What happens to marginalized groups from Africa when they ally with the indigenous peoples' movement? Who claims to be indigenous and why? Dorothy L. Hodgson explores how indigenous identity, both in concept and in practice, plays out in the context of economic liberalization, transnational capitalism, state restructuring, and political democratization. Hodgson brings her long experience with Maasai to her understanding of the shifting contours of their contemporary struggles for recognition, representation, rights, and resources. Being Maasai, Becoming Indigenous is a deep and sensitive reflection on the possibilities and limits of transnational advocacy and the dilemmas of political action, civil society, and change in Maasai communities.

Introduction : positionings -- the cultural politics of representation, recognition, resources, and rights -- Becoming indigenous in Africa -- Maasai NGOs, the Tanzanian state, and the politics of indigeneity -- Precarious alliances -- Repositionings : from indigenous rights to pastoralist livelihoods -- "If we had our cows" : community perspectives on the challenge of change -- Conclusion : what do you want?

This book assesses the causes and consequences of environmental change in East Africa, asking whether local African communities are sufficiently resilient to cope with the ecological and social challenges that confront them. It focuses on the savannahs of the Baringo-Bogoria basin, and the surrounding highlands of Kenya’s northern Rift Valley that form the social-ecological system of the specialised cattle pastoralists and niche agricultural farmers who occupy these semi-arid lands. Historical studies of resilience spanning the past two centuries are linked with analysis of current environmental challenges, and the ecological, social, economic and political responses mounted by local communities. The authors question whether the most recent challenges confronting the peoples of eastern Africa’s savannahs – intensified conflicts, mounting poverty driven by demographic pressures, and dramatic ecological changes brought by invasive species – might soon led to a collapse in essential elements of the specialised cattle pastoralism that dominates the region, requiring a re-orientation of the social-ecological system. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Eastern African Studies.

History shows that travellers sought to experience the unfamiliar and exotic cultures and traditions of Indigenous peoples, with early examples of Indigenous tourism in the United States, Canada, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and countries throughout Asia and Latin America. Similarly, contemporary travellers demonstrate a desire to seek out opportunities to experience Indigenous peoples and their cultures. Thus, we are witnessing worldwide growth in the awareness of, and interest in, Indigenous cultures, traditions, histories and knowledges. Engagement in the tourism sector is regularly advocated for Indigenous peoples because of the socio-economic opportunities it provides; however, there are a range of cultural benefits including the maintenance, rejuvenation and/or preservation of Indigenous cultures, knowledges and traditions for Indigenous peoples who choose tourism as a vehicle to showcase their cultures. Consequently, tourism is regularly acknowledged as a means for facilitating the sustainability of tangible and intangible Indigenous cultural heritage including languages, stories, art, dance, rituals and customs. Importantly, however, the history of Indigenous peoples’ engagement in tourism has provided a range of examples of the threats to Indigenous culture that can accrue as a result of tourism (i.e., cultural degradation, commercialisation and commodification, authenticity and identity, among others). This book presents an exploration of the intersection between tourism and Indigenous culture. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Heritage Tourism.

The Gulf States and the Horn of Africa takes a deep dive into the complexities of power projection, political rivalry and conflict across the Red Sea and beyond. Focusing on the nature of interregional connections between the Gulf and the Horn, it explores the multifaceted nature of relations between states and the two increasingly important subregions. Bringing together scholars working on and in both regions, the book considers strategic competition between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and between the UAE and both Qatar and Turkey, along with other international engagement such as joint anti-piracy operations, counterterrorism cooperation, security assistance, base agreements and economic development. Drawing on a range of subject expertise and field research across case study countries, the volume adds to the sparse literature on the regional and international politics of the Horn of Africa and Red Sea, gleaning specific insights from contemporary reflections across the book. This is essential reading for students and researchers interested in the Horn of Africa and the evolving regional geopolitics of the Gulf.

At a time when states, armed insurgent movements, and ethnic and nationalist political parties make claims based on the defence of communal interests and political and religious ideologies – with often deadly consequences – it is important to understand the discourses and actions that are used to legitimize these claims. This book argues that competing moral economies – the beliefs and practices that normatively regulate and legitimize the distribution of wealth, power, and status in a society – play an important role in ethnic and nationalist conflict. Bringing together international experts on the politics of ethnicity and nationalism, this final volume in the prestigious EDG series investigates how moral economies have been challenged in identity-based communities in ways that precipitate or exacerbate conflicts. The combination of theoretical chapters and case studies ranging from Africa and Asia to North America provides compelling evidence for the value of moral economy analysis in understanding problems associated with ethnic and nationalist mobilization and conflict.

Archaeologies of “Us” and “Them” explores the concept of indigeneity within the field of archaeology and heritage and in particular examines the shifts in power that occur when ‘we’ define ‘the other’ by categorizing ‘them’ as indigenous. Recognizing the complex and shifting distinctions between indigenous and non-indigenous pasts and presents, this volume gives a nuanced analysis of the underlying definitions, concepts and ethics associated with this field in order to explore Indigenous archaeology as a theoretical, ethical and political concept. Indigenous archaeology is an increasingly important topic discussed worldwide, and as such critical analyses must be applied to debates which are often surrounded by political correctness and consensus views. Drawing on an international range of global case studies, this timely and sensitive collection significantly contributes to the development of archaeological critical theory.

An interdisciplinary collection, Gender and Culture at the Limit of Rights examines the potential and limitations of the "women's rights as human rights" framework as a strategy for seeking gender justice. Drawing on detailed case studies from the United States, Africa, Latin America, Asia, and elsewhere, contributors to the volume explore the specific social histories, political struggles, cultural assumptions, and gender ideologies that have produced certain rights or reframed long-standing debates in the language of rights. The essays address the gender-specific ways in which rights-based protocols have been analyzed, deployed, and legislated in the past and the present and the implications for women and men, adults and children in various social and geographical locations. Questions addressed include: What are the gendered assumptions and effects of the dominance of rights-based discourses for claims to social justice? What kinds of opportunities and limitations does such a "culture of rights" provide to seekers of justice, whether individuals or collectives, and how are these gendered? How and why do female bodies often become the site of contention in contexts pitting cultural against juridical perspectives? The contributors speak to central issues in current scholarly and policy debates about gender, culture, and human rights from comparative disciplinary, historical, and geographical perspectives. By taking "gender," rather than just "women," seriously as a category of analysis, the chapters suggest that the very sources of the power of human rights discourses, specifically "women's rights as human rights" discourses, to produce social change are also the sources of its limitations.

This engaging collection of essays discusses the complexities of “being” indigenous in public spaces. Laura R. Graham and H. Glenn Penny bring together a set of highly recognized junior and senior scholars, including indigenous scholars, from a variety of fields to provoke critical thinking about the many ways in which individuals and social groups construct and display unique identities around the world. The case studies in Performing Indigeneity underscore the social, historical, and immediate contextual factors at play when indigenous people make decisions about when, how, why, and who can “be” indigenous in public spaces. Performing Indigeneity invites readers to consider how groups and individuals think about performance and display and focuses attention on the ways that public spheres, both indigenous and nonindigenous ones, have received these performances. The essays demonstrate that performance and display are essential to the creation and persistence of indigeneity, while also presenting the conundrum that in many cases “indigeneity” excludes some of the voices or identities that the category purports to represent.

This book addresses the discourses, agendas and actions of Muslim faith-based organizations and activists to empower Muslim communities in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. The individual chapters discuss how traditional Muslim welfare and charity institutions, zakat (obligatory or mandatory almsgiving), sadaqa (voluntary almsgiving and donations) and waqf (pious endowments), are used to improve social welfare, focusing on instrumentalization and institutionalization in the collection and distribution of zakat. The book includes case studies from West Africa (Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal), the Horn of Africa (Somalia) and East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania), highlighting the role and interplay of local, national and international Sunni, Shia and Ahmadiyya Muslim faith-based organizations and NGOs. Chapters "Muslim NGOs, Zakat and the Provision of Social Welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Introduction" and "Discourses on Zakat and Its Implementation in Contemporary Ghana" are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.