INTERVICTInternational Victimology Institute Tilburg Marginality,

Disempowerment and Contested Discourses on

Indigenousness in Africa

Dr. Felix Mukwiza NdahindaAssistant Professor, International

Victimology Institute/Tilburg University;

Rotterdam, 29 October 2010

Overview

Indigenous identification and claims in Africa

(Non-)Recognition and contrasted constructions of Indigenousness in Africa

Relative Marginality and disempowerment of communities

A. Indigenous identification and claims in Africa

1. Claimant indigenous communities in Africa come from groups characterised as:

i. (Former) hunter-gatherer/ forager communities

- Central African Batwa-Pygmies (Batwa, Bacwa, Basua, Bambuti, Bagyieli,Bakola …)

- Southern African San (Botswana, Namibia, SA, Zambia, Angola, Zembabwe;

- East African hunter/gatherers (Ogiek, Sengwer, Watta , Yaaku, Boni (Aweer)-Sanye, Dahalo, Elmolo - Akie, Hadzabe - Koegu, Boni…);

- Roughly 500,000 people;

Identification and claims

ii. (Former)Transhumant pastoralists:

- East Africa (Maasai, Samburu, Elmolo, Turkana, Rendille, Borana, Somali, Gabra, Pokot, Endorois, Karamojong, Barabaig, Tatota, Afars, Kereyu, Nuer…’

- Southern Africa (Khoe, Nama, Himba),

- Northern and West Africa (Imazighen, Toubou, Fulani/Mbororo,)

- Estimates are somewhere between 50 and 260 millions (agro)pastoralists;

Identification and claims

iii. Some (small-scale) farmers and fishers;

- Ogoni of Nigeria,- Bogo of Togo,

iv. Other “atypical” groups - Indigenization of the

Rehoboth Basters in post independence Namibia,

- South Africa´s Volksfront and Boerevolk representatives in global indigenous fora;

- Niezen mention of the Rwanda´s Hutu participation;

Identification and claims

2. Process of identification as indigenous peoples

- Since end of 1980s (Gorge Manuel in TZ and Parkipuny 1989 UNWGIP participation),

- A result of activism by international organisations: IWGIA and UNOHCHR, 1993, 1999 and multiculturalism conferences

3. Substance of indigenous claims- Threatened lifestyles (Hunting-

gathering, transhumant pastoralism);

- Historical injustices + socio-political and economic marginality

- Land spoliation (by the state and/or other communities),

- Exclusion in the development process (indigenousness through IDOs)

B. (Non-)Recognition and contested constructions of indigenousness in Africa

1. There are semantic and substantive issues in relation to recognition of ´indigenous identification in Africa:

- Until the end 1990s with the globalisation of the indigenous identity all descendents of pre-colonial inhabitants of Africa were considered as ´indigenous´;

- No systematic, authoritative studies on indigenous identity and rights in Africa - Martinez Cobo studies did not cover Africa

- There is strong advocacy for recognition (Daes, Stavenhagen and Anaya…);

- Criticisms (Alfonso Martinez) and anthropologists (Hodgson, Igoe, Suzman, Kuper)…

(Non-)Recognition

2. The substance of most indigenous claims needs further clarification

- Kalahari debates: Preservation of socio-cultural distinctiveness or,

- Indigenousness as a path to socio- political and economic empowerment,

3. The definition debate is still relevant,

- Current over-reliance on self-identification and global recognition,

- No authoritative or objective grounds for recognition of indigenousness;

- Romanticised constructions of indigenousness in Africa (e.g. forest peoples) are sometimes no longer reflective of reality (e.g. Batwa).

(Non-)Recognition

4. Limited cases of normative and/or judicial recognition of a specific category of indigenous peoples

- Republic of Congo, Cameroon, South Africa

- Other countries use broader categories such as “marginalised groups/communities” (Ethiopia, …);

- The indigenous rights agenda remains mostly a global rather than a domesticated agenda in Africa (ACHPR work included),

- The process of adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples displayed the incomprehension of the framework by African political actors;

C. Relative Marginality and disempowerment of communities

1. Africa´s complex ethno-cultural landscape

- The 53 African states have a population of roughly 1 billion people belonging to more than 2000 ethno-linguistic communities;

- Some countries are more ethnically fragmented than others: Compare Burundi/ Rwanda/Lesotho vs. Nigeria/Cameroon/D. R. Congo;

- Currently, only less than 100 communities are enrolled in the global indigenous movement,

- In most cases, historical marginality (mostly of hunter-gatherers) is real

- Similarly, traditional lifestyles such as hunting and gathering and pastoral transhumance are increasingly unsustainable

Marginality and Disempowerment

2. But marginality of particular communities is rather relative:

- Kenya: (25 communities: Awer, Boni, Borana, Burgi, Elmolo, Endorois, Ilchamus, Gaaljecel, Gabra, Maasai, Malakote, Munyayaya, Ogiek, Orma, Pokot, Rendille, Sabaot, Sakuye, Samburu, Sengwer, Somali, Talai, Turkana, Watta and Yakuu);

- More claims (indigenous Fisher People’s Network, Nyala ethnicity, MRG) …

- Ethnic landscape, Maasai (9th or 11th largest group out of some 42 recognised groups) and Endorois (part of Tugen and Kalenjin?) claims as illustrations;

- Indigenous claims and their substance (Endorois and Maasai moves or land spoliation since the colonial and during postcolonial eras;

- Quid of (cultural ) distinctiveness?

Marginality and Disempowerment

- Rwanda: Competing discourses of indigeneity: Hutus (colonail historiography), Twas (global indigenism), quid of Tutsis’ (pastoralists);

- Post-genocide apprehension of ethnic politics: indigenous marginality contested but claimant groups increasingly construed as vulnerable and in need of some kind of affirmative action.

- Empowerment measures for particular groups cannot ignore the complex ethno-cultural landscape of most African states;

Marginality and Disempowerment

Indigenous identification and activism in Africa is still a relatively recent phenomenon.

The substance of indigenous claims is generally ambiguous (historical injustices, present conditions of marginality and outlook on the collective future);

Only very few communities may not fulfill the loose identification criteria:

- Forest people/first people of the Kalahari/hunter-gatherers

- Pastoralists/Bogo agriculturalists/ fisher people

Africa’s ethno-cultural diversity inspires caution in recognizing indigenous claims of specific communities