(In)visibility of African borders: a decolonial examination of the African Union's boundary practices.
In this article, we use a decolonial lens, a careful content and discourse analysis of key documents on African borders since 1963 and a political ethnographic research method to explore how the boundary practices of the African Union (AU) shape the visibility and invisibility of borders in Africa....
| Publicado en: | International Affairs Vol. 101; no. 3; pp. 801 - 820 |
|---|---|
| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Oxford University Press / USA
May2025
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=185321142&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 185321142 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00205850 INA jtl: International Affairs issn: 00205850 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: May2025 vid: 101 iid: 3 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 185321142 10.1093/ia/iiaf003 ppf: 801 ppct: 19 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 185321142 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 185321142 tig: atl: (In)visibility of African borders: a decolonial examination of the African Union's boundary practices. aug: au: Tieku, Thomas Kwasi Coffie, Amanda su: International cooperation Discourse analysis Ethnology research International agencies Developing countries sug: subj: International cooperation Discourse analysis Ethnology research International agencies Foreign affairs Developing countries keyword: Africa African Union Berlin Conference borderland borderlanders borders boundary work colonialism decolonial/postcolonialism perspective international institutions international organizations Africa African Union Berlin Conference borderland borderlanders borders boundary work colonialism decolonial/postcolonialism perspective international institutions international organizations ab: In this article, we use a decolonial lens, a careful content and discourse analysis of key documents on African borders since 1963 and a political ethnographic research method to explore how the boundary practices of the African Union (AU) shape the visibility and invisibility of borders in Africa. We make the counterintuitive argument that the AU's boundary practices have largely enhanced the visibility of international borders created by colonial powers during the Berlin Conference of 1884–5 (Berlin-made borders) while rendering invisible the borders established internally by indigenous Africans (people's borders). We outlined four specific sets of boundary practices that the AU used to make Berlin-made borders visible—and people's borders invisible—and we examine their implications for international cooperation. A major implication of our analysis is that, despite its anti-colonial rhetoric and public persona, the AU is essentially promoting colonialism in Africa by reinforcing European border practices while suppressing and erasing their indigenous African alternatives. The article thus provides a compelling account of how self-styled anti-colonial institutions based in the global South may contribute to the perpetuation of colonialism, an issue largely overlooked in International Relations scholarship. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|