Displacement, Belonging, and Land Rights in Grand Gedeh, Liberia

Almost at Home Abroad

Bibliographic Data

ID2098141
AuthorsIngunn Bjørkhaug (0000-0002-8962-2740, corresponding author), Morten Bøås (0000-0002-8417-5582), Tewodros Kebede, Tewodros Aragie Kebede (0000-0003-1522-4296)
Year2017
Volume60
Issue3
Pages59-79
Publication date2017-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Studies Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-0206 • E-ISSN: 1555-2462
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/asr.2017.118
OpenAlexW2769091262
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited38

Conflicts over local land rights between groups considered as "sons of the soil" and newcomers such as refugees can trigger autochthony-inspired violence. However, such conflicts are not always manifested, even when the conditions are in place. The question we explore in this article is whether such conflicts are less likely to emerge if the "other" is from a group with a longstanding bond of interethnic allegiance with the host community. Based on ethnographic data from host-refugee communities in Grand Gedeh, Liberia, we revisit previous attempts to explain economic and social relations between majority and minority groups. Our main finding is that in this part of Africa no prior special status will fundamentally alter the established ways of incorporating strangers into the community

Allegiance · Ethnography · Geography · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Refugee · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · African Studies and Geopolitics · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Law

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