Violent conflict and ethnicity in the Congo: beyond materialism, primordialism and symbolism

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Standard

Violent conflict and ethnicity in the Congo : beyond materialism, primordialism and symbolism. / Hoffmann, Kasper; Vlassenroot, Koen ; Carayannis, Tatiana ; Muzalia, Godefroid .

In: Conflict, Security and Development, Vol. 20, No. 5, 2020, p. 539-560 .

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Hoffmann, K, Vlassenroot, K, Carayannis, T & Muzalia, G 2020, 'Violent conflict and ethnicity in the Congo: beyond materialism, primordialism and symbolism', Conflict, Security and Development, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 539-560 . https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2020.1840789

APA

Hoffmann, K., Vlassenroot, K., Carayannis, T., & Muzalia, G. (2020). Violent conflict and ethnicity in the Congo: beyond materialism, primordialism and symbolism. Conflict, Security and Development, 20(5), 539-560 . https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2020.1840789

Vancouver

Hoffmann K, Vlassenroot K, Carayannis T, Muzalia G. Violent conflict and ethnicity in the Congo: beyond materialism, primordialism and symbolism. Conflict, Security and Development. 2020;20(5):539-560 . https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2020.1840789

Author

Hoffmann, Kasper ; Vlassenroot, Koen ; Carayannis, Tatiana ; Muzalia, Godefroid . / Violent conflict and ethnicity in the Congo : beyond materialism, primordialism and symbolism. In: Conflict, Security and Development. 2020 ; Vol. 20, No. 5. pp. 539-560 .

Bibtex

@article{0f441da1246a4d68aab92fd2a453db97,
title = "Violent conflict and ethnicity in the Congo: beyond materialism, primordialism and symbolism",
abstract = "In this paper, we investigate the nexus between ethnicity and violent conflict in the Congo. We make three interlocking arguments. First, we argue that ethnicity is a defining political resource in the Congo{\textquoteright}s politics and violent conflicts, which we call {\textquoteleft}ethnic capital{\textquoteright}. Second, we argue that the high political value of this ethnic capital is sustained by engrained discourses and practices of ethnicity. These discourses and practices permeate the Congo{\textquoteright}s political order, shape people{\textquoteright}s understanding of politics, conflict and political identities, and have contributed to the formation of an unstable, centrifugal, and fragmentary political order. Third, we argue that conceptualising ethnicity as capital dismantles the artificial dualism between the symbolic realm of identities and the material realm of the economy and makes it possible to move beyond primordialist, instrumentalist and purely symbolic understandings of the nexus between conflict and ethnicity. Ultimately, what is at stake in this competition is the distribution of symbolic and material resources.",
author = "Kasper Hoffmann and Koen Vlassenroot and Tatiana Carayannis and Godefroid Muzalia",
year = "2020",
doi = "10.1080/14678802.2020.1840789",
language = "English",
volume = "20",
pages = "539--560 ",
journal = "Conflict, Security and Development",
issn = "1467-8802",
publisher = "Taylor & Francis",
number = "5",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Violent conflict and ethnicity in the Congo

T2 - beyond materialism, primordialism and symbolism

AU - Hoffmann, Kasper

AU - Vlassenroot, Koen

AU - Carayannis, Tatiana

AU - Muzalia, Godefroid

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - In this paper, we investigate the nexus between ethnicity and violent conflict in the Congo. We make three interlocking arguments. First, we argue that ethnicity is a defining political resource in the Congo’s politics and violent conflicts, which we call ‘ethnic capital’. Second, we argue that the high political value of this ethnic capital is sustained by engrained discourses and practices of ethnicity. These discourses and practices permeate the Congo’s political order, shape people’s understanding of politics, conflict and political identities, and have contributed to the formation of an unstable, centrifugal, and fragmentary political order. Third, we argue that conceptualising ethnicity as capital dismantles the artificial dualism between the symbolic realm of identities and the material realm of the economy and makes it possible to move beyond primordialist, instrumentalist and purely symbolic understandings of the nexus between conflict and ethnicity. Ultimately, what is at stake in this competition is the distribution of symbolic and material resources.

AB - In this paper, we investigate the nexus between ethnicity and violent conflict in the Congo. We make three interlocking arguments. First, we argue that ethnicity is a defining political resource in the Congo’s politics and violent conflicts, which we call ‘ethnic capital’. Second, we argue that the high political value of this ethnic capital is sustained by engrained discourses and practices of ethnicity. These discourses and practices permeate the Congo’s political order, shape people’s understanding of politics, conflict and political identities, and have contributed to the formation of an unstable, centrifugal, and fragmentary political order. Third, we argue that conceptualising ethnicity as capital dismantles the artificial dualism between the symbolic realm of identities and the material realm of the economy and makes it possible to move beyond primordialist, instrumentalist and purely symbolic understandings of the nexus between conflict and ethnicity. Ultimately, what is at stake in this competition is the distribution of symbolic and material resources.

U2 - 10.1080/14678802.2020.1840789

DO - 10.1080/14678802.2020.1840789

M3 - Journal article

VL - 20

SP - 539

EP - 560

JO - Conflict, Security and Development

JF - Conflict, Security and Development

SN - 1467-8802

IS - 5

ER -

ID: 255053911