Asserting an Eritrean identity in the face of imposed racialisation

National identity claims of some Eritrean refugees in South Africa

Datos Bibliográficos

ID18949280
AutoresA I Tewolde (0000-0001-9769-654X, University of Johannesburg, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen30
Número1
Páginas38-55
Fecha de publicación2023-01-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaIdentities (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1070-289X • E-ISSN: 1547-3384
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1070289x.2021.2005918
OpenAlexW4200543273
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas39

Current literature on Eritrean national identity has been dominated by debates on its function as a unifying and homogenising civic identity in a context of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-clan national context. Little is known, however, about how an Eritrean national identity is mobilised among Eritreans living in racially organised host societies. This paper addresses this lacuna by examining how Eritrean refugees living in a racially classified South African host society self-identified. The focus of analysis for this paper was how an Eritrean national identity was mobilised by some participants in the face of experiencing racial classification. Some individuals defined themselves as ‘Eritrean’ to resist their classification as ‘Black’ in everyday life. I argue that beyond functioning as a homogenising and unifying civic identity, an Eritrean national identity functioned as a bulwark against ascribed racial classification in a race-conscious South African host society

Clan · Ethnic group · Geography · National identity · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Refugee · Social science · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · Gender Studies · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Political Conflict and Governance