Conflict continuities: Africa in focus

Abstract

It is tempting to interpret the eruption of armed violence in various parts of

the world as a break with the past. However, in this special section, we call for attention

to “conflict continuities” to understand contemporary violence. Challenging the

conventional focus on causes or consequences, we argue that past violent conflict may serve to generate new conflict, in reworked forms. We foreground the psychosocial dynamics of conflict, particularly as they affect social relations and worldviews, often reproduced through cultural narratives. The special section brings together five studies from across Africa. In different ways, they reveal how conflicts are remembered, reiterated, and reproduced in narratives that circulate in families, communities, and national-level politics, thus embodying a generative force for new conflict and struggle.