Borders offer opportunities as well as restrictions, and in the Horn of Africa they are used as economic, political, identity and status resources by borderland peoples. State borders are more than barriers. They structure social, economic and political spaces and as such provide opportunities as well as obstacles for the communities straddling both sides of the border. This book deals with the conduits and opportunities of state borders in the Horn of Africa, and investigates how the people living there exploit them through various strategies. Using a micro level perspective, the case studies, which include the borders of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, focus on opportunities, highlight the agency of the borderlanders, and acknowledge the permeability but consequentiality of the borders. Dereje Feyissa is Africa Research Director at the International Law and Policy Institute and Adjunct Professor at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Markus Virgil Hoehne is a Lecturer at the Institute of Anthropology at Leipzig University.

Borders offer opportunities as well as restrictions, and in the Horn of Africa they are used as economic, political, identity and status resources by borderland peoples. State borders are more than barriers. They structure social, economic and political spaces and as such provide opportunities as well as obstacles for the communities straddling both sides of the border. This book deals with the conduits and opportunities of state borders in the Horn of Africa, and investigates how the people living there exploit state borders through various strategies. Using a micro level perspective, the case studies, which includethe Horn and Eastern Africa, particularly the borders of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, focus on opportunities, highlight the agency of the borderlanders, and acknowledge the permeabilitybut consequentiality of the borders. DEREJE FEYISSA, Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany; MARKUS VIRGIL HOEHNE, Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany.

" A]n ethnographically rich, historically meticulous, theoretically informed analysis of ethnic conflict in a strategically important area of Africa. It shows the value of multi-sited methodologies that bring international, national and regional levels to bear upon the analysis of Africa's new, civil wars." . Stephen Reyna, University of Manchester

Focusing on ethnicity and its relation to conflict, this book goes beyond sterile debates about whether ethnic identities are 'natural' or 'socially constructed'. Rather, ethnic identity takes different forms. Some ethnic boundaries are perceived by the actors themselves as natural, while others are perceived to be permeable. The argument is substantiated through a comparative analysis of ethnic identity formation and ethnic conflict among the Anywaa and the Nuer in the Gambella region of western Ethiopia. The Anywaa and the Nuer are not just two ethnic groups but two kinds of ethnic groups. Conflicts between the Anywaa and Nuer are explained with reference to three variables: varying modes of identity formation, competition over resources and differential incorporation into the state system.

The book addresses two kinds of rural inequalities among Oyda society in southern Ethiopia: existing and emerging inequalities within the farming community, and the unequal relation between the dominant farming community and the artisans. The inequalities within the farming community are open-ended wherein individuals could improve their socio-economic condition either through hard work or manipulation of the social network while ensuring access to resources. Difficult as it is, therefore, social mobility is still possible for the farmers. In the second category, on the other hand, the unequal socio-economic exchange between the farmer and the artisans involves ascribed deprivation. Specifically, the book investigates the ideological bases of differentiation between the farming and artisan communities. It is argued that at the heart of the myth-making and denigration of the artisans lays a discursive negation of power which the artisans wield, and upon which the farming community depends and without which biological and economic reproduction is impossible.