National Identity in Africa: Peace, Democracy, and Everyday National Narratives (Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations)

National identity in sub-Saharan Africa is often portrayed as underdeveloped and less important than ethnic identity.Yet, recent empirical evidence from across the continent shows that national identity is more robust than many predicted.Existing theories do not fully account for this as they do not provide an exhaustive list of sources of national identification.National Identity in Africa: Peace, Democracy, and Everyday National Narratives helps explain what drives national belonging in African states.It presents an additional pathway for national identification to emerge.It argues that divergent political developments between countries - distinct political outcomes that are highly visible to the population, such as peace, conflict, or democracy - make citizens draw inferences about national characters, providing the basis for national imaginings.Based on over 400 original interviews with ordinary people across different regions of Ghana and Botswana to study the content of national