Overview

Routledge Handbook of Social Cohesion in Africa explores the meaning of social cohesion in an African context, comparing and historicizing empirical findings from across the continent as well as prioritizing African knowledges in interrogating institutional actors and policy environments. Social cohesion is closely associated with processes of peacebuilding and development, and many scholars and international institutions consider it a precondition, or necessary component, for the building of resilient collectives or institutions. However, the term remains vague and difficult to pin down, and it has been criticized as serving a pacifying and even anti-political function in certain contexts. There is an empirical gap when it comes to studying how the concept is approached in and for the African continent. Drawing on cutting-edge original research, this handbook addresses the empirical, intellectual, and pragmatic complexities and limitations, as well as affordances, of social cohesion and related concepts. Key theoretical contributions and case studies from across the continent are used to problematize a Western-centric approach to social cohesion and to bring in kindred African concepts, such as asabiyyah (North Africa), Gadaa (Ethiopia), and ubuntu (Southern Africa). The book considers how different institutional actors are measuring social cohesion in Africa and investigates selected state and non-state policies on social cohesion. Based on critical, post-colonial thinking throughout, this book will be an important resource not only for policy-makers but also for researchers and academics working in African studies; sociology; politics; global development; queer and gender studies; and conflict, peace, and security studies.

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9781032753614

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Constanze Blum is a post-doctoral researcher at the Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC) at Leipzig University (Germany). Her research focuses on the diverse and competing understandings of social cohesion in Southern and East Africa, as well as their transnational entanglements. She also works on the African Union, particularly the organization’s external partnerships and practices in international development cooperation. Christi van der Westhuizen is Professor of Sociology at the University of the Western Cape (South Africa). She is also a former visiting professor at the Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe) and the Institute of African Studies, both at Leipzig University (Germany). As a transdisciplinary scholar and political analyst, she writes both academically and popularly on ideology, identity, and difference, with a focus on colonial, apartheid, and post-apartheid South Africa. Ulf Engel is Professor of Politics in Africa at the Institute of African Studies, Leipzig University (Germany). He is also a visiting professor at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) and Professor Extraordinary at the Department of Political Science, Stellenbosch University (South Africa). Since 2006, he has advised the African Union Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security in the fields of conflict prevention, early warning, preventive diplomacy, and knowledge management.

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