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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Modernity, autochthony and the Ivorian nation: the end of a century in Côte d'Ivoire
Author:Cutolo, ArmandoISNI
Year:2010
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute (ISSN 0001-9720)
Volume:80
Issue:4
Pages:527-552
Language:English
Geographic term:Ivory Coast - Côte d'Ivoire
Subjects:political ideologies
citizenship
national identity
External link:http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/africa_the_journal_of_the_international_african_institute/v080/80.4.cutolo.pdf
Abstract:In the mid-1990s, Côte d'Ivoire witnessed the rise of the ideology of ivoirité, a conception of citizenship based on autochthonous origins. Ivoirité was elaborated by a group of Ivorian intellectuals in the context of the political struggle opposing Henry Konan Bedié to Alassane Ouattara in the succession to the late President Houphouët-Boigny. Through the tactical use of the rhetoric of ivoirité, Ouattara was depicted by his adversaries as a 'Burkinabé' trying to rule the country. Going beyond this tactical aspect, the article addresses the ideological relations linking ivoirité to the 'project of an Ivorian liberal society' explicitly constructed by the same intellectuals. These relations contributed to the emergence, in the Ivorian public space, of a discourse establishing self-evident, hegemonic connections between notions like autochthony, modernity and nationality, on the one hand, and biopolitical concepts like population, immigration, security and resources on the other. The article uses two complementary perspectives to frame this emergent discourse. One focuses on the historical continuity of the political-economic strategies and population policies implemented by colonial governments and postcolonial elites. The other uses Giorgio Agamben's critical enquiry into citizenship and nationality to bring to light the implication of the ivoirité intellectuals in the construction of a national 'bios', and thus in the singling out of a paradigmatic form of bare life. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]
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