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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The cultural construction of State borders: the view from Gambella |
Author: | Feyissa, Dereje |
Year: | 2010 |
Periodical: | Journal of Eastern African Studies (ISSN 1753-1063) |
Volume: | 4 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 314-330 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Ethiopia Sudan |
Subjects: | Anuak Nuer boundaries culture images |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2010.487341 |
Abstract: | Recent studies of State borders have shifted the focus away from borders as constraints to borders as conduits and opportunities. This paper argues that local perceptions play a significant role in how a particular international border is used by specific groups of people. Drawing on ethnography from the Gambella region of western Ethiopia near the Sudanese border, the paper advocates a cognitive psychological approach in border studies. In so doing it goes beyond the conventional dichotomous template between the 'bounded' European and the 'permeable' African border imageries. Here the binary opposites rather are two African neighbours - the Anywaa and the Nuer - with sharply contrasting concepts of borders. 'Kew' is the Anywaa concept of border, which they also use to refer to the international border. Its use is conceptually similar to the European notion of a bounded boundary. The Anywaa subscribe to a compartmentalized view of political boundaries both at the inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic level and thus they project onto the State border the same imagery. The Nuer, on the other hand, subscribe to a more flexible view of a political community. For them, a tribal boundary ('cieng') is permeable. Individual Nuer change identity as situations demand, this often being dictated by their search for 'greener pasture'. They do the same in national identification with a dynamic pattern of border-crossing depending on the fluctuating opportunity structures between the Ethiopian and Sudanese States. The Anywaa's call for the rigidification of the international border and the chronic border crossing of the Nuer seemingly has strategic dimensions. A closer examination of their behaviour, however, reveals that in making use of the State border both the Anywaa and the Nuer draw on their respective cultural schemata. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |