Work

Violence against Muslims: Conquered, Not Fully Colonized, in the Making of the Muslim “Other” in the Central African Republic

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Muslims in the Central African Republic have experienced extreme violence for more than a decade. Through ethnographic fieldwork and archival research, this article shows how the foundations for contemporary violence were created through colonial and postcolonial state-making. The civilizing mission of republican colonialism set Muslims apart. Lifestyle and mobility were never fully colonized; escape depicted difference. Nationalist liberation mythologies render Muslim citizenship as foreign, precarious, and subject to ongoing contestation. Pentecostalism, a lateral liberation philosophy presented as patriotism, provides power to anti-Muslim discourse. Violence against Muslims is situated in an accumulated “pastness” of state-making and struggle in Central African historiography.

Source: African Studies Review

DOI: 10.1017/asr.2024.252

Author: Suzanne Francis

Institution: University of Chester

Language: English

Topic: African history and culture studies

Subfield: Anthropology

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550