4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE RESEARCH GROUP
“INTEGRATION AND CONFLICT ALONG THE UPPER GUINEA COAST”
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

In recent times the political landscape in the Upper Guinea Coast region has been subject to radical changes, especially as a result of civil wars and post-war interventions by international, humanitarian agencies and peacekeeping missions. Following the settlement of peace in war-torn nation-states and democratic elections in previously politically unstable neighbouring states, new state policies are currently being implemented, big efforts are put into reconciling former, coexisting enemies and nation-building appears once again to be on the political agenda. In addition, new international economic and political actors have been arriving in the region taking part in resource extraction and infrastructure development, creating new markets and making new political alliances. At the present moment peace and reconciliation seems to reign in the region, interrupted now and then by local outbursts of violence. However, it remains difficult to tell what the future trajectory will be of this political development.

So far scholars studying political processes in the Upper Guinea Coast region have tended to depict actions, institutions, and relationships deemed political before, during and after the war in terms and idioms that have since long been used to conceive of Upper Guinea Coast social and political life. Social and politicial processes have primarily been interpreted with reference to 1) patrimonialism, or neo-patrimonialism (ie. host-stranger and patron-client paradigms), 2) religious institutions, notably so-called secret societies, and 3) a discrepancy between creole/settler versus indigenous populations

The aim of the conference is to:
- explore whether/how historical similarities are reflected in contemporary societies in terms of local/regional conceptualizations of how policies and politics should be /are made,
- put the Upper Guinea Coast in comparative perspective with other “post-postcolonial” societies to detect similarities and differences concerning contemporary policies and politics,
- move beyond stereotypical representations of Upper Guinea Coast policies and politics in order to develop new analytical models which allow for an improved understanding of contemporary social and political processes in the region,
- identify new actors surpassing the classical parameters of ‘doing politics’, such as (I)NGOs, humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies (UN), and multinational companies.

Travel expenses will be refunded for speakers. Speakers are expected to hand in their paper for publication within three months after the end of the conference. Please send an abstract of your proposed paper (up to 500 words) to knoerr@eth.mpg.de before 31 January 2012. Full papers are expected to reach us by 31 August 2012.
See www.eth.mpg.de for more information concerning the research group's research agenda and academic activities.