Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University The Ivorian Crisis Political and Historical Contextualisation

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Introduction

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University

The Ivorian Crisis “This war, it’s a war of identification … [I]n the new formula of identification, when you go to get your card, you have to tell them the name of your village, so they can go and find out if you’re really from that region. Because if I take the case of our Dioula brothers, when they arrive, as soon as they find a city like Yamoussouko and they settle there, have children there, do everything there, they don’t return to their country of origin. And then they say they are Ivoirians. We saw that it isn’t right, that we have to be able to tell who is Ivoirian, who isn’t Ivoirian. That’s why they’re making war on us” (Interview in Banégas & Marshall-Fratani 2006, quoted in Marshall-Fratani 2006:26)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Introduction The Ivorian exception Wars in the region (Mano River Union countries) Economic success of plantation economy

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University

Introduction From political rhetoric to armed struggle Ivoirité thetoric Politics of scale (Thomas Bassett)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Introduction Between war and peace (?) ”Allons aux éléctions – vite, vite, vite…”

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University

Introduction Preparing for elections Voter registration Identity papers Population census Identity politics…?

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Introduction The War of Who is Who Historical parallels “For the political leaders of the Forces Nouvelles, longstanding collaborators of Laurent Gbagbo throughout the 1990s, the turning point was not principally the question of xenophobia, or Ouattara’s nationality, or the victimization of northerners by state security forces … but the FPI’s program of national identification” (Marshall-Fratani 2006:26).

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University The Ivorian Crisis Lecture I: ”The Recent Political History of Côte d’Ivoire – an overview”

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University A Recent Political History The firm leadership of Félix Houphouët- Boigny

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University A Recent Political History The Houphouët-Boigny Compromise Export economy Economic policies open towards the West Encouraging labour migration (mainly Burkina Faso) BUT: Akan favouritism; divide & rule

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University A Recent Political History Succession struggles

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Succession struggles Henri Konan Bédié (PDCI)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Succession struggles Alassane Dramane Ouattara (RDR)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Succession struggles President Laurent Gbagbo (FPI)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University A Recent Political History December 1999 Coup d’état General Robert Guéï in power 2000 elections Laurent Gbagbo President

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University A Recent Political History The Ivorian Crisis

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University The Ivorian Crisis 19 September 2002

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University The Ivorian Crisis Guillaume Soro Secretary General of the Forces Nouvelles

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University The Ivorian Crisis The Role of France: Peace keeper … war maker …?

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University The Ivorian Crisis The Ouagadougou Political Accords President Blaise Compaoré (Burkina Faso) as mediator

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University The Ivorian Crisis Guillaume Soro Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University The Ivorian Crisis The Administrative Identification Process: Pending transition

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University The Ivorian Crisis The War of Who is Who: Categorical clarity dead certainty (Appadurai 1998) ’good guys’ and ’bad guys’ (Hagberg & Bjarnesen) On sait qui est qui (Förster, forthcoming)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Conclusion Familiar faces on the Political Scene

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Familiar Faces Henri Konan Bédié (PDCI)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Familiar Faces Alassane Dramane Ouattara (RDR)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Familiar Faces President Laurent Gbagbo (FPI)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Familiar Faces Guillaume Soro Secretary General of the Forces Nouvelles Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Next Thursday: Contemporary Ivorian Identifications seen from Korhogo Town “Il faut des changements!”

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University The Ivorian Crisis Lecture II: ”The Sociopolitical Context of the Ivorian Crisis – an introduction”

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Chauveau & Richards (2008) ”West African Insurgencies in Agrarian Perspective”

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Chauveau & Richards (2008) ”… current economic and political crises feed on a particular historical trajectory … and it is here that the effects of these crises have surfaced in intra-familial, intergenerational and intercommunity tensions” (2008:533)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Chauveau & Richards (2008) ”By linking intra-familial and intergenerational tensions on one side and intercommunity tensions on the other side, an answer seems to lie in purified tradition, leading to the victimization of the strangers. A political discourse of ’autochtony’ ensues, seized upon by various political interests for their own purposes” (2008:534)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Chauveau & Richards (2008) ”Culture by itself causes nothing. Ethnic identity claims (and other cultural epiphenomena) are always products of organization, and competition among organization” (2008:546)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Chauveau & Richards (2008) ”Addressing the complexity and intensity of struggles over agrarian resources is (we believe) basic to the attainment of peace” (2008:547)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Carolyn Nordstrom (2004) ”Shadows of War”

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Carolyn Nordstrom (2004) ”… ethnography is an excellent way to study the invisibilities of power – invisibility that is in part constructed by convincing people not to study the shadows … Ethnography gives substance and site to all human endeavour, merely by caring about the day to day of human existence” (2004:15)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University Carolyn Nordstrom (2004) ”… we live in a world of refined movement. In studying war, and especially in studying the shadows, I direct my research not at a set place, but at fluid targets. The shadows as I define them in this book are, at core, about movement … This is part of the way in which they are rendered invisible …” (2008:37)

Jesper Bjarnesen, Ph.D Candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University The Ivorian Crisis Discussion