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The Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development pp 353–366Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Identities, Conflicts, and Africa’s Refugee Crises

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Abstract

This chapter is an exposition of the manifestations of identity politics that have resulted in conflict and subsequent displacement of persons on the African continent. Identities are universal cleavages, drawing strength and salience from the specific social, political and economic contexts where they have an impact. This chapter argues that beyond the colonial origins of ethnicity, race and other social identities in Africa, analysing conflicts on the continent can yield knowledge about the intersecting personal (identities) and structural (political, socio-economic, regional) factors that moderate politics. Africa’s refugees in this milieu are at once, cause, symptom, consequence, and perpetuators of conflict and the negative implications of identity politics, exemplified particularly in the Great Lakes region of Africa, specifically Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire (the Democratic Republic of the Congo), among others.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria

    Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso

Authors
  1. Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

  2. Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA

    Toyin Falola

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Yacob-Haliso, O. (2018). Identities, Conflicts, and Africa’s Refugee Crises. In: Oloruntoba, S., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95232-8_21

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