Africana Periodical Literature 
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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | The Salience of Ethnicity in African States: A Zimbabwean Case Study |
| Author: | Murphree, Marshall W. |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Periodical: | Ethnic and Racial Studies |
| Volume: | 11 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Period: | April |
| Pages: | 119-138 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Zimbabwe |
| Subjects: | Tonga (Zambia, Zimbabwe) ethnicity Ethnic and Race Relations Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Politics and Government |
| Abstract: | Ethnicity is a neglected factor in Third World studies. Studies of the ethnic factor in African politics have tended to be of the case study variety, located within specific societal contexts, usually the State. Moreover, these analyses have tended to be macroanalytic, defining ethnicity as 'ethnic sentiment politically mobilized'. This study also takes a specific context - in this case the peasant producer segment of the Tonga economy of Zimbabwe - as the unit for analysis. It differs, however, from the other studies in that its approach is microanalytic. It is concerned with the contextualization of ethnicity in micro-associational categories within a spectrum which includes other principles of affiliation. Hypothesizing that ethnically-defined political activity may take three forms, viz. irredentism,, ethnic alliance, and silence, the author argues that the Tonga response to their material and social conditions is best characterized by the third form. The term 'silence' is used to mean inactivity or non-participation, within the context of a situation where actors find participation either unimportant or else perceive it to be inefficacious. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |
