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The Future as an Agency of Social Exclusion: Analysing the Ethnopolitical Exclusion of the Igbo People of Nigeria

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Contemporary Discourses in Social Exclusion

Abstract

The concept of social exclusion and its underlying dimensions and agents have been approached through several explanatory schemes across the literature. However, the literature is shrouded with few studies that discuss the potential of the future as an agency that sustains conditions of social exclusion in society. The region of postcolonial West Africa affords the opportunity for such a discussion because an observation of recurring conflicts stemming from socially excluded groups in the region reflect the agentic influence of the future in their recurrence. To effectively curtail social exclusion in such a region, there is the need to develop conceptual frameworks capable of explaining social exclusion in relation to the complexity of the present and future. This paper attempts to fill this gap by theorising a conceptual framework that problematizes the interrelationship between the future and the present. The chapter also applies the framework to understanding the ethnopolitical exclusion of the Igbos in present-day Nigeria. The overall aim of the analysis is to show how deepening conditions of social exclusion can be reflective of past futures in the past and how the future as anticipation in the present represents agency driving social exclusion.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See chapter eight of this book titled Inclusive Dreams and Excluded Realities: An analysis of social exclusion and xenophobia in the South African ‘Rainbow Nation’.

  2. 2.

    In 1996, 36 new states were created in Nigeria. The thirty-six states were politically classified into six geopolitical zones to ensure ease of resource sharing (Chinweuba et al., 2014). These geopolitical zones are the North-East Zone (NE) the North-Central Zone (NC), the Middle-Belt Zone (MB), the South-East Zone (SE), the South-West Zone (SW), and South-South Zone (SS). The former Eastern Region where the Igbos dominated became the South-East Zone.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    Martins Kwazema

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  1. Martins Kwazema
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Correspondence to Martins Kwazema .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    Aminkeng A. Alemanji

  2. Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    Clara Marlijn Meijer

  3. Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    Martins Kwazema

  4. Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    Francis Ethelbert Kwabena Benyah

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Kwazema, M. (2022). The Future as an Agency of Social Exclusion: Analysing the Ethnopolitical Exclusion of the Igbo People of Nigeria. In: Alemanji, A.A., Meijer, C.M., Kwazema, M., Benyah, F.E.K. (eds) Contemporary Discourses in Social Exclusion. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18180-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18180-1_3

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