html""

This was presentation on the historical roots of the current crisis in Burma (Myanmar) which I gave to KIKA (Kaukus Indonesia untuk Kebebasan Akademik) on Thursday 25 March 2021. One of the key themes which I chose to explore was the comparative one of looking at the experiences of Indonesia and Burma in the period from early 19th century colonialism - in Burma's case the First Anglo-Burman War of 1824-26) and the Java War (1825-30) for Indonesia - and following this through to the present time, in particular looking at the importance of developing an understanding, appreciation and commitment to the maintenance of a multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society/nation, and the leadership skills required to guide such. Here I took the opportunity to compare Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with her near Indonesian contemporary the country's Fourth President, Gus Dur (Abdurrahman Wahid, in office, 1999-2001). The KIKA discussion also brought up many issues relating the future of the democratic and Civil Disobedience Movements in Burma and the need for a complete regreening of the current NLD leadership. Happy reading!

The Bosnian war left a legacy of horrific crimes and human rights violations committed mainly against civilians. As part of the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA), and in an effort to assure a peaceful transition out of violence, the ethnic armies in Bosnia and Herzegovina were scaled down, with the demobilization of nearly 300,000 soldiers. This initial demobilization and subsequent disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programs were held independently of the larger effort to seek justice. Some of those responsible for the crimes, including members of the political leadership, have faced some kind of accountability process, through the venues of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), national courts or informal processes. In an attempt to unveil potential linkages between the arenas of transitional justice and DDR, this analysis posits that, despite the absence of formal links between the DDR processes and the transitional justice programs, DDR programs aided the cessation of violence and helped rebuild a more manageable security sector in a postconflict state. At the same time, only limited attention and funds were committed to the reintegration of former soldiers into the society.
The paper begins with an overview of the Bosnian war and follows with a brief description of the postconflict situation in the country. It then turns to a discussion of the DDR process, highlighting the demobilization of the armies and the involvement of the international community in creating unified and multiethnic armed forces. With a focus on international courts, vetting and reparations programs, the paper goes on to explore the transitional justice measures in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Finally, the paper looks at the lacking linkages and absent coordination between the DDR and transitional justice initiatives and ends by providing a few viable recommendations for bridging the existing gap between the two arenas in Bosnia and beyond.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, scholars researching ethnic politics have approached the South Caucasus as a testing ground for theories of separatism and conflict. But the 2003 Rose Revolution brought a new generation of politicians to power in Georgia. President Mikheil Saakashvili distanced himself from the ethnic nationalism of the past, which had poisoned relations between Georgians and their Armenian and Azerbaijani compatriots. The incoming authorities instead sought to foster an inclusive nationalism, wherein belonging hinged on speaking the state language and all Georgian-speakers, regardless of origin, were to be equals.

This thesis investigates this nation-building project and its influence on the integration of Georgia's Armenian and Azerbaijani borderlands. I first examine the mode through which these peripheries were incorporated into post-Soviet Georgia. Since Armenians controlled "their own" domain to a greater extent than the Azerbaijanis, I infer that the former were absorbed along integralist and the latter along colonial lines. Moving to the time-period after the Rose Revolution, I next explore if Georgian officials and Georgian adolescents were tolerant towards Georgian-speaking minorities. With the help of elite interviews and a socio-linguistic experiment (n = 792), I reveal that officials and adolescents were open to integrated Armenians and Azerbaijanis alike. I then proceed to inspect the centre's nationalising agencies and their efforts to incentivise minorities to interact with Georgians, and to use the state language during these contacts. Last but not least, I turn to the reactions this nation-building project elicited in the borderlands. On the basis of interviews with local elites and a socio-linguistic experiment involving Armenian and Azerbaijani adolescents (n = 434; n = 483), I discovered sharp differences: Armenians reacted with defiance and Azerbaijanis with compliance.

These findings augment our knowledge of ethno-linguistic stereotypes in the Caucasus. They also demonstrate that inclusive nation-building projects can inspire minorities to integrate – despite adverse circumstances – but hint at one condition conducive to this end. Armenians perceived the state language as a battering ram against "their own" domain, while Azerbaijanis saw it as a tool to escape their isolation. This within-country comparison suggests that similar nation-building projects can trigger different reactions in integralist and colonial borderlands.

Krzysztof Trzciński, Co łączy i dzieli communal conflict oraz „konflikt etniczny”? Analiza znaczeniowa obu terminów i ich nigeryjska egzemplifikacja, "Afryka" 2015, 42, s. 11-30. Artykuł traktuje o sensie terminów "communal conflict" oraz "konflikt etniczny". Jego celami są: wyjaśnienie, jak najczęściej rozumiane są w literaturze przedmiotu oba terminy oraz zidentyfikowanie ich cech wspólnych i dzielących je różnic. Realizacji wskazanych celów służy nigeryjska egzemplifikacja obu rodzajów konfliktów. This paper deals with the meaning of two terms: 'communal conflict' and 'ethnic conflict.' It has two aims: explaining how both terms are most often understood in the scholarly literature and identifying the similarities and differences between them. In fulfilling these aims, a Nigerian exemplification of both types of conflicts is employed.

Para la mayoría de los americanistas Jehan A. Vellard (1901-1996) es prácticamente un desconocido; para muchos es apenas una referencia bibliográfica más, o apenas el médico que acompañó a Claude Lévi-Strauss al Mato-Grosso. ¿Cómo es posible que no cite su trabajo Pierre Clastres, que trabaja con los aché apenas treinta años después que él? ¿O que al estudiar los venenos yanomamis Jacques Lizot diga que conoce su clásico sobre el curare pero prefiere ignorarlo?  Definitivamente, Vellard no es un contemporáneo. Su obra parece poco glamorosa y hasta anticuada, no tiene potencia heurística y, a diferencia de otros ancestros disciplinarios, no anticipa las preocupaciones de la antropología actual. Ni siquiera puede decirse que se trate de un gran escritor. Desterrado del linaje prestigioso de Nimuendaju, Nordenskiöld o el propio Lévi-Strauss, Vellard se nos presenta así como un personaje incómodo, antipático, un ancestro que funda una filiación imposible. Sin embargo, contentarse con ese diagnóstico sería demasiado fácil. Porque hay que preguntarse si las razones de este descarte disciplinar no dejan escapar una personalidad polifacética, testigo de tiempos críticos para el Chaco, los Andes o la Amazonía, y al mismo tiempo una obra multidisciplinaria que combina la etnografía, la antropología física, la lingüística, la arqueología y la biología. No se trata, en definitiva, de trazar un revisionismo que anule las contradicciones de la figura de Vellard, pero sí de revisar en detalle algunas de las expediciones científicas que realiza para el Museo del Trocadéro en la década de 1930, en particular los viajes al Paraguay (1931-32) en vísperas de la guerra del Chaco, y al Mato Grosso (1938) en la famosa expedición con Lévi-Strauss, y de repasar entonces las circunstancias específicas en las cuales se conforma parte de las colecciones etnográficas del museo. Dicho análisis permitirá a la vez echar nueva luz sobre las ambigüedades, los claroscuros y las aporías del legado personal y científico de Jehan A. Vellard.

Ikere-Ekiti has been facing challenges for decade over the role of Olukere in its affairs. Government has recognized Ogoga as the natural ruler for decades. Olukere who feels cheated has persistently lay claim to the rulership of Ikere. The questions to answer are many. However, a taste of the critique is presented here as a riddle to be solved. The better part is reserved for the future. In these days of granting of local autonomy to communities and recognition of traditional title holders with historical background, the claims of both sides is worth evaluating for aca=demic purposes if it does not even attract government attention or patronage.