At the edge of the world: Boundaries, territoriality, and sovereignty in Africa

Public Culture

Volumn 12, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 259-284

  Mbembe, Achille ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0034373852     PISSN: 08992363     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1215/08992363-12-1-259     Document Type: Article

References (75)

1. Martin Heidegger, Chemins qui ne mènent nulle part, trans. W. Brokmeier (Paris: Gallimard, 1962), 124-25.
2. Fernand Braudel, Civilisation matérielle, énomie, et capitalisme (XVe-XVIIIe siécles), vol. 3, Le temps du monde (Paris: Librairie Armand Colin, 1979); Civilization and Capitalism, The Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century, vol. 3, The Perspective of the World, trans. Siân Reynolds (New York: Harper and Row, 1984).
3. Fernand Braudel, Civilisation matérielle, énomie, et capitalisme (XVe-XVIIIe siécles), vol. 3, Le temps du monde (Paris: Librairie Armand Colin, 1979); Civilization and Capitalism, The Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century, vol. 3, The Perspective of the World, trans. Siân Reynolds (New York: Harper and Row, 1984).
4. In his foreword to this volume, Braudel went so far as to assert that "There are always some areas world history does not reach, zones of silence and undisturbed ignorance" (Civilization and Capitalism, 18).
5. See Achille Mbembe, Du gouvernement privé indirect (Dakar: CODESRIA, 1999); On Private Indirect Government, trans. Steven Rendall (in press).
6. See Achille Mbembe, Du gouvernement privé indirect (Dakar: CODESRIA, 1999); On Private Indirect Government, trans. Steven Rendall (in press).
7. "Space occurs as the effect produced by the operations that orient it, situate it, temporalize it, and make it function in a polyvalent unity of conflictual programs or contractual proximities. . . . In contradistinction to the place, it has thus none of the univocity or stability of a 'proper.'" See Michel de Certeau, L'invention du quotidien: arts de faire (Paris: Union Générale des Éditions, 1980), 208; The Practice of Everyday Life, trans. Steven Rendall (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 117.
8. "Space occurs as the effect produced by the operations that orient it, situate it, temporalize it, and make it function in a polyvalent unity of conflictual programs or contractual proximities. . . . In contradistinction to the place, it has thus none of the univocity or stability of a 'proper.'" See Michel de Certeau, L'invention du quotidien: arts de faire (Paris: Union Générale des Éditions, 1980), 208; The Practice of Everyday Life, trans. Steven Rendall (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 117.
9. See Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991).
10. On this subject, consider views that are apparently divergent but are in fact ultimately based on the same misunderstandings: Paul Nugent and A. J. Asiwaju, eds., African Boundaries: Barriers, Conduits, and Opportunities (London: Pinter, 1996); J. O. Igué, Le territoire de l'état en Afrique: les dimensions spatiales du développement (Paris: Karthala, 1995); J. Herbst, "The Challenges to African Boundaries," Journal of International Affairs 46 (1992): 17-31; and the fantastic views of the same author in "Responding to State Failure in Africa," International Security 21 (1996-97): 120-44.
11. On this subject, consider views that are apparently divergent but are in fact ultimately based on the same misunderstandings: Paul Nugent and A. J. Asiwaju, eds., African Boundaries: Barriers, Conduits, and Opportunities (London: Pinter, 1996); J. O. Igué, Le territoire de l'état en Afrique: les dimensions spatiales du développement (Paris: Karthala, 1995); J. Herbst, "The Challenges to African Boundaries," Journal of International Affairs 46 (1992): 17-31; and the fantastic views of the same author in "Responding to State Failure in Africa," International Security 21 (1996-97): 120-44.
12. On this subject, consider views that are apparently divergent but are in fact ultimately based on the same misunderstandings: Paul Nugent and A. J. Asiwaju, eds., African Boundaries: Barriers, Conduits, and Opportunities (London: Pinter, 1996); J. O. Igué, Le territoire de l'état en Afrique: les dimensions spatiales du développement (Paris: Karthala, 1995); J. Herbst, "The Challenges to African Boundaries," Journal of International Affairs 46 (1992): 17-31; and the fantastic views of the same author in "Responding to State Failure in Africa," International Security 21 (1996-97): 120-44.
13. On this subject, consider views that are apparently divergent but are in fact ultimately based on the same misunderstandings: Paul Nugent and A. J. Asiwaju, eds., African Boundaries: Barriers, Conduits, and Opportunities (London: Pinter, 1996); J. O. Igué, Le territoire de l'état en Afrique: les dimensions spatiales du développement (Paris: Karthala, 1995); J. Herbst, "The Challenges to African Boundaries," Journal of International Affairs 46 (1992): 17-31; and the fantastic views of the same author in "Responding to State Failure in Africa," International Security 21 (1996-97): 120-44.
14. See the contributions to "Echanges transfrontaliers et intégration régionale en Afrique subsaharienne," a special issue of Autrepart: Cahiers des sciences humaines 6 (1998).
15. E. Grégoire, "Les grands courants d'échange sahéliens: histoire et situations présentes," in Sahels: diversité et dynamiques des relations société,-nature, ed. Claude Raynault (Paris: Karthala, 1997), 121-41.
16. Daniel Nordman's study, Frontières de France: de l'espace au territoire, XVIe-XIXe siècle (Paris: Gallimard, 1998), shows not only that there are many different models of boundaries, the state boundary being in this respect only one variety in the immense range of limits. Nordman also emphasizes that every boundary is first of all a paradox in space.
17. See F. Kratochwil, "Of Systems. Boundaries, and Territory: An Inquiry into the Formation of the State System," World Politics 39 (1986): 27-52; C. Clapham, "Sovereignty and the Third World State," Political Studies 47 (1999): 522-37.
18. See F. Kratochwil, "Of Systems. Boundaries, and Territory: An Inquiry into the Formation of the State System," World Politics 39 (1986): 27-52; C. Clapham, "Sovereignty and the Third World State," Political Studies 47 (1999): 522-37.
19. See P. Evans, "The Eclipse of the State? Reflections on Stateness in an Era of Globalization," World Politics 50 (1997): 62-87; Bertrand Badie, La fin des territoires: essai sur le désordre international et sur l'utilité sociale du respect (Paris: Fayard, 1995).
20. See P. Evans, "The Eclipse of the State? Reflections on Stateness in an Era of Globalization," World Politics 50 (1997): 62-87; Bertrand Badie, La fin des territoires: essai sur le désordre international et sur l'utilité sociale du respect (Paris: Fayard, 1995).
21. Igor Kopytoff, ed., The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987).
22. See Joseph C. Miller, Way of Death: Merchant Capitalism and the Angolan Slave Trade, 1730-1830 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988).
23. See the contributions to David Birmingham and Phyllis M. Martin, eds., History of Central Africa, vol. 1 (London: Longman, 1983); G. I. Jones. The Trading States of the Oil Rivers: A Study of Political Development in Eastern Nigeria (London: Oxford University Press, 1963).
24. See the contributions to David Birmingham and Phyllis M. Martin, eds., History of Central Africa, vol. 1 (London: Longman, 1983); G. I. Jones. The Trading States of the Oil Rivers: A Study of Political Development in Eastern Nigeria (London: Oxford University Press, 1963).
25. P. E. Lovejoy and D. Richardson, "Trust, Pawnship, and Atlantic History: The Institutional Foundations of the Old Calabar Slave Trade," The American Historical Review 104 (April 1999).
26. K. K. Nair, Politics and Society in Southeastern Nigeria, 1841-1906 (London: n.p., 1972).
27. Ivor Wilks, Asante in the Nineteenth Century: The Structure and Evolution of a Political Order (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975).
28. On this cultural aspect, see J. Lonsdale, "The European Scramble and Conquest in African History," in The Cambridge History of Africa, vol. 6, From 1870 to 1905, ed. J. D. Page and Roland Oliver (London: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 680-766.
29. See, in other contexts, the synthesis by J. Adelman and S. Aron, "From Borderlands to Borders: Empires, Nation-States, and the Peoples in Between North American History," The American Historical Review 104 (1999).
30. See "Afrique du Sud," a special issue of L'espace géographique 2 (1999); Richard Elphick and Hermann Giliomee, eds., The Shaping of South African Society, 1652-1840 (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1989). Taking into account this legacy of fragmentation, the goal pursued by the current authorities is to encourage the emergence of new representations of identity and territory that transcend the racial, ethnic, and linguistic identities inherited from the old divisions.
31. See "Afrique du Sud," a special issue of L'espace géographique 2 (1999); Richard Elphick and Hermann Giliomee, eds., The Shaping of South African Society, 1652-1840 (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1989). Taking into account this legacy of fragmentation, the goal pursued by the current authorities is to encourage the emergence of new representations of identity and territory that transcend the racial, ethnic, and linguistic identities inherited from the old divisions.
32. See C. Boone, "State Building in the African Countryside: Structure and Politics at the Grassroots," The Journal of Development Studies 34 (1998): 1-31.
33. E. E. Osaghae, "Managing Multiple Minority Problems in a Divided Society: The Nigerian Experience," Journal of Modern African Studies 36 (1998): 1-24.
34. See J. P. Dozon, "L'étranger et l'allochtone en Côte d'Ivoire," in Le modèle ivoirien en questions: crises, ajustements, recompositions, ed. Bernard Contamin and Harris Memel-Fotê (Paris: Karthala, 1997), 779-98.
35. Abdumaliq Simone, Urban Processes and Change in Africa (Dakar: CODESRIA, 1997).
36. See the case of the holy city of Touba (Senegal), studied in E. Ross, "Touba: A Spiritual Metropolis in the Modern World," Canadian Journal of African Studies 29 (1995): 222-59, and "Tûba: An African Eschatology in Islam" (Ph.D. diss., McGill University, Montreal, 1996).
37. See the case of the holy city of Touba (Senegal), studied in E. Ross, "Touba: A Spiritual Metropolis in the Modern World," Canadian Journal of African Studies 29 (1995): 222-59, and "Tûba: An African Eschatology in Islam" (Ph.D. diss., McGill University, Montreal, 1996).
38. See Urbanité arabe: hommage à Bernard Lepetit / Textes rassemblés par Jocelyne Dakhlia (Paris: Actes Sud, 1998).
39. R. Werbner, "The Suffering Body: Passion and Ritual Allegory in Christian Encounters," Journal of Southern African Studies 23 (1997): 311-24.
40. See J. L. Grootaers, ed., "Mort et maladie au Zaïre," Cahiers africains 31-32 (1998).
41. See A. Guillaume, "La régulation de la fécondité à Youpougon (Abidjan): une analyse des biographies contraceptives," Documents de Recherche 7 (1999).
42. See "Special Issue on Masculinities in Southern Africa," Journal of Southern Africa Studies 24 (1998).
43. C. Becker, ed., Vivre et penser le SIDA en Afrique (Paris: Karthala-CODESRIA, 1999).
44. See Liisa Malkki, Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory, and National Cosmology among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
45. See P. Nyers, "Emergency or Emerging Identities? Refugees and Transformations in World Order," Millennium 28 (1999): 1-26. For a case study, see J. de Smedt, "Child Marriages in Rwandan Refugee Camps," Africa 68 (1998): 211-37.
46. See P. Nyers, "Emergency or Emerging Identities? Refugees and Transformations in World Order," Millennium 28 (1999): 1-26. For a case study, see J. de Smedt, "Child Marriages in Rwandan Refugee Camps," Africa 68 (1998): 211-37.
47. Compare this with what Giorgio Agamben says about the concentration camps as the nomos of modernity, in Homo Sacer: le pouvoir souverain et la vie nue, trans. M. Raiola (Paris: Le Seuil, 1997), 179-202.
48. J. Abbink, "Briefing: The Erythrean-Ethiopian Border Dispute," African Affairs 97 (1998): 551-65.
49. G. Lebbos, "La vallée du Nil," Les Cahiers de l'Orient 44 (1996).
50. Mbembe, Du gouvernement privé indirect.
51. See James L. A. Webb, Desert Frontier: Ecological and Economic Change along the Western Sahel, 1600-1850 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995).
52. Y. Abou El Farah, et al., La présence marocaine en Afrique de l'Ouest: cas du Sénégal, du Mali, et de la Côte d'Ivoire (Rabat: Publications de l'Institut des études africaines, Université Mohammed V, 1996).
53. C. Bierwirth, "The Lebanese Communities of Côte d'Ivoire," African Affairs 99 (1998).
54. K. Bennafla, "Entre Afrique noire et monde arabe: nouvelles tendances des échanges 'informels' tchadiens," Tiers-Monde 152 (1997).
55. See H. Claudot-Hawad, "Bandits, rebelles, et partisans: vision plurielle des évéments touaregs, 1970-1992," Politique africaine 46 (1992).
56. M. O. Blanc, "Le Corridor de Maputo," Afrique contemporaine 184 (1997): 133-40.
57. D. Arkwright, et al., "Spatial Development Initiatives (Development Corridors): Their Potential Contribution to Investment and Employment Creation," working paper, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Midrand, 1996.
58. H. M. Howe, "Private Security Forces and African Stability," Journal of Modern African Studies 36 (1998): 307-32.
59. D. K. Kadima, "Congolese Immigrants in South Africa," CODESRIA Bulletin, no. 1-2 (1999): 14-23.
60. Antoine Bouillon, ed., Immigration africaine en Afrique du Sud: les migrants francophones des années 90 (Paris: Karthala, 1998).
61. D. Shearer, "The Conflict in Central Africa," Survival 41 (1999): 89-106.
62. R. Lemarchand, "Patterns of State Collapse and Reconstruction in Central Africa: Reflections on the Crisis in the Great Lakes Region," Afrika Spectrum 32 (1997): 173-94. Also, W. Barnes, "Kivu: l'enlisement dans la violence," Politique africaine 73 (1999): 123-36.
63. R. Lemarchand, "Patterns of State Collapse and Reconstruction in Central Africa: Reflections on the Crisis in the Great Lakes Region," Afrika Spectrum 32 (1997): 173-94. Also, W. Barnes, "Kivu: l'enlisement dans la violence," Politique africaine 73 (1999): 123-36.
64. M. Duffield, "NGO Relief in War Zones: Towards an Analysis of the New Aid Paradigm," Third World Quarterly 18 (1997): 527-42.
65. See Heike Behrend, La guerre des esprits en Ouganda, 1985-1996: le mouvement du Saint-Esprit d'Alice Lakwena (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1997); or more recently, R. Doom and K. Vlassenroot, " Kony's Message: A New Koine? The Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda," African Affairs 98 (1999): 5-36.
66. See Heike Behrend, La guerre des esprits en Ouganda, 1985-1996: le mouvement du Saint-Esprit d'Alice Lakwena (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1997); or more recently, R. Doom and K. Vlassenroot, " Kony's Message: A New Koine? The Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda," African Affairs 98 (1999): 5-36.
67. S. Bolukbasi, "The Controversy over the Caspian Sea Mineral Resources: Conflicting Perceptions, Clashing Interests," Europe-Asia Studies 50 (1998).
68. E. E. Osaghae, "The Ogoni Uprising: Oil Politics, Minority Nationalism, and the Future of the Nigerian State," African Affairs 94 (1995): 396.
69. See Bronwen Manby, The Price of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria's Oil Producing Communities (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999).
70. J. G. Frynas, "Political Instability and Business: Focus in Shell in Nigeria," Third World Quarterly 19 (1998): 457-78.
71. E. Dorier-Apprill, "Guerres des milices et fragmentation urbaine à Brazzaville," Hérodote 86-87 (1997): 182-221; also, R. Bazenguissa-Ganga, "Milices politiques et bandes armées à Brazzaville," Les Cahiers du CERI 13 (1996).
72. E. Dorier-Apprill, "Guerres des milices et fragmentation urbaine à Brazzaville," Hérodote 86-87 (1997): 182-221; also, R. Bazenguissa-Ganga, "Milices politiques et bandes armées à Brazzaville," Les Cahiers du CERI 13 (1996).
73. Boubacar Barry, La Sénégambie du XVe au XIXe siècle: traite négrière, Islam, et conquête coloniale (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1988).
74. See R. P. Neumann, "Primitive Ideas: Protected Area Buffer Zones and the Politics of Land in Africa," Development and Change 28 (1997): 559-82.
75. From this point of view, see Luis Martinez, La guerre civile en Algérie: 1990-1998 (Paris: Karthala, 1998).