peace and conflict resolution in Africa
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 WHAT IS ETHNICITY?
An ethnicity, or ethnic group, is a social group of people who identify with each other based on common ancestral, social, cultural, or national experience. Membership of an ethnic group tends to be associated with shared cultural heritage, ancestry, history, homeland, language (dialect), or ideology, and with symbolic systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, physical appearance, etc.
The largest ethnic groups in modern times can comprise hundreds of millions of individuals (Han Chinese, Arabs, Bengalis) and the smallest can be limited to a few dozen individuals (numerous indigenous peoples worldwide). Larger ethnic groups may be organized into smaller sub-ethnic groups known as tribes, which over time may become separate ethnic groups themselves (a process known as ethno-genesis); ethnic groups derived from the same historical founder population often continue to speak related languages and may be considered to be ethno-linguistic groups (e.g. Iranian peoples, Slavic peoples, Bantu peoples, Turkic peoples, Austronesian peoples, Nilotic peoples, etc.).
1.2 TERMINOLOGY
The term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ethnos (more precisely, from the adjective ethnikos, which was loaned into Latin as ethnicus). The inherited English-language term for this concept is folk (compare Volk), since the late Middle English period used alongside the latinate people. The term "ethnicity" as it is used today arose in the mid 20th century, replacing the terminology of "races" or "nations" used for the concept in the 19th century.
1.3 ETHNIC CONFLICT IN AFRICA
An ethnic conflict or ethnic war is an armed conflict between ethnic groups among African countries.. It contrasts with civil war on one hand (where a single nation or ethnic group is fighting among itself) and regular warfare on the other, where two or more sovereign states (which may or may not be nation states) are in conflict.
INTRODUCTION
1.1 WHAT IS ETHNICITY?
An ethnicity, or ethnic group, is a social group of people who identify with each other based on common ancestral, social, cultural, or national experience. Membership of an ethnic group tends to be associated with shared cultural heritage, ancestry, history, homeland, language (dialect), or ideology, and with symbolic systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, physical appearance, etc.
The largest ethnic groups in modern times can comprise hundreds of millions of individuals (Han Chinese, Arabs, Bengalis) and the smallest can be limited to a few dozen individuals (numerous indigenous peoples worldwide). Larger ethnic groups may be organized into smaller sub-ethnic groups known as tribes, which over time may become separate ethnic groups themselves (a process known as ethno-genesis); ethnic groups derived from the same historical founder population often continue to speak related languages and may be considered to be ethno-linguistic groups (e.g. Iranian peoples, Slavic peoples, Bantu peoples, Turkic peoples, Austronesian peoples, Nilotic peoples, etc.).
1.2 TERMINOLOGY
The term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ethnos (more precisely, from the adjective ethnikos, which was loaned into Latin as ethnicus). The inherited English-language term for this concept is folk (compare Volk), since the late Middle English period used alongside the latinate people. The term "ethnicity" as it is used today arose in the mid 20th century, replacing the terminology of "races" or "nations" used for the concept in the 19th century.
1.3 ETHNIC CONFLICT IN AFRICA
An ethnic conflict or ethnic war is an armed conflict between ethnic groups among African countries.. It contrasts with civil war on one hand (where a single nation or ethnic group is fighting among itself) and regular warfare on the other, where two or more sovereign states (which may or may not be nation states) are in conflict.