Deakin University
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

Ethnicity, democracy and citizenship in Africa: Political marginalisation of Kenya’s Nubians

book
posted on 2015-01-01, 00:00 authored by Sam Balaton-ChrimesSam Balaton-Chrimes
As an ethnic minority the Nubians of Kenya are struggling for equal citizenship by asserting themselves as indigenous and autochthonous to Kibera, one of Nairobi’s most notorious slums. Having settled there after being brought by the British colonial authorities from Sudan as soldiers, this appears a peculiar claim to make. It is a claim that illuminates the hierarchical nature of Kenya’s ethnicised citizenship regime and the multi-faceted nature of citizenship itself. This book explores two kinds of citizenship deficits; those experienced by the Nubians in Kenya and, more centrally, those which represent the limits of citizenship theories. The author argues for an understanding of citizenship as made up of multiple component parts: status, rights and membership, which are often disaggregated through time, across geographic spaces and amongst different people. This departure from a unitary language of citizenship allows a novel analysis of the central role of ethnicity in the recognition of political membership and distribution of political goods in Kenya. Such an analysis generates important insights into the risks and possibilities of a relationship between ethnicity and democracy that is of broad, global relevance.

History

Publisher

Routledge

Place of publication

London, England

ISBN-13

9781472440662

Edition

1st

Language

eng

Publication classification

A1 Books - authored - research

Copyright notice

2015, The Author

Number of chapters

8

Usage metrics

    Research Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC