Identity on the Margins, Marginal Identities: A Case Study on Nationalism at the Border of Ethiopia & Kenya

Event time: 
Wednesday, February 5, 2014 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Location: 
Luce Hall room 202 See map
34 Hillhouse
New Haven , CT
Event description: 

Helinna Ayalew (MA candidate, African Studies) for a talk entitled:

Identity on the Margins, Marginal Identities: A Case Study on Nationalism at the Border of Ethiopia and Kenya

Across Africa, national borders are often zones of a particular political imagery - either due to their “artificial origins”, or as loci of illicit trade and trafficking. This talk explores one aspect of citizenship - political identity - through the case study of a town on the border of Ethiopia and Kenya. In these geographically remote, politically marginalized border zones, how do people imagine themselves in relation to the state? How, in turn, are these marginalized communities being integrated into the project of state-building? This research offers an analysis of the successes and challenges to Ethiopia’s ethnic federal system, as well as perspectives on the future of pastoralism in this region.