Questioning territories and identities in the precolonial (nineteenth-century) Lake Kivu region
- Author
- Gillian Mathys (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- Throughout Africa, contemporary boundaries are deemed ‘artificial’ because they were external impositions breaking apart supposedly homogeneous ethnic units. This article argues that the problem with the colonial borders was not only that they arbitrarily dissected African societies with European interests in mind, but also that they profoundly changed the way in which territoriality and authority functioned in this region, and therefore they affected identity. The presumption that territories could be constructed in which ‘culture’ and ‘political power’ neatly coincided was influenced by European ideas about space and identity, and privileged the perceptions and territorial claims of those ruling the most powerful centres in the nineteenth century. Thus, this article questions assumptions that continue to influence contemporary views of the Lake Kivu region. It shows that local understandings of the relationship between space and identity differed fundamentally from state-centred perspectives, whether in precolonial centralized states or colonial states.
- Keywords
- Geography, Planning and Development, Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous), Anthropology, HISTORY BACK, RWANDA, CONFLICT, AFRICA
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8713258
- MLA
- Mathys, Gillian. “Questioning Territories and Identities in the Precolonial (Nineteenth-Century) Lake Kivu Region.” AFRICA, vol. 91, no. 3, 2021, pp. 493–515, doi:10.1017/s0001972021000267.
- APA
- Mathys, G. (2021). Questioning territories and identities in the precolonial (nineteenth-century) Lake Kivu region. AFRICA, 91(3), 493–515. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0001972021000267
- Chicago author-date
- Mathys, Gillian. 2021. “Questioning Territories and Identities in the Precolonial (Nineteenth-Century) Lake Kivu Region.” AFRICA 91 (3): 493–515. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0001972021000267.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Mathys, Gillian. 2021. “Questioning Territories and Identities in the Precolonial (Nineteenth-Century) Lake Kivu Region.” AFRICA 91 (3): 493–515. doi:10.1017/s0001972021000267.
- Vancouver
- 1.Mathys G. Questioning territories and identities in the precolonial (nineteenth-century) Lake Kivu region. AFRICA. 2021;91(3):493–515.
- IEEE
- [1]G. Mathys, “Questioning territories and identities in the precolonial (nineteenth-century) Lake Kivu region,” AFRICA, vol. 91, no. 3, pp. 493–515, 2021.
@article{8713258,
abstract = {{Throughout Africa, contemporary boundaries are deemed ‘artificial’ because they were external impositions breaking apart supposedly homogeneous ethnic units. This article argues that the problem with the colonial borders was not only that they arbitrarily dissected African societies with European interests in mind, but also that they profoundly changed the way in which territoriality and authority functioned in this region, and therefore they affected identity. The presumption that territories could be constructed in which ‘culture’ and ‘political power’ neatly coincided was influenced by European ideas about space and identity, and privileged the perceptions and territorial claims of those ruling the most powerful centres in the nineteenth century. Thus, this article questions assumptions that continue to influence contemporary views of the Lake Kivu region. It shows that local understandings of the relationship between space and identity differed fundamentally from state-centred perspectives, whether in precolonial centralized states or colonial states.}},
author = {{Mathys, Gillian}},
issn = {{0001-9720}},
journal = {{AFRICA}},
keywords = {{Geography,Planning and Development,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous),Anthropology,HISTORY BACK,RWANDA,CONFLICT,AFRICA}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{493--515}},
title = {{Questioning territories and identities in the precolonial (nineteenth-century) Lake Kivu region}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1017/s0001972021000267}},
volume = {{91}},
year = {{2021}},
}
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