Paper short abstract:

We aim to verify whether, to what extent and why the salience of ethnicity following mass categorical violence is declining in post-conflict Burundi, through an analysis of ethnic boundary making in both narratives ('ways of seeing the world') and practices ('ways of acting in the world').

Paper long abstract:

Ethnicity is a degree of 'groupness' or 'boundedness' resulting from social processes, such as violence. Burundi experienced over a decade of violence resulting in high levels of ethnic groupness or boundedness. Little is known, however, about the declining curves of ethnic belonging, in Burundi and beyond. Is there variation in the degrees of ethnic groupness in space and time? What, if anything, drives the decline of ethnic groupness in the aftermath of mass categorical violence?

We verify this process by relying on a database of 300 life histories collected in different communities in post-conflict Burundi. The study of the narratives emerging in these histories reveals whether, when and why people adopt an ethnic perspective in their 'ways of seeing the world' and whether and how this changes over time. The study of practices or 'ways of acting in the world' (behaviours) brings additional insight.

The paper explores this variation in time and space by zooming in on a subset of research participants living in two localities deeply marked by important historical events (respectively, the outbreak of the rebellion that led to the 1972 mass categorical violence in Rumonge province and similar mass categorical violence following the assassination of President Ndadaye in 1993 in the central province of Gitega). Adopting a longitudinal perspective, the analysis of people's narratives and practices reveals a general decline in the salience of ethnic belonging as well as a complex mixture of ruptures and continuities in the making, unmaking and remaking of boundaries and groups.