Racializing ethnicity and ethnicizing racism: rethinking the epistemic conditions of genocide in Africa

Abstract

This article examines and critiques current scholarship on African genocide. It begins by considering the theoretical approaches to the study of genocide and outlines some of the pitfalls that should be avoided. The discussion then moves to an analysis of the work of Mahmood Mamdani, the highly respected Ugandan author who has written extensively on the genocides in Rwanda and in Darfur, Sudan. His two books Citizen and Subject (1996) and When Victims become Killers (2001) and his essays on Darfur have been extensively reviewed by African and international scholars and his work has gained considerable renown. This makes them useful sounding boards in an investigation of whether current genocide studies are theoretically sound. It is argued that certain theoretical flaws can be identified in Mahmood's work and that scholars of genocide can learn from these and other existing studies to improve our understanding of African genocide. Finally, the paper puts forward some suggestions on a historico-dialectical approach towards a better understanding of genocide in Africa.