'This pasture is ours since ancient times': an ethnographic analysis of the reduction in conflicts along the post-1991 Afar-Tigray regional boundary

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	'This pasture is ours since ancient times': an ethnographic analysis of the reduction in conflicts along the post-1991 Afar-Tigray regional boundary
Editor:	Lenaerts, Lutgart
Year:	2014
Periodical:	Journal of Modern African Studies (ISSN 0022-278X)
Volume:	52
Issue:	1
Pages:	25-44
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ethiopia
Subjects:	boundary conflicts land rights regionalism ethnic relations government policy
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/43302095
Abstract:	The role of post-1991 ethnic-based federalism on conflicts along regional boundaries has been a topic of great dispute in Ethiopianist literature. This article sheds new light on the on-going debate based on original ethnographic material from the Afar-Tigray regional border zone. Contrary to other studies, this article shows that conflicts appear to have reduced in that area. Two key questions are addressed: how do different groups lay future claims to land; and which role does the post-1991 government play in those claims to land and in reducing conflicts? The case study reveals that people materialize religion to lay future claims to land and that conflicts have reduced with the increased involvement of the State over the past two decades, but that this has come at a high cost and may therefore not be sustainable in the long term. Bibliogr., notes, sum. [Journal abstract]